Buying last-minute Christmas gifts can cost a few weeks' worth of stress. But deciding what to give to the giftee is half the job. The other is probably divided into earning money/making the gift, buying, and wrapping.
One person asked Reddit users "What last-minute gift for Christmas is always a winner?". The question got 35,6k upvotes and over 8k comments. Bored Panda selected the most popular ones to give you some ideas.
More info: Reddit
#1 Thrifted Books
One of the best gifts I've ever received was a big box of thrifted books. I am a big reader of trashy romance novels and I go through them pretty fast. They paid like $5 for this box of books and it gave me like 3 months of reading material. I was super happy!
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101points
Responses varied from very practical gifts like socks, food, amazon/grub hubs gift cards to experiences such as massage coupons or theater tickets. A few people mentioned cooking, and it is often true that a handmade gift someone put a lot of thought or effort into creates more warm fuzz than an expensive one.
#2 Homemade Cookies
Homemade cookies. One year I was particularly broke and decided to make everyone Xmas biscuits. Felt a bit stingy as I didn’t really spend anything on it (had all the flour, eggs, spices etc already at home and only had to buy a single chocolate bar to make choco chips) but people LOVED it and now ask me for them each year. I usually personalise the flavours or ice the person’s name/something they like on them. For one friend (who loves warm cookies) I gifted a log of cookie dough and cooking instructions, that went down pretty well.
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93points
#3 Children
People always say children are a gift from god. Maybe I will start giving out children for Christmas. Not like the ball pit at ikea has armed security, shouldn't be too difficult to get a dozen children or so.
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89points
#4 Home-Baked Treats
This has been a rough year for me. Funds are tight so I am making 100 dozen tamales to give to my family and friends this year. And for my Christmas grandchildren's birthdays I am making them their favorite cake. Hummingbird. I know every one will be happy as I am always being asked to make these items for them throughout the year.
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82points
People based their responses either on what they always like to get or what they know their family loves to receive. A few were in a festive mood and gave joke answers, but someone might actually appreciate them, like "Bag of batteries with a note saying 'toy not included'".
#6 A USB With A Playlist
Last year i put hundreds of the best rock music on a USB for my dad to listen to in the car. It was the night before Christmas. He uses it everyday still.
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72points
However, someone pointed out that a lot of suggestions were pretty expensive gifts "ya'lls last minute gifts are my 'If I won the lottery 3 months before Christmas' gifts". Hopefully, this person has enough to buy a shop vac as a last-minute gift this year.
#8 Snacks
I feel like snacks for stocking stuffers are always a win with me. If my wife is reading this please give me bbq pringles please for my stocking.
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70points
#9 A Christmas Card
A card with $5 in it and a super sweet message from my grandpa about how proud of me he is.
Happened to me when I was 12. My grandpa had just passed away and he had already made cards for everyone. I still have the card and the $5.
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68points
#10 A USB Flash Drive
Last year I was at Microcenter buying someone a drone, and they have bins of 32GB flash drives at the checkout counter for $3. I bought 15 and put them in everyone's stockings. People loved it.
51points
If you need more ideas for what to give or not to give check out what Bored Panda wrote about it before.
#11 Custom Magnets
One year I went to my grandmas house and snapped a few pictures of the old albums. Went home, made some collages out of the pictures, made them into magnets. (I did this at home with what I have, but a mail order place can do it too) I didn’t know if people would like them but several people cried when I gave them out. They all compared pictures and still have them up.
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47points
#13 A Notebook
If you've got a fairly geeky group of friends, fancy leather notebooks from Barnes and Noble will do the trick easily.
If not, the amazon gift card always works.
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43points
#14 Tickets
Tickets to something that person would enjoy, whether it's a play, musical, concert, dinner theater experience, live podcast, comedy show, sporting event, movie, museum, art show, historic place tour or tour of something else. It's easy to get (just buying tickets/passes to something) but also very personal & meaningful. It can also range from being a cheap gift (like movie tickets) to more expensive (like a Broadway show) depending on your price range and closeness to that person.
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42points
#15 A Food Basket
Food basket with sausage, crackers, and cheese. I love getting them, it makes for great snacks or even a good meal.
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42points
#17 A Gift Card And A Home-Baked Treat
A gift card to a store they like + a home baked treat (banana bread or chocolate chip cookies)
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37points
#18 A Bag Of Batteries
Bag of batteries with a note saying “toy not included”
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35points
#19 A Lump Of Coal
I work at a coal mine. I usually grab a chunk every year for someone.
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35points
#20
I like my gifts to be practical, no matter who's getting them.
Small, bright keychain lights like the Photon Micro or the Olight IE3 EOS.
Small Swiss Army knives like the Swiss Army Classic.
Awesome socks like Smartwool or Darn Tough or Fox River.
High quality beanie from Outdoor Research, Arcteryx, Smartwool, Sealskinz.
Space pens and a small, quality pocket notebook.
Coffee Travel mugs from Contigo.
Small car emergency kits, everyone needs them and literally no one has them.
Powerbanks
If you live some place it snows: A good snow scraper, because again, for some reason, everyone has some piece of junk from a gas station.
Magnetic charging cables. Seriously. I give these all the time and they're a huge hit, especially for iPhone users who seem to be constantly breaking either their cord or the charge port. I like the NetDot and Volta.
Small, quality multi-tool from Gerber, Leatherman or SOG. These are especially popular with women that get them from us.
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35points