This Last-minute gifts list includes some items I received as samples and also contains affiliate links where I might receive a commission.
It’s the last sprint before Christmas and if you are getting really sweaty and frazzled trying to dream up gift ideas I have a last-minute gift ideas list that might help you out and save some time. We have online shopping for goodness sake so there is no point getting stressed out about finding the perfect gift and there are so many fun things you can still buy online and look like you’ve had your gifts planned out forever.
Last minute gifts for babies:
Ever since Carter’s helped me give back to the NICU I’ve been even more smitten than ever. I bought my niece and nephews a ton of things from their online shops with unicorn, dinosaur and sloth prints. If you are really cutting it close for time, you can find Carter’s items on Amazon and they ship with prime so you can get them within days. I bought my nephew a flashlight from Skip Hop and I always love their dishes too.
I also love buying books as gifts, especially for babies and Baby University makes fun science-based ones. I was totally surprised to see a coding book for babies in the Amazon bookstore recently so I added this coding book to my gift guide because it’s about my level for coding too.
Last Minute Gifts For kids:
My guys are so into technology right now so I love Nintendo Labo anything because at least it gets them a little off their screens as they build cool stuff-it works with Nintendo Switch so you need that system first but my guys have the one with the fishing rod and I’ve had fun catching fish with them on a few mornings before school.
Tinkercrate and other things from KiwiCo
We also love our Tinkercrates. We’ve been buying them for so long now my guys have a complete shelf and won’t get rid of any of them. You can sign up for 3 months, 6 months or even a year and each month a box arrives with a cool engineering activity my 10 year old loves. One of my guys started doing Tinkercrate around when he was almost 9 and most of the projects he can do completely on his own and I’m tempted to start my other guy on the Doodlecrate. I recently discovered that it’s parent company Kiwico also has a store so if you’re trying to buy a gift and don’t want to buy a full subscription you can order items individually there too.
Awesome travel books:
I get a lot of books sent to me and my favorites are always the ones that focus on travel, especially for the kids. I recently received Illuminatlas that comes with a cool three color lens.
A couple other good gift books are the Scratch and Learn World Atlas and Atlas of Adventures Wonders of the World. Maps is one of our household all time favorites and a must if you have kids who want to learn about the world. I also have a bunch of other travel books my guys love listed in my Amazon Store and when they were younger they loved the books in this post about Airplane books for years.
Last Minute Gifts for grownups:
Food gifts:
I love food gifts and often buy things from Sugarfina because of their beautiful packaging and tasty candies and I can get them in Seattle online or at Metropolitan Market. I also buy a bunch of locally made products like Seattle chocolates and Chukar Cherries at Bartell Drugs and you can order online from them as well in Seattle.
For books, Shoe Dog was one of our household favorites and my kids even read the kids’ version. I also listened to Girl Wash Your Face and Boys in the Boat on Audible and I just got Becoming on Audible as well so a gift membership to Audible might be a good thing for someone who wants to listen to more books while they drive or commute.
Gift Memberships:
I am also such a fan of memberships. My mom recently bought me a gift membership to Grouse Mountain so we can visit there for a whole year! I also have memberships in Seattle to the Nordic Museum, Aquarium, Zoo and Science Center and all of them have giftable memberships or even gift cards that you can buy last minute and gift to loved ones for a fun experience gift.
And last minute Gifts for the sloth-lover in your life:
There are quite a few sloth-lovers in the world now and if you know a discerning sloth-lover like me and need to buy something last-minute I have a list of a bunch of sloth gifts in my Amazon “All Things Sloth” store.
(PS. as mentioned before, the above post contains affiliate links and links to products I have received as samples and as always the opinions in this post are my own.)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)