I am writing this blog post on December 18. I have presents that I ordered on December 4 that still have not processed, as well as presents that are caught up in the shipping process.. Needless to say, 2020 is not a good year for present givers who wait until 5 days before Christmas to shop.
Don’t worry, I got you! I’ll share 5 last minute gifts that you can pull together from Target, Walmart, Homegoods and similar stores. Pre-boxed sets can be perfect in a pinch, but we can do better than that. I have some ideas of custom things you can pull together. You won’t have to make special trips to stores other then Target, but you can still make it feel like it was made for the recipient. Let’s dive in!
Idea 1- Custom Coupon Book
I know this sounds really cheesy, but I made one for my dad and he absolutely loved it. My parents love to go out to dinner with my husband and I. With Covid-19 precautions, none of us have been eating in restaurants since March. For his birthday in August, I decided to make him a coupon book welcoming him to my house for dinner. If I couldn’t bring him to a restaurant, I will bring the restaurant to him.
He got a book with 8 coupons. Each coupon featured a theme dinner. When he wants to come over for dinner, he just chooses the theme he wants and calls me the day before to request it. This gives me time to pull the ingredients together. Earlier this month he requested his Italian dinner. I have pasta, cannolis, and Italian beer on hand for him.
The great thing about this gift is that it is very little work upfront. You can print the coupons 5 minutes before you have to give them and you have a thoughtful gift ready to go. It buys you time because you can go shopping when they redeem a coupon weeks later. Not sure where to start? I put an editable version of the coupon book I made my dad in my free resource library. Not sure how to get into the library? Click here to join my email list and you will get the password to the library!
Idea 2- Custom Gift Basket
My second idea is a custom gift basket. When you go to the store you’re going to find dozens of gift baskets that you can grab and check out. These are great if you’re in a serious time crunch but if you have 20 minutes to browse the store you can probably pull together a custom basket that matches the person’s personality a little bit more.
Here’s my best example. I absolutely love a good bubble bath. Get me something that produces a ton of bubbles, add a face mask, a candle and a new nail polish to try and I’m a happy girl. The one thing that makes my bath different from most people’s, however, is beer. Yep, when I have a mud mask on and I am painting my nails pink, I would love to drink a beer.
Most bath baskets don’t come with alcohol in them and if they did it would probably be a bottle of wine because a lot of people drink wine in the bath. I would be shocked to find a bubble bath basket with beer in it but that’s the kind of gift I would want to receive. Instead of buying a pre-made bubble bath basket my husband could just buy the bubble bath, the face mask, the candle, the nail polish, and the beer, find a basket, throw some tissue paper in the bottom and he made a thoughtful gift for me.
There are a lot of ways you can do this and I’ll throw a couple of ideas out to get you started. If the person loves detailing their car get them some car wash, a tire polish, microfiber towels and an air freshener to put in their vent. If the person loves to garden get them some new gardening tools, some seeds to plant, gloves to wear and a knee pad to rest on. If the person loves to cook get them a pasta sauce and noodles, add a bottle of wine and a cooking tool to use.
A booklover? Get a newly released book, bookmarks, cozy socks, and a new tea mug. Have someone who likes art? Get them a new sketchbook, a nice set of colored pencils, and other art tools. If the person loves to bicycle, get them new cycling shorts, a headlamp, and some bicycle chain grease. New pet parent? Get them a dog mom or cat dad mug, some toys, and treats for the fur friend, and a carpet cleaner for accidents. You get the idea. Build a basket around their interests for an easy and thoughtful gift.
Idea 3- Homemade Decor
Before you stop reading hear me out on this one. I am not crafty at all. In fact, Corey has one handmade thing that I gave him for Christmas when we first started dating and confession- my parents made it for me because I am so bad at crafting. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve figured out some really easy shortcuts.
Of course, if you are crafty then go for it. If you know how to use a cricket machine, make them a water bottle with their name or something that’s really important to them. For example, I love my dog and I adore anything that is given to me that references me being a dog mom or fur mom. You can make them a custom T-shirt. if they love going to the library buy a canvas bag and make it for them to carry their library books for me. You get the idea.
