Inexpensive "Last Minute" Gifts that Are Fun and Thoughtful

Are you sort of poor also? Then please read my ideas for cool gifts to give that are not horribly expensive.

I don't know why "last minute" gifts have a bad reputation. Perhaps it's because by this time of December, people feel the "best" or most unique gifts have been snatched off the shelves of stores and not much is left. Perhaps some people equate "thinking ahead" with thoughtfulness, but that's hardly fair. Many of us are trying to celebrate the season without much money in our pockets, and oftentimes, if we are lucky enough to know a little bonus is coming, we have to wait for it before rushing to the store and getting presents. That can run us late and fighting the stigma of "last minute" shopping.

I will say here, that if you are one of those who has to have the matchy-matchy "perfect" Christmas, read no further. Or if it's all about the actual monetary value of what you give or get, you will be unable to perceive the value of these ideas, because these are inexpensive ideas with imagination and heart! But they aren't sappy ideas, such as "coupons" for backrubs and babysitting, that recipients would never attempt to redeem, either!

My holidays are not celebrated by a buying frenzy. Nor are they measured by the cost of what I receive or what I spend. These ideas aren't for the person who just wants to save money, either -- you know, the person who wants to give something because it's expected of them, not because it's from the heart -- someone who is definitely stingy in nature and who tries to straddle the fence of being a tightwad with being the fake do-gooder high-roller.

But if you're thrifty, kind, intelligent, and playful, read on! Here are some ideas:

My #1 Tip This Year: Go Vintage -- Shop at you local "antique" mall or "trash-and-treasure" shop:

I have a nephew who receives all the latest and the greatest, as he has since birth, in terms of popular toys, including electronics. I swear, everything the kid has either has a plug, batteries, or a motherboard. It's all passed off as "educational." Hello, children are already are in school beaucoup hours a day! Must EVERYTHING be educational? Blah! But what does he really like and play with? Yes, what I send him! I find vintage things for him. In the past, he's gotten bags of bottle caps, which he loves "collecting" and sorting now. One year it was vintage gumball trinkets. This year, I sent him a whole bunch of tiny vintage cowboys and Indians, with horses -- the kind that they used to give out at the Frost-Top -- tiny colorful horses, less than an inch long, with little removable riders, made back in the 50's. I got a whole set of them for $4 at the antique mall.

Whatever anyone collects, you can likely find a vintage version for very little money, and it will be unique! I have a friend who collects everything poodle-related. I found a great pack of children's playing cards that featured poodle puppies on the backs, all in the garish but fabulous colors and poses of the 1960's. They are one of her favorite things! Anyone can go spend a bundle on the latest dog figurine from the jewelry/collectible store, but you're running the risk of duplicating something or overspending. Or you're just buying into the cookie-cutter mass-produced mentality. But with vintage, you're rescuing something from the past and getting something really unique for the person at the same time.

For the Gourmand of Any Age
I'd love to be one of those people who can cook a "specialty" holiday item that friends and family clamor for -- but I'm hopeless in the kitchen. Cakes fall, fudge congeals into a pool of liquid, cookies can be used in the place of ninja throwing stars. Plus, cat hair finds its way into and onto everything. So, I buy the INGREDIENTS for my friends' favorite treats and give that to them! Sometimes it's a cookie-fest, with store-bought cookie mixes, along with cute sprinkles or bags of nuts to make it extra-special. Sometimes it's cake mixes and cans of icings, with a speciality pan or even some throw-away cake pans added if money permits, and again the sprinkles (kind of big on sprinkles around here). For maniacs for ethnic cuisines, I give them some ingredients for those cuisines, such as wasabi paste for those who like Japanese cuisine, or coconut milk and rice flour for Filipino cuisine fans, or a jar of minced garlic, a fat package of spaghetti and a jar of nice sauce for Italian fans. Mexican food fanatics can be given some masa mix, corn husks, and green chiles to get them on their way to trying homemade tamales. It helps A LOT if you have an Asian grocery or a grocery with a big international section in your town. We have a tiny Asian grocery that is like a secret here, but I found it and use it all the time.

Special Idea:
What is a very important and hard-to-find thing for gourmets and gourmands and young people and anyone who cooks? RECIPES. Honestly, there are a million horrible recipes out there, and just a bare few good ones. If you can get a collection of good ones put together, I mean tried-and-true ones, this would make a great gift.

Ideas for Teens
Most people think teens are a nightmare in terms of gift-giving, because they tend to be really rigid and want the "in crowd" thing, which is usually incredibly expensive, whatever it is. For last-minute gifts, I would suggest quarters.

Yes, you read that correctly: Quarters. As in a cup of quarters. I get a cup and top from the Quik-Mart or whatever (the smallest size because I don't have much money), and I fill it up with quarters, and it can ride in their car with them or be put on their bedside table if they have no car. They can put some quarters in their pockets or purse and they are now prepared for buying themselves snacks and things during the day. Teens use machines much more than adults do. They are somehow always around some kind of snack machine or cold-drink machine or laundry machine or do-it-yourself car-wash machine, all of which take quarters. It would be lovely to give them cups of dollars, but I don't have dollars. I do save quarters all year, so that I can give the teens in our neighborhood a cup of quarters. If you don't have change hanging around, go to your bank and get some rolls of quarters and divide them up for the teens.

