Gift buying tips for the procrastinator in us all
’Tis the season for the organized. While Christmas time is filled with joy and, without a doubt, the most wonderful time of the year, it can also be the most stressful. Yes, I’m talking to my fellow procrastinators out there.
We all want to find that perfect gift for our friends and families, but when it’s just days before Christmas and we still haven’t encountered it, it’s time to get creative.
Here are five easy, inexpensive, last-minute gift ideas to get you through Christmas Eve to the pure bliss that is Christmas morning:
What better gift to give than one that will be used each year at Christmas time? You can customize and personalize a hand-painted ornament to give this Christmas season.
1. Amazing Glaze awards gift-giving praise
Homemade gifts are the best kind of gifts. With Amazing Glaze as close as the Festival at Bel Air, a convenient hand-painted masterpiece would make the perfect gift for family and friends alike.
While Amazing Glaze has a plethora of ceramic canvases to choose from, including statues, picture frames, and plates, I would recommend something a tad more festive. Christmas ornaments and mugs for a nice cup of hot chocolate are ideal for your Christmas-loving loved ones.
Although your masterpiece can be painted in just one day, it takes five days for the work of art to be glazed, perfected, and ready for pick up. While this gift idea may work for some, it may not be achievable for the most extreme of procrastinators. Not to worry, though. There’s always next year.
Choose a memory and frame it. A great Christmas present for anyone is a framed picture of a moment that you and the gift recipient have spent together.
2. No gift is lame when it’s in a frame
A memory can be the best gift you can give. Find your favorite picture of you and your best friend, sibling, cousin, grandma, or whomever and frame it as a gift to them.
A simple frame can be bought for a buck at your local Dollar Store if you’re tight on money, but you can also go to any craft store and purchase a wooden frame to decorate and personalize. While you can paint the frame any color, pattern, or design you want, I recommend splurging and purchasing chalkboard paint. This way you can paint the frame and then add a personal message. It gives the receiver of your gift the chance to decorate the frame as well.
If you want to get really crafty, you can make your own chalkboard paint by mixing one cup of any color paint with one tablespoon of grout. Slap that paint on the frame and voilà!
Giving ingredients for hot chocolate is the perfect way to spread holiday cheer.
3. Give a jar to raise the bar
What better way to celebrate the holidays than with baked goods? And what better way to give baked goods than without actually baking?
By layering the ingredients to your favorite brownie or cake recipe in a jar, you can create a visually appealing, delicious gift. And if cakes and brownies won’t please your gift recipient, who can refuse a nice mug of hot chocolate? Just layer the cocoa powder and marshmallows in the jar and add a sprinkle of cinnamon.
To finish it off, type up a label for the jar with instructions on how to cook your culinary masterpiece.
If you don’t have the means to create the hot chocolate kit, you can find pre-made kits in stores throughout the winter season.
Candy is a staple of Christmas time. To give it as a gift, put it in a personalized brown paper bag.
4. Christmas is incomplete without something sweet
When in doubt, go for sweet. An assortment of candies (more specifically, chocolates) is a great gift for anyone.
While a box of assorted chocolates or a pack of Hershey’s chocolate bars may not seem original, you can add a Christmas flair. By simply filling a brown paper bag with the candy, giving it googly eyes, a red nose, and antlers made of pipe cleaners, you have a festive reindeer bag of chocolates, likely to please all who find it under their Christmas tree.
If reindeer art isn’t your specialty, don’t hesitate to let your creative juices flow. You can create a Santa, cover the bag in snowflakes, or display any winter scene.
Give the gift of warmth this Christmas. Fuzzy socks provide warmth and comfort and are perfect for cold, winter days.
5. There’s nothing better than a box of socks
Socks. I know. It sounds lame. But when you’re trapped in a Secret Santa and have no idea what the person whose name you drew likes, socks are the way to go.
Inexpensive and on sale practically anywhere you look, socks are a simple gift for that one enigmatic person on your Christmas shopping list. Knee-high or short, patterned or fuzzy, socks provide the same warmth and comfort that you’re sure to feel in the hug you get after giving such an amazing gift.
Lauren Glase is the Media Chief for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.