The best Last Minute Christmas Gifts that can be under the tree in 48 hours

It’s that time of year…the most wonderful time of the year…the time of year where everyone is scrambling to find the perfect last minute Christmas gifts for everyone on their list.  I have been WAY less organized than usual this year and have found myself running from store to store (like this afternoon at the mall) looking for the perfect last minute Christmas gifts for friends, neighbors and family members.  I have made a list and checked it twice and three and four times…and still have a few gifts left to get.  You know what though?  I actually kind of like that I still have things left to do!  There is something a bit exhilarating about being out in the hustle and bustle with everyone, and getting caught up in the frenzy of finding that one, amazing, last minute Christmas gift for the very last person on your list.  Ah, the thrill of the hunt! 😉  Just in case you are struggling with ideas for those that are still on your list, I wanted to share some of my favorite gifts that can still be under the tree in time for Christmas Eve.  And, they are super thoughtful and will make loved ones feel like you had their gifts wrapped up months ago. 😉  Ready?  Here we go…the best last minute Christmas gifts list to the rescue. (affiliate links provided for your convenience)

Can we just talk about Amazon Prime for a minute?  I am an absolute complete die hard Prime fan.  Many of you are probably already prime members, but if you aren’t, let me just talk about all the wonderful things it offers…stop me if I’m rambling…I honestly just can’t get enough of it!  These are just a few of my favorite things about Prime:

• FREE Two-Day Shipping on eligible items to addresses in the contiguous U.S. and other shipping benefits.  This benefit alone pays for your prime membership in a matter of about a month..at least in our house!
• FREE Same-Day Delivery in eligible zip codes.  HELLO AWESOME!!
• Prime Now: Get FREE two-hour delivery or scheduled delivery on over 10,000 items, from groceries to electronics and more. Plus, get free delivery from your favorite local stores. Available in eligible zip codes only. WHAT?  LOVE this!  No more trips to the grocery store!
• Restaurant Delivery: Get FREE one-hour delivery from popular restaurants with Prime Now. Available in eligible zip codes only. 
• Prime Video: unlimited streaming of movies and TV episodes for paid or free trial members in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. We cancelled our NetFlix membership and just use this..LOVE it!  Saves $10+ a month right there!
• Prime Music: unlimited, ad-free access to hundreds of Prime Playlists and more than a million songs for members in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.  Just like Pandora only AD FREE!
• Prime Photos: Secure unlimited photo storage and enhanced search and organization features in Amazon Drive for you and the members of your Family Vault.  This one is HUGE for me with all the photos I take!
• Prime Early Access: Get 30-minute early access to Lightning Deals on Amazon.com. Helps secure great deals especially at times like this!
• Prime Reading: You can borrow books, magazines, and more from the Prime Reading catalog and read them on your Fire tablet, Kindle e-reader, or the Kindle reading apps for iOS and Android. 

Reading this list I think you may start to realize that I am a bit lazy. lol!  Honestly though, if I know that I need something and there is no way I’ll make it to in the next 48 hours to grab it…I know I can have it on my doorstep in that same amount of time or maybe even less…for FREE?  Sign me up!  I ship gifts to cousins in other states, buy groceries and household items, the list goes on and on.  I have recently started buying a bunch of clothes and shoes etc. too.  The returns are SO easy and the prices can’t be beat.  Prime honestly makes my life SO much easier, and that’s why it makes the perfect gift too!  I haven’t seen them do this before, but I noticed that Amazon is offering a 3 month subscription for only $33…so if you want to gift a smaller subscription than the usual year for $99, you can do that for a limited time too.

I am BIG on experiences.  When it comes to gift giving I would really like to give the person I am gifting something that is unique to their particular interests and is memorable.  This is where cool experiences come in.  The best part is, these things don’t have to cost a fortune either.  Be creative!  Check your local convention center, amphitheater, college performing arts center etc. and see what’s coming to town over the next 6-8 months.  For example…LA has a GREAT Foodie Convention.  Tickets are relatively inexpensive to get in the door and it makes for a fun outing.  Print out a couple of tickets for your foodie loving friend or relative and wrap them up with a cool jar of specialty pickles or some sort of condiment, so they have something fun to open that day, and something fun to look forward to in the coming months.   Stub Hub or TicketMaster will give you an idea of what’s coming too.  If you are buying tickets to an upcoming concert, wrap up a CD with the gift card or tickets.  Purchasing sporting event tickets?  Get a foam finger or a hat from their favorite team to go with the tickets, or a gift card so they can pick their own tickets.