POTATO GUNS: The greatest gift
If you don't have enough quarters, do your best to find a place that sells POTATO GUNS and give the teens each a potato gun and a few potatoes. I also give adults potato guns a lot. You would be amazed at how much they enjoy shooting potato pellets at each other. Another fun thing is to give everyone a cheap harmonica. Warning: Do not give people you live with the harmonicas, or you will start to hate them.

More Teen/Young Person Ideas
One thing I make for college-age folks is an emergency jar. I get a jelly jar, like a Mason jar or a Ball jar (or even an empty plastic jar), and I put things in it they might need. I have a little sewing kit, tiny scissors, tiny pliers, one of those tiny screwdrivers that has both the phillips head and the slot head, tiny measuring tape (try hardware store), some string, a few stamps, $2, some glow-sticks, a small unscented candle, matches, disposable razor, a compressed washcloth, gluestick, a deck of cards, a piece of soap, some aspirins, some anti-diarrhea pills, bandages, a fork, short pencil, pencil sharpener, a tiny pocket-knife, salt-and-pepper packages (like from fast food) and so forth and so on.

Fun Ideas for Groups/Families

Building on the harmonica idea, it can be loads of fun to give people musical instruments -- cheap musical instruments. If you are going to buy for a whole family, then get some musical instruments and give to them. Put in a harmonica or two, a pair of maracas (or make them with tubes or boxes with rice or split peas in them), a cowbell or three (you cannot have enough cowbell), a pennywhistle, a tomtom if you can get it (sometimes the toy department will have one). Get an empty oatmeal box for a tomtom if you can't find a real one. Can you get ahold of a triangle? Is there a music store in your town? Try there. Lots of Hobby Lobby stores have cowbells in them, in with the rah-rah homecoming area. This can be great, but don't give instruments to families you know are really gloomy and who love to be iconoclasts, because their joy is not in joining into anything, but in setting themselves apart. Then again, don't give this to the Brady Bunch type of family either, because that would be just too sickening, all the perfect little people grooving together in perfect harmony.

Meat Eaters
I often give bunches of different flavors of jerky and Slim Jims to meat eaters, along with the mini-can of Spam. I put it all into a small paper sack.

Vegetarians
I give a little box-full or sack-full of different interesting dressings to vegetarians. As a vegetarian, I appreciate lots of dressings because I eat so danged many veggies and so much pasta.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Ideas Not For Everyone
Obviously, these ideas are not for the uptight. For the uptight Hallmark/Mall/Designer drones, I suggest no gift, because nothing you can afford to give them will please them. I have a sister like that. We're estranged. Every thing I ever gave to her or her son (very spoiled but not his fault, he's being raised that way) was "not good enough" and "not expensive enough" and "not the right brand" and so on and so forth. I didn't give junk, I gave nice things with a lot of heart and thought in them, but they weren't what the rich want for themselves or their kids, so I moved on.

More Ideas -- The Creative Types
Maybe you know someone who might want to learn to crochet or knit. Get a hook or needles, get some instructions to make something easy (the Internet has loads of free instructions for scarves and things), get some pretty yarn in their favorite color.

Off the Net
I like paper things. I like to make things of paper. I also have found that other people like this, too. It depends on the person, though. Some people don't like anything crafty and they are not good candidates for this kind of gift. But I have printed off beautiful things from the Internet, for people to cut out and assemble. Many lovely things are available for free, like creches, whirling toys, little villages to make (including vintage-style Putz villages for Xmas time), tanks to make, paper dolls, all SORTS of things. I print them out on nice thick cardstock, on my printer's best setting.

Paper dolls: A note about these. Print the dolls off on cardstock. Print the outfits on regular paper. Something to do to add a super neat touch is to glue some flat-backed rhinestones or some paper or fabric tiny flowers to some of the outfits.

For kids and adult who enjoy coloring, there are all sorts of nice color-pages you can print off for them. Just add a nice box of new crayons, felt tips (you can get great Flair felt tips at office supply stores, in lots of colors) or colored pencils and there you go. I print off stuff according to what the recipient likes. Lots of preteen girls are horse-crazy and there are tons of pretty horse color-pages to print for them. Lots of preteen boys like "Army" stuff or planes and you can print those off. If you can find a vintage coloring book, you are lucky. Photocopy the pages and give that to the kids. The new photocopied pages are nice and bright white, and you can still have the vintage images to copy another time.

For Writers
Get them a bunch of notebooks and some good ink pens in different colors. This is good for when they are on the go and want to jot down ideas for their novels and poems and so forth. It's also good for at night when you can't sleep and want to write but can't fire up the computer.

For Eccentric Persons
I myself am eccentric. One thing that was a big hit with other eccentric people are those tiny metal cases that screw together and that contain a tiny roll of paper, like a spy capsule. Spy capsules are sort of hard to find, but at the big pet stores, they have these same type of metal capsules/tubes, to hang from dog collars. You can put your information inside the tube. I have quite a few of them. It's fun to send someone a message in the tiny capsule, or to write some nice wishes inside and tell the person to carry the capsule on them for luck. Another cool luck idea is to get long ribbons of bright paper cut out and write good-luck ideas and hopes on them with a Sharpie. It's like prayer flags. You can tack them to a fence or put them on a string and let them flutter in the wind.

I hope these ideas have got you started on your way to fun and thoughtful "last minute" gifts.