(Photo: Sandra Wei/Unsplash)
Are you a last minute shopper looking for affordable gifts for your family and friends? Or maybe you want to spoil your loved ones while being eco-friendly? If so, you might find this list helpful.
1. Make a Homemade Bouquet
This gift is an absolute classic — perfect for any holiday celebration! Especially during lockdown, bouquets are a refreshing scent of the outside world.
And they’re easy to make: To get started, you can scavenge native flowers from your local community or trail. Then arrange them, tie them and you’ll be done!
2. Create a Custom Playlist
If you’re looking for something unique, curated playlists are great gifts! Make sure to personalize them, throwing in bits and pieces of the receiver’s favorites utilizing platforms such as Spotify or Apple Music.
From the perspective of a music lover, nothing is more heartfelt than a well-thought out playlist. So make sure to take some time out of your busy schedule.
3. Write a Heartfelt Card
Words are often the best way to convey one’s affection for one another. Writing heartfelt letters to those you most care about shows how genuine your feelings for them might be.
While doing so, consider writing cards in different styles. Perhaps a poem can encapsulate the memories you want your reader to recall. Or consider making the card yourself out of colored paper and fun stickers!! These unique formats can help convey how much you care about this person.
4. Bake Some Fresh Goodies
If you like to bake and find yourself making too many goodies for you and your direct family to consume, you can gift them to your loved ones! Just wrap them up, place the yummy treats in a nice basket, and decorate the packaging with whatever fun and festive add ons you can find around your home.
5. Invest in an experience
We all have that one friend who seems to have it all. It's impossible to shop for them because although they would be grateful to receive anything, they may not have much space in their homes.
For these special people in your lives, consider setting up a memorable experience you and this person can share. Scavenger hunts around your town could be a great idea to spend time together or maybe even a gift certificate to any kind of fun class such as cooking, yoga or pottery making sessions.
6. Choose a Custom Mask
After almost two years into lockdown, wearing a mask all day can be infuriating. Instead, spice it up with unique, custom masks. They’re colorful, and can be a great way to express the receiver’s identity.
Best of all, they're reusable. And if you can, try making one by hand for an even more eco-friendly option! Custom masks make a cool, practical gift to send.
7. Hand-Made Crafts
Whether a knitted sock or a framed picture, handmade crafts are an endearing message to family and friends. They're one-of-a-kind, so be sure to put time and effort into thinking about your gifts.
8. Practical Items
It might be nice to gift someone an item they’ve been needing or wanting to replace but haven’t had the time, effort or money to indulge in it. You can get them anything! Maybe gift a rechargeable lighter, so they can light some candles and get in the holiday spirit. Or if they are a book worm, give them a bookmark. The best budget and eco-friendly present is the gift that keeps on giving.
9. Some Sort of Subscription
A great gift idea could also be finding out a little more about what the person might like to spend their free time doing, and then buying them a subscription that corresponds with this interest. Some great subscription ideas can be to Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, your local gym or Spotify.
10. Garage Sale
And last, but definitely not least, check what you have in your garage! It’s a last minute solution, but you may have some nearly-new helpful home goods, or even a few nifty packages still left unopened. Wrap them up, slap a card on, and you’ll be good to go!