It’s crunch time, so we’ll just cut to the chase with a list of last-minute gifts we’ve turned to in the past when all of a sudden Christmas is just hours away.
Cookies. We know, who has time to bake? But everyone has that one recipe they turn to, maybe from grandma, mom, Martha Stewart, or the back of the chocolate chip bag. Tonight, just put on those big girl pants and make a batch. Bake them first thing in the morning (your house will smell all Christmassy), throw them in a gift bag and pass them out as hostess gifts, neighbor gifts, even stocking stuffers. No one will be disappointed.
Cash. This year most of our gift-giving is for late-teens and early twenty-somethings, and nothing — and we mean nothing — is more appreciated than cash. I’m not naming names, but one of us may have spent an embarrassing amount of time on Pinterest looking for clever ways to wrap dollars — shape them into a wreath; fold them into a chain, like those gum-wrapper ones we were obsessed with in middle school; fill up a box with single dollar bills – you get the idea. But why prolong the surprise? Just put cash in a card, sit back and bask in the praise.
Gift cards. Impersonal, yes. Practical and appreciated? You betcha. Make it more meaningful and choose cards from the recipient’s favorite store. Or Target, because isn’t Target everyone’s favorite store?
IOUs. You’ve tracked the package, stalked the front porch, maybe even followed the delivery truck down the street. (Oh right, no one else does that.) Still, sometimes Santa just can’t do it all. When a gift doesn’t arrive in time, or you forgot to order it in the first place, or you’re waiting to order it after Christmas when it’s half the price it is now, don’t settle for just any IOU. Get creative! You could cut out letters to spell the gift that isn’t there and make a Scrabble game out of it. You could play charades to guess the gift, or just turn an empty box into an elaborately gift-wrapped package. For this gift, the only limit is your imagination.
Simplicity. When our daughter was three, she loved to color. So Santa filled a basket with crayons, markers, a stack of free coloring sheets he printed off from somewhere online, stickers and — her favorite gift of all — Scotch tape. The sight of all those little presents was almost more than she could stand. This remains one of our all-time successful gifts, and offers the best last-minute gifting lesson: Don’t overthink it, and wrap absolutely everything.