Holiday Gift Guide 2009: Last Minute Gifts!

Yes, as always, I am leaving the Last Minute Gift Guide until the last minute. (Really, I'm just procrastinating packing/cleaning now.)

I spent most of Sunday at the Renegade Craft Fair with Karen and my mom, who had never been to one of these Hip New Indie Craft Fairs, and she enjoyed it very much. Unfortunately for me, I've been in a weird "I don't want to buy anything, meh" funk the past couple of weeks, which means I didn't find anything at Renegade or at Bazaar Bizarre the week before. That's not to say that there wasn't awesome stuff at either place -- of course there was, and lots of it -- there was just so much that I couldn't find anything that really jumped out at me as a Must Have for anyone on my list.

I pushed myself through it Sunday evening (post-Renegade) and finished buying the presents I needed to buy in under two hours of dashing through the mall (including a detour to look/sigh at the Chanel spring collection, which I will totally be back for), but still. I cut it close this year.

If you're still in danger of cutting it too close, and if you're still looking for some ideas, I've (finally) got some ideas!

- If you're stuck at the computer and have absolutely no time to get out to the stores, there are plenty of websites, both small and big, that will send e-gift cards, and I've broken them into categories below. (All the links go straight to the gift certificate page -- you're welcome!):

Bath and Beauty

Bliss (good for either spa treatments or products!)
LuckyScent
Lush
Sephora

Fashion and Accessories

Dogeared Jewelry
Alice and Isa
Modcloth
Zappos

Books and Miscellany

Powells (FYI: if you're sending an e-gift card, you have to sign up for a Powells.com account to purchase one. Your call if you want to or not; just giving you a heads up!)
Amazon
Wicked Skatewear
Sin City Skates

- Don't forget to give experiences: for our holiday gift to each other, my roommate and I are going to split a bottle of wine and draft out a spring road trip up to Oregon (where we will kidnap Kati). Go to a nice local restaurant and purchase a gift certificate; I just redeemed one from (ahem) two Christmases ago. Tickets to events like sports, concerts, the ballet, etc., are also always a good idea.

- If you need stocking stuffers, your local Target or drugstore will have lots of little goodies. Walgreens has Sinful nail polish for $1.99 a bottle in a wide range of colors; I've spotted Essie and Seche Vite at Target and Bed Bath and Beyond. To finish off the nail goodies, pick up a cuticle oil pen (Sally Hansen makes one that's pretty nice), a tin of Burt's Bees lemon cuticle balm, or a nail file at the drugstore. Burt's Bees and Kiss My Lips both make tinted lip balms that are moisturizing and add color, and are easy and affordable.

- If you're honestly and truly stuck, I've always thought it would be nice to help set up an RSS reader for someone who doesn't know how -- if they love to cook, for example, you can spend time putting together a one-stop place for food blogs. You can both find good blogs together, and then they have something they'll use all of the time. If you need some jumping off points, we have all three of our blogrolls here. (We use Bloglines, but a lot of people love Google Reader!)

Have you finished all of your gift shopping? Or are you facing a last-minute excursion? (Good luck to you, if you are!)

image from blissworld.com

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.