The Best Gifts You Can Buy at a Pharmacy
I know what you’re thinking: Gifts from a pharmacy? But I assure you, you can actually find some good gift ideas there. And not only at a Zitomer or a C.O. Bigelow, but at Duane Reade. To quote my colleague Erin Schwartz, “Honestly, it’s a sign you’re a great gift-giver if you can find something from the CVS aisle.” (It’s also why we included the question,“Here’s $10 to get a gift for someone at Walgreens. What are you buying?”in the questionnaire for our “How I Gift” series.)
A pharmacy can have anything from the delightfully weird (mango gummies in the shape of an ear) to the actually useful (a pressure-point massager), and if you’re strolling through the aisles for long enough, you’ll see stocking stuffers, white-elephant gifts, or even something for your mother-in-law. Here, I rounded up the best gifts you can buy at a pharmacy for anyone on your list, and everything is available at CVS or Walgreens (which happen to be the country’s biggest pharmacy chains). As of publication, these should all arrive by Christmas, but you should enter your Zip Code for the best shipping estimates. For more gift inspiration, here’s our list of every gift guide we’ve written this year.
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From the same maker of comedy writer Caroline Goldfarb’s Pilates ring, which she uses on her “unreasonably tight hamstrings.”
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Cheaper than a trip to the chiropractor.
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Every achy person needs a pressure-point massager to relieve muscle tension.
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It doesn’t get more thoughtful than stimulating someone’s circulation.
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Theraputty (each color-coded for different resistance levels — from yellow, the softest, to black, the firmest) helps with finger dexterity and coordination.
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Both a board-certified OB/GYN and Santigold recommend Pure Enrichment’s heating pads.
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Maybe better than a pair of socks.
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All the comfort of a spa but at home.
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A neck fan not unlike Lupita Nyong’o’s on the SAG-AFTRA picket line.
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For bird-watching, sightseeing, or Nextdoor reporting.
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It’ll take a lot less time to figure out than a Loftie.
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Can I interest anyone in poolside solitaire next summer?
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Or a very friendly round of cribbage?
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That’s Ms. Pac-Man to you!
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You can rearrange the same LEGOs to make a toucan, butterfly, or fish.
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As America’s Next Top Model contestants say, “Easy, breezy, beautiful, CoverGirl.”
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As seen in our “95 Carefully Selected, Unusually Special Gifts Under $50.”
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It can be found in an aisle of any French pharmacy and is fragrance-free (unlike Embryolisse’s Lait-Crème Concentré).
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Formulated with niacinamide, shea butter, and a “high concentration” of glycerin (which needs hyaluronic acid’s publicist, says our beauty columnist Rio Viera-Newton), this cream is a member of La Roche-Posay’s Cicaplast family.
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This has a “mist fine enough to water an orchid,” according to the Cut’s former beauty director Kathleen Hou.
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This set offers a manicure courtesy of Olive & June with the brand’s Hibiscus, Pink Sands, and Cockatoo nail polishes and Super Glossy Top Coat.
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It’s what makes Laila Gohar’s hair “less split-end-y.”
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“Poofed is the best word to describe the application process of the Odele Dry Shampoo,” says our contributor Erika Veurink. It absorbs oil, “while spray solutions really only masked the feeling with a sticky texture, a prime culprit for buildup.”
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Any bad hair day can become a good hair day with rhinestone bobby pins.
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Smell like the Queen of Country.
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The original Sweet Tooth for a Carpenter fan.
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“I know it’s scary to look in a five-, seven-, ten-times magnifying mirror, but the scarier it is, the better your makeup will look. Because it shows every little mistake you may be making,” says Laura Gellar.
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Some hot rollers for the sort of bounce you’d usually only see in a shampoo commercial.
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Let their fingers prune in a Dr. Teal’s–branded bubble bath, available in lavender; ginseng, ginger, and rhodiola rosea; eucalyptus and spearmint; and shea butter with almond oil.
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If they haven’t scheduled their flu shot yet …
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The best drugstore tights come from L’Eggs, which makes leggings, too.
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Strategist lead editor Lauren Levy’s daughter likes the Miniverse series (“that contain tiny replicas of everything from snack foods to houseplants,” explains our toy reviewer in her guide to the best gifts for 5-year-olds); inside this version are desserts (e.g., Filipino halo-halo or Chinese tanghulu).
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After the glue phase comes the slime phase.
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No Pompompurin, but Kuromi and Cinnamoroll are Hello Kitty’s friends.
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To make meal-prepping easier, a Stasher has a patented Pinch-Loc seal to keep everything from pomegranate seeds to broccoli from spilling inside their Baggu.
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If a Hershey’s kiss and a candy cane had a baby.
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It’s not filled with sewing supplies (yet); it’s filled with Royal Dansk’s Danish butter cookies (the holiday-themed hot-chocolate trees, caramel bells, and brown-sugar stars).
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Surprisingly hyperrealistic.
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Originally made by accident in 1928 (through a saltwater-taffy wrapping machine), Dubble Bubble was in soldiers’ rations during World War II.
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Exactly 20 vials of Lumify (which Alex Rodriguez and Alan Cumming can’t live without) for the weary red-eye passenger.
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A party favor from Amy Sedaris.
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Fujifilm QuickSnap Flash 400 Camera
Let’s reject modernity (iPhone cameras) and embrace tradition (Fujifilm QuickSnaps).
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If you can’t get them to the nearest Wienermobile …
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“For when you have a woof day,” according to the package.
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Even more important to American kitsch than the plastic flamingo or pet rock is the lava lamp.
More From The Strategist
- Hark, the Advent Calendars Arrived (Very) Early This Year
- The Best Things Strategist Editors Have Bought This Year (So Far)
- 63 Things You Should Never Buy Full Price
- The Strategist Fall 100
The Strategist is designed to surface useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Every product is independently selected by our team of editors, whom you can read about here. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
