• You can get your best friend a cool gift without breaking the bank.gift image by Ekaterina Fedorova from Fotolia.com
  
  Selecting a gift to give your best friend doesn't have to be a stressful, expensive task. You can find a gift that is both thoughtful and inexpensive by using your knowledge of what your friend enjoys to get him an appropriate present. Well-chosen, inexpensive gifts that come from the heart are often more meaningful than those that cost a lot of money.
  
  

Paperback Novel

• As Groucho Marx said, "Outside a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside a dog, it's too dark to read." Give your best friend a book that demonstrates how well you understand her taste in literature. If she is a fan of serious fiction, you could give her a copy of Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" or "The Wind-Up Bird" by Haruki Murakami. If your best friend loves reading comics and graphic novels, either Michael Chabon's epic novel about the comic book industry in the 1930s and 40s, "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" or "A Clash of Kings," the first in George R.R. Martin's popular fantasy series, would make an appropriate gift. And since paperback novels are substantially cheaper than their hardback counterparts, you will be able to give your friend a thoughtful gift without having to shell out a lot of cash.
  
  

Gift Card

• Because you know your best friend well and know what he enjoys, you know what kind of gift card he would appreciate without having to spend a lot of money on it. For example, if your best friend has a favorite coffee shop, you could give him a gift card for that coffee shop so that he can enjoy a few free drinks on you. If he has a wide variety of interests and you're having trouble deciding which gift card he would enjoy best, ask him a few leading questions without tipping him off so that you can choose the most appropriate card.
  
  

Stop The Junk Mail

• One thoughtful free gift option is to stop your best friend's junk mail for her. Unsolicited mail clogs our mailboxes and clutters our environment; most of us would prefer never to receive another piece of junk mail. Tell your best friend beforehand that you are doing this for her so she can tell you which catalogs she wants stopped and which, if any, she'd like to continue receiving. After coordinating with your friend, sign her up for a customized free stop-the-junk-mail service so that she will receive only the mail she wants.