If you are a painter, hand paint a photo frame and add a picture of the two of you. If you are good with woodworking build them a rack to hold their coffee mugs or a way for them to organize their necklaces. And if you’re shaking your head and saying I can’t do any of that, don’t worry I still got you.
If you’re handy with making things in PowerPoint you can make a custom artwork. Take a quote that’s meaningful to them or one of their favorite lines from a movie. Type it up on an 8 1/2 x 11 slide and make it in their favorite color or a custom font or add imagery to it. Print it out and put it in a frame that you bought from Walmart. All of the sudden they have a piece of artwork to go in their bedroom or the office that was created exactly for them.
If you don’t have any idea how to do this in PowerPoint, you were still in luck. There are beautiful images are already available on Etsy. Search and find one with a beautiful pattern or something that is important to them. Again this is where somebody could find me a print that says dog mom with a paw print on it and that would be super special to me. You can purchase it from Etsy, print it out on your home printer, and put it in that same frame. It couldn’t be easier to make a super thoughtful piece of art for somebody’s home.
Idea 4-Drink Kit
Most of us have a go-to drink. Whether it’s your favorite order from Dunkin’ Donuts or a cocktail you always get when you go out most people have one drink that they love. Those of us who make coffee runs regularly rack up a pretty penny over the year and probably would enjoy being able to re-create a favorite drink at home. And with people avoiding bars and restaurants they might not be having their favorite cocktail as often as they used to. Take advantage of this and make them a kit with everything they need to make it at home.
If the person gets a flavored iced coffee every morning, get them a tumblr to put their coffee and, buy them a coffee that they can brew and fun flavorings that they can add. I can find flavored syrups at home goods and target. My husband recently got me a peppermint syrup. I bought iced mocha coffee from the grocery store and I now make my peppermint mochas at home. I still go on a Dunkin run every week but now I can have peppermint mocha‘s every day if I want to without spending the money and it’s been awesome.
If the person loves teas, there are a lot of teas that you can get that are color-changing teas or the leaves look like a flower that bloomed in hot water. Get a tea like that and then get a clear mug for them to brew the tea in. They can watch the tea as it brews, which makes it that much more of an experience. Get them a small treat they can have with their tea and you just made a really thoughtful gift.
If they have a favorite cocktail get everything they need to make that cocktail. My husband really likes Moscow Mule’s so a couple of years ago my brother and sister-in-law got him a Moscow Mule kit. It came with the copper mugs and tools They gave him ginger beer, vodka, and limes. Now he can make his Moscow Mule’s at home.
Buy them a martini glass. Buy them a cocktail shaker. Buy them a tool to help strain their drink. You get the idea. Make it so they can open a gift and immediately make the drink and maybe they’ll share with you too ☺️
Idea 5-Ultimate Snack Bucket
Let me tell you, I love me some Trader Joe’s. They have the best chips, the best cookies, the best snack mixes, the best candy, the best box wine. I see a lot of snack baskets already arranged but none of them are Trader Joe’s themed ones and that’s what I would want for Christmas.
That’s where this idea comes from. Don’t buy one of the already created snack baskets, make a snack basket for the person. If you want to be a little bit more open about your gift, try making them a Google doc or something where they could share all of their favorites, and then you could build on the ultimate basket from there. If they have a major sweet tooth buy them 4 different types of cookies.
If they love spicy find all of the jalapeño chip products you can find. You can even get the things that need to go in the refrigerator or freezer. You could always include an insulated lunch box or a bin in the gift with those items or just pull them out of the freezer or fridge right before you give it to them so when they open and they can put them back in.
One more thing with this is think about who they might be sharing the basket with. If you’re giving it to your friend who has kids, think about adding something special for the kids as well. Maybe a sparkling lemonade or some juice boxes. If your friend has a dog that she’s obsessed with it might be cute to put a bag of treats or a bone in for the dog.
The idea is this basket would have everything they need to have the ultimate junk food night, which would be perfect for them to use on New Year’s Eve. In fact, I have a ton of ideas for date night and family night for New Year’s Eve that will be in the podcast next week so be sure to check back in and listen to that one.
I tried to make sure this list was easy for you guys to for fill if it’s December 24 and you need to run to target and pull it together. I hope you found an idea that was useful and don’t forget to get that free coupon book!