The Last Minute Shopper’s Guide to Holiday Gift Giving

SHARK BITES – The Last Minute Shopper’s Guide to Holiday Gift Giving

Christmas is just a few days away.  If you haven’t crossed off all of those wishlist items or have put off shopping until now – don’t worry!  Instead of adding to the stress of holiday gift giving when you wait until the last minute, here are some great ideas to please your friends and family, and keep you out of the dog house this year!

• Classic Options – The classic, most traditional way to gift something last minute is to pick up some flowers or lottery tickets, or to make your own coupon books for things like baby sitting and special favors.  Although they may be heartfelt and pre-meditated, they also are screaming, “I forgot!”  If you really make these types of gifts personal, you can probably get away with it.  Purchase a gift card at the recipient’s favorite store, or write a poem with that bundle of flowers! 1800Flowers.com offers free same-day delivery, and allows you to send a note along with the bundle.
• Groupon – If you’re shopping around last minute, and are holding out for the perfect gift, you may run into shipping deadlines that don’t allow your gift to be delivered by Christmas.  A great standby gift is a Groupon!  From car detailing to archery lessons, and restaurant discounts to massages, you’ll find a ton of great options for gift giving – and your Groupon can be emailed to the recipient for immediate use!  You could also print out the Groupon, wrap it in a pretty bag or box, and gift it to those recipients that don’t require shipping their gifts.
• Amazon  – Amazon’s last day for orders arriving with guaranteed delivery by Christmas is December 23rd.  Note that you’ll have to pay more for your items to get there in time, but with Amazon’s wide array of gift possibilities, this is worth the cost. With their lowest prices and Daily Deals, Amazon offers a little something for everyone, and will get the gifts you want sent on time.  Amazon Prime members can order up until December 22nd to get their free 2-day shipping and have the items arrive in time. In fact, your recipients would never know you shopped last minute!  Select cities even get free 2-hour delivery on December 24th if you’re cutting it really close. That’s a win-win situation!
• Walmart.com – Walmart just announced that shoppers can go to Walmart.com until 4pm on December 23rd, and pick up their purchases at select Walmart Supercenters until 6pm when stores close on Christmas Eve.  This pickup option is free, saving you some cash.  In fact, they even added a new page to the site, with the items available for this awesome option!
• In-store shopping – If you don’t mind fighting the crowds of other last minute shoppers, you might find some great gift ideas for friends and family that are close, and gifts that don’t require shipping.  Retailers are pushing the items they need off the shelves after Christmas right now, hoping to get the last bit of shoppers (like you) to gobble up savings on gift ideas.  If you don’t need to ship your gifts, this is probably your best option.

Keep holiday gift giving stress at bay, and use these ideas for last minute gift giving!  The last minute shopper doesn’t have to be obvious – gift them something they’ll love, and they will never know you procrastinated!

~Sharky

What is “Shark Bites”? Shark Bites is a money-saving tips series here on FreebieShark that aims to help you and your family get the most out of your money. “Shark Bites” posts are both educational and straight to the point. Just another way FreebieShark is helping you save!