Last Minute Christmas Gifts

By Lauren Scott, Arizona Farm Bureau Intern

I’m a procrastinator and I won’t deny it. When it comes to birthdays or Christmas, I’m that person who is at the mall on the 23^rd looking for gifts for my friends and family. I will mill the mall for hours trying to find that perfect gift, or I will pay $30 for expedited shipping on Amazon. In the end, I never find what I’m looking for. Usually, the people that I shop for at the last minute get gift cards; and while that’s not too bad, I’d much rather give them something meaningful that I put a lot of thought into.

That is where homemade gifts come into play! They are fun to make, relatively easy to put together, and the person getting the gift will be sure to love your thoughtfulness. Some great elements of a homemade gift can be the person’s favorite candy, snack, scent, book, or movie. Now let’s take a look at some last minute gifts that I’ve given in the past.

1. Head to any superstore like Target or Walmart and grab a reusable plastic tumbler cup. These come in the typical style with a straw (you can even get one from Starbucks if your friend likes coffee), a Mason jar style, and many other styles. Fill the cup with things like candy, a gift card or two, lip balm or makeup, cash, or any other small gifts you like. Tie a bow around the outside and you’ve got your gift.
2. Purchase a soft pair of slippers in the size of the person receiving the gift. Tie them together with ribbon, and place small gifts inside the foot holes. You can gift foot cream, hand cream, nail polish, a small pedicure set, candy, or other small gifts.
3. Buy a large glass jar that comes with a lid. Put little gifts inside that pertain to what your friend or family member likes. Add makeup, hair products, lotion, and bubble bath for a person who likes beauty products. Add soda, beef jerky, chewing gum, tortilla chips, and cheese dip for someone who likes snacks. You can also make a jar with a recipe inside. Add a bag of cake mix, a tub of frosting, and sprinkles so someone can make a cake. Put an ice cream scoop, cones, chocolate syrup, sprinkles, and crushed up nuts in the jar for someone who loves ice cream.
4. Create a ‘box of sunshine’ featuring all yellow items. Use candy and gum in yellow packaging, a yellow candle, yellow nail polish, snacks in yellow packaging, a yellow shirt, and any other yellow products.
5. If you’ve got a friend or family member who likes movies, you can make them a movie a movie basket. Purchase a bucket of un-popped popcorn, add candy bars and packages of candy, cans or bottles of soda, a DVD or two, and a gift card to a movie theater.
6. Like the ‘box of sunshine’, you can create boxes based off of your friend or family member’s favorite color. If they like blue, create a box with blue candy and snacks, blue clothing items, a DVD with a blue cover, blue makeup or personal hygiene products, and other blue products you think they’d like. If they like a color like red, you can also include fruit like apples.

You don’t have to give extravagant and overpriced gifts this holiday season. Make someone happy with a heartfelt gift that is tailored to what they like. For more Christmas food, decorating, and gift ideas, check out Fill Your Plate!