Lists Yule Love: Last-Minute Gifts

By WYDaily Staff Friday, December 23, 2011

We are closing in on the last minute before the holidays catch up with us. Here are some ideas from our office and a few folks in our circle who were good enough to share their last-minute gift ideas. Do you have a tried-and-true last-minute gift? Leave it below in the comments.

Bottle of Wine: Choose a bottle with an eye-catching label, wrap a ribbon around the neck and call it a gift!
-Emily Gerdelman

Seasoned Nuts: Simple to prepare, sweet or savory; anything beyond cookies can be a welcome snack this time of year! A Google search for “seasoned nut recipes” provides plenty of inspiration. Once ready, pour in a mason jar, add a small piece of fabric on the top with rubber band and finish with festive ribbon. There's not enough nuts in the world - in fact, put that on the tag!
-Tiffany Francis Reaves

Homemade Coupons: Create your own coupon book – all you need is a printer, a stapler and a little creativity.  Good for one back rub.  Good for one leaf raking (whole yard).  Good for one homemade dinner.  The possibilities are endless and thoughtfulness is sure to be appreciated!
-Kristin Thompson

Closet exchange: I'd be sad to see someone else look better in my stuff than I do, but going "shopping" in a friend’s closet, and vice versa, is a fun and free way to switch up your wardrobe. Take inventory and give everything back a few months later or perhaps you will realize after the stuff is gone you didn't really need it anyway...
-Tiffany Francis Reaves

Re-gift it: Office parties, Secret Santa, Grandma's holiday dinner - all these festivities can leave you with a bucket full of gifts you'll never use. The handy 50-in-one tool? That gadget to cut you out of your car in an accident, should the fire fighters be too slow? The blanket with a place for your hands and feet? You can easily knock out half your Christmas list of lower-tier friends and family with all of these, rewrapped. Just remember - don't give a gift back to the person who gave it to you. Oops!
-Desiree Parker

Re-gift it again: Another suggestion for re-gifting…open gifts from out-of-town relatives as soon as they come and pass the item right along!
-Carter Warley

Re-gift it…craft style: Take all the gift cards you’ve received (and won’t use) and make a mobile out of them for a creative take on giving.
-Tom Davis

Scratchers: How about lottery tickets, already scratched, so they don't have to wait to find out if they won.
-Tommy Mahnken

Hand Warmers: This is something I just picked up in the cheap aisle at Target, as much for me when I watch my kids play sports in the cold as anyone.
-Kim Lenz

The Twelve Packs of Christmas: Twelve different 12-packs of beer (yum)!  Grocery stores are bound to be open through Christmas Eve (if not Christmas morning) or you can find websites that will do all the work for you.
-Tom Davis

Flowers for a Year: You can set up flowers to be sent monthly to someone for a full year and pay in advance and they will put something together and send it each month automatically - used to do this for my mom and she loved it - or said she did.
-Tom Davis