Speaking of cool experiences, did you know that stores like ?  Print out a gift card or sign your giftee up for a class and wrap it up with a fun spatula for them to open.

For the design lover, often offer free design classes…wrap up a gift card or a pillow with a date to a class.  Call your local store to find out what they will be offering next.  Michaels Stores offer cake decorating and other crafting classes.  Give a gift card with a schedule of classes…something unique.  It’s that little addition of the class or a class schedule to go with the card that makes a gift card look a lot more exciting and like you actually THOUGHT about them and what they might like as opposed to just picking something up from a gift card carousel at the grocery store as you were checking out with your milk and eggs. 😉

I’m a good old fashioned paper magazine lover, so I love gift subscriptions.  My favorite magazines are:

Country Living

Better Homes and Gardens (a year for $5!!!  Great Stocking Stuffer too!!)

Good Housekeeping

HGTV

US Weekly

If you are buying a magazine subscription, just make sure you buy the current issue at the grocery store so you have something to put under the tree to let them know they will start seeing their issues arrive in 4-6 weeks or so.

Several stores will still guarantee arrival by Christmas Eve.  Here are some of my favorites:

and Standard Shipping: order by Wednesday, 12/21/2016 at 11:59 p.m. ET and delivery is guaranteed by Christmas Eve

— you can always count on them to pull you through in a pinch!  They are offering FREE guaranteed Christmas delivery on certain items if you order by December 22nd.  Today at 12PM EST is the deadline for shipping anything two-day business shipping.

— 1-DAY SHIPPING Order by Thursday, 12/22 before 3PM EST plus 35% off all full priced items and an extra 40% off of all sale with code HAPPY.  

— Standard Shipping $4.00  Free– spend over $40  Delivered on or before Friday, 23 December 2016  Note: Subject to placing your order before specific cut-off times. Details available in checkout.

Finally, if you do have an Amazon Prime Membership (or you have decided to gift one to yourself ;)) then you really do have the world at your fingertips as far as last minute gift giving is concerned.  Anything marked with a prime symbol (which really seems to be just about anything you might possibly want) will be delivered according to the following schedule:

Two-Day Shipping: FREE on qualifying orders for Prime members to most parts of the country; check product detail page for holiday availability.

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One-Day Shipping:  Available in select cities. FREE on qualifying orders over $35 for Prime members.

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Same-Day Delivery: Available in select cities. FREE on qualifying orders over $35 for Prime members. Ends at 9:30 a.m. local time or earlier. Two-Hour Delivery with Prime Now: Available in select cities, exclusively for Prime members. FREE with minimum order values. Ends at 9:45 p.m. local time or earlier.

Here are some of my favorite gifts for the season that all qualify for Prime:

Kindle Fire only $39!  A rockin’ tablet for $39?! Awesome!

Amazon Echo –also on sale for only $39.  The more I read about this little number the more I am convinced that Amazon is going to take over the world.  There might be a couple of these under our tree this year…just sayin’. 😉

Coffee Table Books — I have a slight obsession with these books.  Pick a topic your loved one is interested in and get them a pretty book of pictures about it.

A digital SLR – one of these is ALWAYS guaranteed to be a hit—with anyone!

Roomba –  The gift that keeps on giving…clean floors all year without any work!  These are SO who doesn’t want a robot vacuum? 😉

Travel gadgets and Luggage – perfect for anyone who loves to get away!  Or, you can get or to help them escape sometime! 😉

ok, hopefully I haven’t overwhelmed you!  I just think these are fun gift ideas anytime, but are perfect because you can whip them up practically out of thin air and these last minute Christmas gifts can be under the tree in a minute too!

Good luck with all your last minute shopping and wrapping!

Tammy