If You're Busy, Great Gift Ideas to Make Your Life Simple

If you are anything like me, the holidays always seem to sneak up on me. I spend so much time working on the holidays for my clients, starting as early as April, and I always think I am going to have so much time to buy people the perfect gift.

Then somehow, without fail, I am always rushing to buy gifts at the last minute.

I can’t be the only business owner out there that finds themselves short on time around the holidays, so I put together a few gift ideas that might be helpful if you are short on time and still want to give stellar gifts.  

Give An Experience Gift (for Later)

I am a big fan of buying people experiences rather than gifts. I would rather get them something they enjoy rather than just another item that gathers dust.

Depending on the person, you can plan a fun activity like ziplining, boating, go-kart racing, or painting, just to name a few random ideas that I have had.

An added cherry on top is it might even be something that you can do together. I find myself buying things like this for my husband because it is easier than figuring out a material item to buy him (when he wants something he buys it for himself).

One of the more fun things I got him was a behind the scenes penguin tour at SeaWorld. We got to hang out with the penguins for an hour. It was silly and made a good memory.

WHY IS IT TIME-SAVING?

Giving an experience will help you save time in one of three ways.

First, you can give them the experience and let them do it on their own.

Second, you can sneak the experience gift into time you already had scheduled to hang out together during the holidays.

Or third, you can give the experience now, but set it up for after the holidays when things calm down a bit.

Staycations!

This is actually something that I thought of this year for some people on my list, and I think I will do it more in the future. I am going to gift them one night at a cool hotel in the area, so they can take some time to do something fun. I feel like it is a good way to get people to treat themselves to something they wouldn’t normally.

WHY IS IT TIME-SAVING?

This gift doesn’t take much time to put together. You only need to pick a hotel (I recommend looking for a unique boutique hotel) and in most cases, you can arrange the rest online. No wrapping, no prolonged deliberation, just easy and really cool gift giving.

Give The More Expensive Version of an Everyday Item

I think gifts should always be something that the person wouldn’t necessarily buy themselves. So, elevating their everyday items in a great route to go.

One example of this would be Diptyque Paris candles, which happen to be my go-to gifts when I’m in a pinch (especially because they have a store here in Austin). These candles are on the pricier side, so I feel like most of the people on my list wouldn’t buy them for themselves, which makes them a nice gift.

WHY IS IT TIME-SAVING?

Figuring out what someone wants or will like is half the battle. You can cut that out by thinking of what they already have and giving them an upgrade. And you can save even more time by having a few common yet upgraded everyday items on hand just in case.

Donate in Their Honor

This is what I did for all my friends last year. I just made donations to charities that were important to them.

Getting a gift is fun, but as the saying goes, “It’s the thought that counts.” You can show that you know them, what they value and what they care about by giving a donation in their honor.

WHY IS IT TIME-SAVING?

There are so many good causes out there it won’t be hard to find a charity. It’s as easy as remembering what the receiver cares about, a quick Google search and a single online transaction.

Make a Gift Card Tree

If you don’t know what that is, let Pinterest help you here. I didn’t know what it was until a few years ago when my husband and I just started dating. I had no idea what to get him for the holidays and my cousin suggested a gift card tree.

Essentially, it’s a collection of smaller-amount gift cards wrapped or organized in a cool way. It was one of my favorite gifts to give and I feel like it feels more personal than just one lonely gift card.

WHY IS IT TIME-SAVING?

Most stores like Walmart, Target, and H-E-B (if you’re with me in Texas!), have a bunch of gift cards for different places. So, all you have to do is stand in one place to get a wide variety of gift cards and put them together in a fun DIY project. I recommend doing that part with wine and a show like The Bachelorette.