Technology can be your friend if your lack of holiday planning has left you frantically chanting, "I’m late. I’m late. I’m late!" Relax. It will be okay. The following suggestions to help ease your gift-giving woes-- many will work for other times of the year too!
DIY:
The traditional do-it-yourself holiday gifts include baked goods like cookies or cakes. Get recipes for the top dozen Christmas Cookies at Disney Family Food or Christmas-Cookies.com has even more delights.
Download an album of Christmas music, save it to a CD, print out the insert, put it all together and, voila! Instant gift. You can get a free album of Christmas music courtesy of the 5th Annual Garritan Community Christmas Album project.
Get a Gift Certificate:
Amazon, MyChoice gift cards, magazine subscriptions, restaurant gift certificates, sheet music, and iTunes are among the linked choices on the LastMinute-Gifts.com website. You can also go to the sites listed directly. Many allow you to print out your gift certificate, so you won’t be left without something tangible to give.
Send a Gift Announcement:
Maybe you’ve ordered something and it’s been delayed, or maybe you WANT to order something but it won’t arrive on time. You can send a gift announcement by using an eGiftCard Instant Gift announcement.
Quick Ship:
A list of items that you can order for overnight or same day delivery are also on the LastMinute-Gifts site.
Your local florist likely carries more than flowers, and may also have the ability to deliver right away. Some will even deliver on holidays! If you don’t know where to start, you can try 1800Flowers.com.
Donate:
Why not Conservancy’s work instead?
Go Shopping:
OK, so telling you to go shopping isn’t a lot of help, but Best Buy has put together a nice video of ideas. Something there may do the trick. Watch it above.
If you can’t get it all together, don’t stress out. Sometimes, just letting someone know you care is the best gift at all. Try it!
Help for Last-Minute Gift Emergencies
Online Sources for Holiday Procrastinators
Trend Themes
1. Last-minute Gift Ideas - The trend shows the need to provide financially feasible and time-effective alternatives to traditional gifting methods.
2. Instant Gift Certificates - Using eGiftCard Instant Gift announcement is a disruptive innovation that emerged as a solution to physical gift-giving limitations.
3. Overnight Delivery Services - The trend shows the growing demand for fast and reliable delivery services, which presents an opportunity for companies to innovate optimal solutions to meet this need.
Industry Implications
1. E-commerce - E-commerce companies can benefit by capitalizing on the increase in online shopping and demand for instant digital gift options.
2. Logistics and Delivery - Logistics and delivery companies can enhance their services by improving same-day and overnight delivery options.
3. Florist and Gift Shops - Flowers and gift shops can innovate the ways they provide services to accommodate the growing demand for same-day or overnight deliveries.