There is less than 1 week left until Christmas. If you haven’t got all of your presents yet, and you would rather not spend the last days of Advent jostling with other frenzied shoppers, squeezing past the displays of goods with heavy bags hanging from your tired arms, try out my ideas for creative last minute Christmas gifts.
1. Photo Calendar
Time needed to prepare this last minute Christmas gift: 1-2 hours
It may already be too late to order a photo calendar and many other photo gifts. Nevertheless, you may still make a photo calendar on your own. The only things you need are a colour printer (or a print shop nearby) and photos to adorn your present. You may use my template with dates for 2017 or one of many free programs that allow you to generate printable files. You will find all the information you need in my post: Photo Calendar – DIY or Ordered?
Cost of this last minute Christmas gift: ca. $10 (if you have to pay for the printouts) or close to $0 (if you have your own printer and only need to bind the sheets)
2. Christmas Magazine
Time needed to prepare this last minute Christmas gift: 2-3 hours
This gift may take you slightly more time, but you will certainly enjoy (perhaps even with other family members) pasting the photos of your relatives e.g. onto Christmas advertising magazines that are regularly dropped at your doorstep. Moreover, it allows you to make one gift for many, e.g. for a whole family with kids. Read more in the post: Birthday Magazine.
Cost of this last minute Christmas gift: $0 (if you print the pictures at home and use a free advertising magazine)
3. Photo Jigsaw Puzzles
Time needed to prepare this last minute Christmas gift: 30 min
Photo jigsaw puzzles can easily and quickly be made at home. Although it is rather difficult to cut of the traditional jigsaw puzzle shapes, solving square or irregular jigsaw puzzles is also great fun. Especially if you don’t know what the outcome is supposed to be. One idea is to use a photoshopped picture of the recipient. On the back of the puzzles, before you cut them into pieces, you may write your Christmas greetings. Read about my ideas for photo remakes in the post: Photos From a Journey That Never Happened.
Cost of this last minute Christmas gift: $0-5 (cost of colour printing one A4 page)
4. Sweets With Your Texts
Time needed to prepare this last minute Christmas gift: 1 hour
Your loved ones are great fans of sweets, but you don’t think these are sufficient presents? You may change that! You only need to add something to them, e.g. texts saying ‘You’re great!’, ‘Best Mum in the world’ or your best wishes – a different text attached to each candy. I guarantee that anyone would be glad to receive their favourite sweets presented this way. Note! It is one of the few occassions when I DON’T recommend giving an opened Merci (unlike when you want to express your gratitude to your parents or hosts). Instead, you should decorate packed chocolates or candies.
Cost of this last minute Christmas gift: <$10 (depending on the price of sweets)
5. Tea With Personalised Labels
Time needed to prepare this last minute Christmas gift: 1-2 hours
If your loved ones don’t eat sweets, but drink gallons of tea, you may prepare a collection of tea bags for them with your own labels. Each of them may contain a different picture or even a photo and your text (as in the case of sweets – see above). Read more in: DIY Tea Gift.
Cost of this last minute Christmas gift: <$20 (depending on the price of tea)
6. Artistic Word Cloud
Time needed to prepare this last minute Christmas gift: 1-2 hours
(the first one takes the longest to make)
A word cloud is a beautiful gift that allows you to express more than a simple picture or text, by means of short phrases arranged in a chosen shape (e.g. of a glass bauble). You may draw your word cloud on paper or use my instructions to design it on the computer. After you’ve finished creating your word cloud, which should take you little more than an hour, print your design and frame it. Alternatively, you may print your design on half a page and make a beautiful greetings card. Detailed instructions are to be found in the post: 7 Steps to a Heart-Shaped Word Cloud.
Cost of this last minute Christmas gift: $0 (or the cost of a colour printout + optionally the cost of a frame)
7. Set of DIY Coupons
Time needed to prepare this last minute Christmas gift: 1 hour
You are only limited by your imagination. A beautifully crafted set of DIY coupons may offer anything from an evening massage or the promise to do the dishes for a week, to a regular gift that you haven’t managed to buy before Christmas. In this last case, you only need to write: ‘This coupon may be exchanged for XYZ after … January 2017,’ and you no longer need to worry about a gift that has an unplanned delay. Links to ready printable coupon templates as well as several ideas for their content are to be found in the post: Valentine’s Day coupon.
Cost of this last minute Christmas gift: $0 (you will bear the costs of your promises after Christmas 😉
8. Poem, Short Story or Photo Comic
Time needed to prepare this last minute Christmas gift: depends on your inspiration and the chosen literary form
If you are into creative writing, it’s a perfect gift for you. All you need to make the recipient overjoyed is to make your loved one the protagonist and ensure a happy ending. A poem will also be appreciated if it has been written with a particular person in mind, no matter whether it deserves the Nobel Prize in Literature or has doggerel rhymes and is a remake of a well-known work. Read about what to write, for whom and how in the post: Write a short story about others. Alternatively, you may create a photo comic, which is less demanding in terms of creative writing than a short story [here is how you can do it].
Cost of this last minute Christmas gift: $0
9. Portrait – painted
Time needed to prepare this last minute Christmas gift: several hours
That’s an idea for those of you who are more skilled with a paintbrush than with a pen. Not everyone can afford a professional portrait. Many people, however, would like to stop time and preserve their current looks. That is why even a less professional portrait painted by a loved one will please the receiver.
Cost of this last minute Christmas gift: depends on the used materials (oil paints vs colour pencils, paper vs canvas)
10. Portrait – made on the computer
Time needed to prepare this last minute Christmas gift: several minutes
If you liked the idea of giving someone a portrait, but you can’t paint, there is another way. What you need to do is to upload a nice photo of your loved one to a picture editor (e.g. LunaPic) and choose any effect from the Effects of Art tab to give your photo a brand new, artistic look.
Cost of this last minute Christmas gift: $0 (or the cost of a colour printout + optionally the cost of a frame)
11. Photos From a Dream Journey
Time needed to prepare this last minute Christmas gift: 1-2 hours
Perhaps you would like to sponsor your loved ones a trip to an exotic land, but for one reason or another you are currently unable to do it. Still, you may let your loved ones enjoy photos from such a trip! Cut out the contour of the recipients from a different photo, and paste it onto a background that suits the theme of their dream journey. If you want to carry it even further, you may download a programme of such a trip from a travel agency and attach it to your photos, or add also other family members to prove that you have all been there! I presented other possible applications of this gift in the post: Unique Souvenir From a Journey That Never Happened .
Cost of this last minute Christmas gift: depends on the number and size of the printed pictures
I hope that you liked my ideas. Even if you already have all of your gifts, maybe you will choose to use one of them as a creative added value.
Meanwhile, I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas with tonnes of creative gifts!
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