I’m just gonna come out and say it: Musicians are notoriously hard to buy for. This is even truer when the person who is buying the gifts may not exactly be hip to equipment and instruments, or even what sort of music you like to listen to.

There are specialist sites to find gifts for the geeks in your life, and even sites that sell the weirdest stuff. And I’m talking weirder than fluffy pink ukuleles weird. Heck, there are even places where you can get niche gifts like philosophy. But there are no sites like this for musicians or music lovers. At least, not really, how rude is that?

Well, I’m here to help. As a musician myself, I am pretty picky about what I want. (I mean, orange amps or bust, am I right?) But there is a bunch of stuff out there that will be cool for everyone.

There are birthday cards that have guitars on them. Usually, those cards are for little boys, which is also rude, but they exist. Christmas cards on the other hand, not so much.

Wouldn’t it be cool if there were some rockstar puns out there on cards like, “Jimi Bells” or “We Wish You a Merry KISSmas”?

The answer is yes!

You probably won’t find them anywhere, but you can look into Mixbook Christmas cards so you can customize your own musician photo-y goodness. (Although if you use one of my puns, remember where you heard it!)

You can’t go wrong here. You see, a mixtape is a selection of songs that you pull together that remind you of the person you’re gifting them to.

To a musician and a music-lover, mixtapes are super personal and even if the songs aren’t to our own taste, it’s the effort that goes into them that matters.

Literally, somebody put aside a few hours in their day to find songs that remind them of you. How can that not be an amazing thing?

This one is a hard one whether you know about gear or not, mostly due to the fact everybody is different. It’s also crazy expensive, so not something you have to tread lightly around.

However, if you want to spoil the person you’re buying for, try to slip a question into the conversation. Ask them what gear they are wanting at the moment. If they tell you, tell them you’ll get it for them for Christmas.

You’ll make their day and they won’t feel weird about never using it or wanting to return it before the warranty is up.

WIN/WIN.

Christmas is hard to make people happy on, which it shouldn’t be. But it’s even harder to make some musicians happy on, so follow these few little tips and you’ll have a happy bassist yet.