Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus…in just about 72 hours…are you ready?!  I go into the last week before Christmas usually feeling somewhat prepared…and then it hits me 2 days before that I need to pick up like 5 more things. I don’t know how, but I always find myself running around like a crazy lady the last few days before Christmas.  It actually doesn’t bother me too much though…I kind of like the hustle and bustle.  That last minute dash with crowded malls and Christmas songs blaring…it kind of makes me feel like things are getting more and more exciting in the last days leading up to Santa’s big arrival.  If you have made your list and checked it twice…and realized that you still have gifts left to buy…don’t worry!.  I always like people to feel like their gifts have been thought about, toiled over and wrapped up under the tree for weeks…so these favorite go-to, last minute awesome gift ideas of mine are perfect for all of your friends, family and neighbors.  They are useful, creative and thoughtful…people will never know that you were scrambling when Christmas crunch time hit! 😉 Here they are in no particular order…the best last minute Christmas gifts for everyone on your list that can be safely under the tree by Monday night. (affiliate links are included in this post.) 

Still hoping to order a gift online and have it arrive by Christmas Eve?  Well, you’re in luck!  Several stores are still offering guaranteed Christmas Eve delivery.  Many of them are having awesome Christmas clearance sales on top of that.  Here are some of the stores still shipping by Christmas AND offering killer deals…

Anthropologie — offering up to 50% off of their best gifts  : order by Saturday 12/22 by 12PM EST  and choose express shipping and your order is guaranteed to arrive by Christmas Eve . SHOP THE SALE HERE

The Gap — Get it by Christmas shipping ends today by, 12/21 before 3PM EST plus 51% off your entire purchase with code SERIOUSLY.  Shop the Sale HERE.  

OLD NAVY the entire store is up to 75% off12/21 before 3PM EST  You can shop the sale here.

Pottery Barn– Get it by Christmas if you order with Next Day Delivery by Saturday Dec 22nd at 10AM PST.  They are having their huge 70% sale too!  SHOP THE SALE HERE

TARGET now is a great time to take advantage of their shop online, pick up in store option to get it under the tree in time and save the headache of being in the store. Shop the sale here.

WEST ELM up to 75% off tons of stuff in store. Get it by Christmas if you order with Next Day Delivery by Saturday Dec 22nd at 10AM PST. Shop the sale here.

Williams Sonoma  Get it by Christmas if you order with Next Day Delivery by 1pm EST on Saturday 12/22.  Tons of stuff on sale!

These are THE BEST DEAL right now and EVERYBODY loves them.  We are gifting them this year. 

Everything on these Gift Guides are available for 48 hour shipping (with Prime Membership)

Awesome Gifts for Teen Girls Under $50

Best Gifts for the Traveler

Gifts for the Teacher

If you know you aren’t going to make the above deadlines, here are some of my FAVORITE things to gift!

I LOVE to gift experiences.  It is so fun to give a gift to someone that is unique to their personal interests and is memorable.  Gifting an experience is fun and doesn’t have to break the bank either.  Here are some examples…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.  Last year I surprised John with tickets to the LA Travel Convention.  It is a yearly convention that is open to the public where they have lots of travel booths and cool speakers.  It just so happened that Rick Steves was speaking a few times over the weekend.  Well, John LOVES Rick Steves and travel!  The tickets to the convention were only $12, but it gave him the opportunity to hear Rick Steves speak and get a signed copy of one of his books.  He was SO excited and still talks about what a cool experience it was to meet “The Ricker” as he affectionately calls him. 😉 Print out a couple of tickets and wrap them up with something related to the convention or outing theme or topic.  I wrapped John’s up with a new copy of a Rick Steves travel book to get signed at the convention.  That way 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.

Have a foodies friend?  Stores like Sur la Table offer amazing cooking classes .  Print out a gift card or sign your gift recipient up for a class and wrap it up with a dish towel or apron.

Have someone on your list that loves interior design?  Pottery Barn stores often offer free design classes…wrap up a gift card in a  cute new pillow cover along with a calendar of classes or date to a class.  Call your local store to find out their schedule of events.

Check out local craft stores or fabric stores for 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. 😉 . You can usually print them out online too…so even if you did pick it up at the grocery store, they don’t have to know it. 😉

I’m a good old fashioned paper magazine lover, so I love gift subscriptions.  The best part is that this time of year they are often very inexpensive too…like $5 for a year!  These are a couple of my favorites…

Country Living

Better Homes and Gardens

Good Housekeeping

HGTV

US Weekly

When you are giving a gift subscription, make sure to 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.

You’ve already heard me talk about this numerous times if you follow the blog, but I am a believer and a lover of Amazon Prime .  Make that a complete die hard Prime fan.  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. 

I love that I can have just about anything on my doorstep in two days…for FREE?  Sign me up!  I ship gifts to cousins in other states, buy groceries and household items, the list goes on and on.  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!  Amazon offers a 3 month subscription for only $39…so if you want to gift a smaller subscription than the usual year for $119 , you can do that too.

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:

Saturday, December 22

Last day for Prime FREE Two-Day Shipping 
No minimum purchase

Sunday, December 23

Last day for One-Day Shipping

Monday, December 24

Last day for FREE Same-Day Delivery 
(in select areas)

Last day for Prime FREE 2-Hour Delivery with Prime Now 
(in select areas) 

Happy last minute shopping!

Tammy