A gift guide for couch dwellers

If you asked some of your friends who their best mate is, they would say, “The sofa,” wouldn’t they? Let’s be real - some people love being horizontal. They love being seated on something soft. This gift guide is for the people who treat working from home like a religion, and who only take their slippers off if they’re going to a wedding. 

These people can be house-proud, well-read, avid gamers etc. But one thing’s for sure - they’ve definitely thought seriously about whether they could rely on their Roomba to bring them a macchiato. So, let’s celebrate them, and let’s treat them to the refurbished, high-quality products that Back Market has to offer. You’ll have to bring them to them, of course, because there’s an extremely high chance that they won’t get up.

Gifts for people whose house is their castle

People who work from home and therefore treat it as an office, kitchen, bedroom, leisure space, bathroom and dining room tend to fall into two camps. There’s the guys who throw things around, never pick them up, and let plates teeter precariously high on rising piles of mould. And then there’s the guys who treat their home like a cherished member of the family; a member of the family that they love to clean and vacuum on a regular basis. 

This is for the second camp: the house-proud house-dwellers. First up, there’s the Back Market range of Shark vacuum cleaners, which wash and vacuum your house at the same time. These are elite cordless vacuum cleaners that will ensure that your friend never feels ashamed when their Zoom camera accidentally shines a spotlight on the state of their carpet. “Oh how awkward - I’ve just shown you the absolutely spotless state of my work-from-home setup.”

Or, for the aspirational barista in your friendship group, who “got massively into home-brewed coffee” during lockdown, there’s a great range of refurbished coffee machines at Back Market. These beat both getting a coffee from Costa and making a brew with a kettle and some instant granules. We’ll never know for sure exactly what goes on inside these beautiful gadgets… but the top-of-the-line models will make you espressos and cappuccinos; they will froth your milk; they will grind your beans. Sure, once they’ve got one your wannabe barista friend may become unbearable, but at least you’ll get a quality cuppa whenever you go round their place. 

Gifts for people who don’t wear trousers to work

Listen. Some people don’t wear pants to work, using working from home as an excuse to wear shorts every day. And that’s OK. As long as what’s going on up top looks professional, who are we to judge? But not caring about what they wear on their bottom half doesn’t mean these people don’t care about their gadgets. For those who do work from home and like to keep their work stations looking gorgeous, there’s the iFixit Keyboard Cleaning Kit, which will help your friend rid their keyboard of stray hairs, crumbs, and errant raisins. 

Of course, they need a keyboard in the first place - and if they have a laptop, they will already have one. But what if they want to attach a keyboard to their iPad, for more efficient working around the house? Get them a Magic Keyboard, a gadget that’s picked up glowing reviews from Back Market customers. Your friend will be grateful for the flexibility it affords them. And you can afford it too - it’s less than $150.

But - shock horror - what if they don’t even have a laptop, or their own one has just given up the ghost? If you and this horizontal friend (not a euphemism) are great pals, you could buy them a Lenovo ThinkPad T480, a gorgeous and extremely well-reviewed laptop that Back Market is selling for a steal. With a 16GB memory, 256GB storage, and a beautiful backlit keyboard, it will give them even less reason to ever leave the house. 

Gifts for people who call everyone ‘chat’

For some pals, the transition to working from home worked incredibly well because, let’s be honest, it meant they were able to disguise their gaming habits as working. We’re not saying that applies to your nearest and dearest, of course, but if you’re looking for a gift for the friend who remembers which socks they were wearing when they first completed The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, why not buy a Nintendo 3DS XL from Back Market?  In beautiful and refurbished condition, this comes in a gorgeous blue/black colour design. Weighing only 336g and with 8GB of storage, the 3DS XL is hugely popular and for good reason: it’s considered one of the best handheld consoles out there, with a large screen, great battery life, and sophisticated 3D capability. 

Or, if your friend wants to go back even further into the past and get even more retro, get them a GameBoy Color. This is absolutely guaranteed to produce a big grin on your face as well as theirs. This eight-bit bad boy is an icon of the gaming world and, at 27 years old, could be older than your friend themselves. Get them on Pokemon Gold and you may not see them for the next 8-9 months. Even when you do, the only conversation they’ll make will probably be snatches of babble about how close they were to bagging a Mewtwo. 

Remember: whether the couch is somewhere you live or something you sit on occasionally, you don’t need to buy new tech. Buying from Back Market’s incredible range of high-quality refurbished devices means you not only save heaps of cash on products that are almost exactly the same quality, but that you also do your bit for the planet. Shopping at Back Market is great for the sofa stans as well - everything’s available at the click of a mouse. They’ll only have to get up to let the delivery driver in.