It happens to the best of us. We get so caught up in the holiday season that gifts for one or two (or three) people fall through the cracks. Don’t panic! There are plenty of gifts that show you care without having to wait a week for shipping (or spend days running arround the mall). Here are just 18 of the best last-minute holiday gift ideas when you need something meaningful, but fast.
For the foodies:
Love With Food Subscription (starts at $7.99/month)
Come on, what did you think we were going to put at the top of this list? All-natural snacks every month, delivered right to your door - and you help contribute to ending hunger with every box. Sign your loved one up now to start their 2017 off deliciously - and you’ll save $10 and get a free $20 box if you order a plan that’s 6-month or longer!
Winc Subscription (starts at $13 a bottle)
Flickr user smallkaa
What goes great with yummy snacks? The perfect wine. Winc will send your loved one different wines every month based on a simple taste profile, and the more they rate the wines, the better suited the shipments will be to their tastes. And we’re not talking Barefoot Wines here. These are lesser-known labels that they might not get to try anywhere else.
Kitchen Gadgets
Flickr user yourbestdigs
Sometimes all a foodie needs to create something amazing is the right tools. Give your loved one a cool gadget or two that they might not think to buy for themselves, but will soon become one of those “I can’t believe I lived without this” staples. We recommend something like an electric wine bottle opener (pairs nicely with that wine subscription), one of these doodads that will open literally any jar with none of that embarrassing effort, a spiralizer (so hot right now), or a cookbook holder so you don’t have to flip pages while your hands are messy. All available on Amazon Prime, btw.
Cookie/muffin/cake/whatever mixes in a jar
Flickr user The Foodie Gift Hunter
Everyone loves baked goods during the holidays, but unless you’re able to squeeze in the baking on Christmas Eve night, giving freshly baked goods can be tricky. Instead, give the gift of ingredients! Fill up a mason jar with all the dry ingredients needed for a batch of chocolate chip cookies or pancakes, and stick a cute bow on top. Mason jars run cheap (around $8 in-store at Target or Walmart), and the rest is up to you! All your giftee has to do is mix everything together and toss it in the oven! Cute, affordable and oh-so-simple.
For the one obsessed with HGTV:
Succulents
Flickr user salchuiwt
Succulents are a great way to add a little color and class to a room without too much trouble, or commitment. Unless your giftee is a big green thumb, gifting big plants that need a lot of care is kind of more trouble than it’s worth. But succulents are easy peasy. They hardly need any water! You can find them at just about any garden store (or any store with a garden section, like Home Depot) and usually come in pretty little planters too. It’s like a gift that doesn’t even need wrapping!
Flickr user giacomodaros
You might have seen these floating around the Internet, and unlike many things you’ll find there, these are no joke. When it comes to holiday gift ideas, these are some of the most unique. They’re crafted to give off the characteristic scents from each state in the U.S., and are just the thing for someone who couldn’t make it home for the holidays.
The one catch with these candles is they take a bit longer to make and ship out, so if you’re looking for a gift by the 25th this one might not make it. But we all have those friends or extended family we see AFTER Christmas - and if you know someone who went to another state for the holidays, a candle that smells like home is the perfect reminder for when they come back.
Flickr user tommerton2010
This is seriously sweet. Havenly’s tagline is “the perfect designer for every room” and they don’t mess around. For $200 you can gift your loved one access, collaboration and recommendations on redesigning a room in their house from a REAL interior designer. There’s no pressure to buy furniture or other items when they’re finished, and they’ll know exactly what they need for that redesign of their dreams.
For the fashionistas:
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again - subscription boxes are the procrastinator’s saving grace. And FabFitFun is so cool, it won’t even look like you just found it now. FabFitFun sends a box of cool home, beauty, fitness, fashion and wellness products right to your loved one’s house every quarter. It’s around a $200 value for just $50 a box. If you’ve got one of those friends or family members who always has to have the very latest and trendiest things, this’ll do it.
Sort of like FabFitFun, but for clothes. StitchFix analyzes a complex profile for every customer (women AND men, by the way) with color, style and size preferences to send them a box of perfectly curated clothes and accessories every month. It’s $20 a month for the styling, but if your giftee decides to buy something from the box, that $20 is taken off the price!
Enamel pins
Flickr user kvanhorn
If you’d prefer to actually have something physical to give your loved one, you can’t go wrong with this major trend. Enamel pins are blowing up, and they jazz up just about any jacket or purse. Prices can range based on how elaborate you go, but most are around $6-$10. Best part? You can scroll through pages and pages on Amazon - and almost all of them ship right away with Prime!
For the techie/geek:
Smart gloves
Flickr user stevendepolo
Problem: People who love phones/tablets/iPads live in cold places, and you can’t use those devices with regular gloves. So buy your tech-obsessed loved one gloves with finger pads that let them type away all day. You can grab them for $20 on Amazon Prime right now - and they even come in cute patterns.
Keyboard covers
Flickr user zappowbang
Let’s be real here: Keyboards get GROSS. Especially if you’re someone who works on a laptop or desktop all the time. Snag your techie a cool keyboard cover to make sure their keys stay pristine - but also help them make a statement, because Amazon Prime has some seriously cool-looking ones right now, and none of them will break the bank!
iPhone utility case
Flickr user Kevin Steinhardt
For anyone who says Swiss army knives are lame…they just haven’t seen a Swiss army knife in a phone, like this one by IN1. It’s got a nail file, tweezers, scissors, toothpick, two screwdriver heads and two pens, all inside the case!
Travel phone charger
Flickr user simbiosc
You never know when you might get stranded out of range from a wall plug, and if your techie loved one is half as dependent on their phones and computers as I am, then watching those batteries run out is even more painful. Travel chargers like this sweet one by Jackery can charge an iPhone 6 three times AND up to three devices at once. Why ever be unplugged, amirite?
For the wanderers:
Scratch travel map
Flickr user Lindblom
While Google Maps kind of eliminates the need for maps as an actual tool, using them as a way for your travel-hungry loved one to track all their travels is just cool. A scratch map (like this one) is just what it sounds like: you scratch off the top layer from whatever country or city you’ve visited, and underneath is another color, to mark that you’ve been there. Sometimes they’ll even have fun facts about the locations!
Travel lenses for iPhone
Flickr user wZa HK
Chances are, if you have a friend or family member who loves traveling, they love taking pictures of their travels too. And even thought iPhone cameras keep getting better and better, they still can’t always compare to the kind of photos you’d get with an actual lens. That’s where attachable lenses come in, like these. They’re easy to carry and even easier to snap onto your phone and get the perfect shot.
Airport lounge pass
Flickr user TravelingOtter
Even the most experienced traveler has nightmare airport stories. If you know a loved one has a big trip coming up, gift them the luxury airport experience with a one-day pass to a swanky airport lounge, so they can start out their journey relaxing in style. You can buy them for $59 at the Admirals Club at American Airlines and the United Club at United Airlines for $59, and for the Board Room for Alaska Airline for $45.
Scribd subscription
Flickr user kodomut
If you have a loved one who’s always taking long flights, gift them some free entertainment with a Scribd subscription so they’ll have access to all the latest and hottest books, audiobooks, news and magazines on their Kindle, phone, or whatever device they bring on those crazy long flights. A year subscription will run you $100, but you can always let just see if they like it with a three-month subscription for $25.
Have any other last-minute holiday gift ideas that don’t look last-minute? Tell us in the comments below!
