With a new year comes new events and more sittningar. As per usual that also means the mediocre pleasure of finding a bordspresent to bring. Don’t get me wrong, bordpresents could be really fun and surely a great ice breaker. However with the very common mistake of forgetting them, they easily become more of a burden than the source of creativity they can be. But what is a good bordpresent? Well, there are a lot of different kinds, but in this article I’ve chosen to base my bordspresent-evaluation on four qualities; uniqueness, usefulness, creativity and fun. With that being said – here are last year’s top nine bordspresents.
9. A lottery ticket. Commonly a “Triss”. This makes the list solely because it’s small, light and one of few things you can get your hands on when in a hurry on your way to the sittning – because you forgot to think of a gift. However, after attending a couple of sittningar, you will most likely have received one of these, and most likely without scoring. Not very fun, unique, useful nor creative.
8. Things that light up. In this category I’ve seen both the classical glow sticks, but I also know that in 2023 the former Project Leader of WILMA, Saga Petersson, brought fairy lights in the shape of snowmans to Vinterbalen. They were really cute and could technically make it as number three on the list as well, but more on that later. This is something that will get appreciated by most people who enjoy the attention i.e. all active members – at least. A great way to conquer the dance floor. It’s quite fun, not a Triss and somewhat useful.
7. Nice food. This is fun, appreciated, useful and so not allowed. According to Sexmästeriet’s rules, food isn’t allowed to be brought and frankly that’s the only reason for this low rating. Personally I think it’s a boring rule, because I must say I’ve seen a couple of nice things in this category. Starting off with a delicious parmesan cheese. After all we are poor students and parmesan might not be on our daily menu.
Same goes for the two unripened avocados I received from the Novice committee’s own “Piggy” also known as Oliver Häggqvist once. Although to enjoy them you have to safely get them through the after party and then home, which in my experience can be difficult. Nonetheless I thought it was creative, very unexpected and (possibly) useful.
6. Games. You never know who will have the pleasure of becoming your bordsgranne. Perhaps the two of you will have everything in common and not enough time to talk, however this is not always the case. When bringing a game of some sort it’s guaranteed that the compulsory first ten minutes of getting to know each other will be as pleasant as possible. In addition, it can come to use in the future as well, which is great.
5. Resorb/C-vitamin. I’ve been given this quite a few times and honestly I’ve appreciated it every time. In comparison to the previous Games this might not be as good of an ice-breaker since it’s at this point as uncreative and common as a Triss, but it really is super useful.
4. A kit of some sort. Personally I’ve been given a “Late Night” – kit from the former Editor in Chief of this Magazine, Felicia Leandersson, which included both chewing gum, lip balm and condoms. The creative and considerate thought of putting together a kit – which you can make both useful, unique and fun – puts this higher up on the list.
3. Something according to the theme. Even though I’ve mentioned a lot of useful things earlier on the list, that isn’t the most important factor here. If you really are in need of something you shouldn’t put it in the hands of your bordsgranne. However, this is an item on the list that I believe can either deserve this third place or fall to the same spot as Triss. Either a useful and fun item contributing to your outfit and after that be put in that growing dress-up drawer of yours, waiting to be worn again – or a very easy way out, some completely useless decorative crap solely defendable because it can somehow be linked to the theme.
2. Personally designed things. By just the title, we can tell this is both creative and unique, but let me add a new factor – memorable. The personal touch can make your gift an item that the receiver forever connects to the particular event. Not to mention it can be both useful and fun too. A personal favorite is a painted/decorated shot glass. It can of course be a different kind of item, but I found the shot glass useful for both the next round of snaps as well as in the future. Since it’s so small, it’s easy to bring too.
Another good example is the custom made medal that I believe Project Leader for eeeDays Sara Lindblom deserves the credit for. The very creative idea when it first came – is just like the previous gift suggestion – a great memory. Also with the guarantee that the creator (you) – won’t ever be forgotten – if you decide to do like Sara and put your face on it. It’s obviously unique, it’s suitable for a sittning and it shows that you actually put in an effort.
1. Original Christmas CD. Never before have I heard of any people putting this much thought and time into something so meaningless as a bordpresent. However, the genuine effort and the creation of LundaEkonomerna’s own BOY BAND put these guys and their recorded CD in first place. It consists of four Christmas songs covers, where “Mistletoe”, which offers some kind of medley, is my favorite. This is unique, this is creative and this is fun, but is it very useful you might think? Who owns a CD-player? Well, don’t you worry, these six guys study Informatics and have put their knowledge where it’s needed and given all of us access to their hits on SoundCloud as well. You can find them by searching for their name “System1” or through the link below.
Listen here: https://soundcloud.com/systemet-518724642
By: Edvin Henriksson, Edvin Bergquist, Lukas Andersson, Ossian Andersson, Samuel Nerius and Jakob Ellström.
There you have it, I hope this gave you some inspiration for the upcoming events. Dare to think outside the box and do something fun out of it. Maybe you’ll end up on the list next year.
See you at the table!
