A Budget Friendly Gifting Guide for Procrastinators—plus Bonus Gift Ideas

By Kristen Edens | December 20, 2019

You may be asking yourself, “Kristen—why are you publishing this list when Christmas is THIS week?”

The answer: I know there are many people (in my own family) who are still in need of shopping at this late date. Plus, my local news radio announcers admitted this morning they were late too!

There are many reasons to delay holiday shopping: too busy, too stressful, a dislike for shopping, or no idea of what to get. Too often, however, the cause comes down to budgeting—and debt fears. The equation looks like this:

Zero Budget + Procrastination = Credit Card Debt

And no one needs or wants debt!

Are you ready to eliminate the cycle? The good news: It’s never too late to budget PLUS there are gift-giving options that won’t put you in debt. This chart from Ambetter and the Centene Corporation provides a simple way to outline your gift spending. Apply it to the current holiday season, then use it to build your gifting plan for 2020—which includes gifts for birthdays, celebrations, anniversaries, and other events.

As you fill out your current gift-giving agenda, watch for unexpected spending trends. For instance: do the numbers under each category give you the chills? Do you wish to donate more to charity yet the other gifting expenses leaves the coffers empty? Explore the gifting ideas below and you may discover your current and future gifting won’t be as stressful, delayed, or debt-inducing.

Gift Giving Options

The gift of time. Our time is just as valuable as our money. Therefore, an elderly family member may crave more together time. An adult child may need daycare at odd hours. Your spouse or partner may desire a quiet night at home. Similarly, a child may want extra play time after school. Sometimes the most needed gifts involve our time. As a result, look to your availability as a valued gift. Procrastination-buster: Buy a set of blank cards at a dollar store (or create your own) and write your special gift of time for the recipient: an afternoon of babysitting, treating to a Christmas Day movie release, a special dinner at home, game night, or something you know would be special to that person. Bonus: you haven’t spent anything and no one will know you procrastinated!

The gift of talent. Another overlooked gifting opportunity is your talent. What hobbies, skills, or talents do you enjoy? If it’s cooking, offer to cook a monthly meal at your son’s home (assuming they live locally). If gardening is your hobby, consider canning some of your best veggies or making herb blends. Are you a technical whiz? Teach a parent how to use Facebook or a smartphone. Tutoring? Handyman? Are you highly organized? Consider organizing a home office space for a loved one. Younger children may enjoy having you host a special party. Review your skills, expertise, and availability then offer these as gifts. These high-value offerings will be fun and will save money for the giver and recipient. Procrastination-buster: Use the blank cards again to offer your talent.

Travel as inspiration. Whether you travel locally, nationally, or internationally, you’ll encounter special places and items that would make an ideal gift. Keep your loved ones in mind as you travel and you may discover the perfect item that that no Black Friday sale, no rewards program, and no cyber Monday will offer. For example: my daughter collects shot glasses so for ~$5, she gets a desired gift.

Preplan your Gift Giving

Using the list above, fill it out and check it—often—not just in December, but throughout the year. Who is on your gift-giving list? Do these people still enjoy gift-giving and receiving? Would your recipients prefer something else: more phone calls or visits rather than a food basket, new toy, or gift card each year? Ask! You may be surprised at the requests, especially from the younger generations.

List their likes & interests. To make sure you are on track with gift-giving, ask what your recipients like and, even better, what they need. Millennials may request a contribution to a big-ticket item, for instance, rather than a new clothing item. As above, you won’t know if you don’t ask.

Plan throughout the year. As you interact with your loved ones, travel, and roam the internet, opportunities will arise that lead to an ideal gift for someone. Be open to these and enjoy a 12 month holiday shopping season rather than 4 hectic weeks. Small, reasonable purchases spread throughout the year and worked into your gift-giving budget are easier to manage than an end of year money dump.

Avoid Overwhelm

Smaller is better. Avoid the pressure to supersize your hobby. Instead of creating a king sized quilt, build a wall hanging. Rather than building an entire photo album, create a collage. It’s okay to think big, but make the project creation manageable too. The result: it won’t take as long or cost as much, leaving more TIME for yourself and others.

Take your time. With advanced planning comes time to create. Whether you incorporate your gifts of time, talent or travel, you’ll have enough time to put what you need together for your gift.

Shopping option: rather than shopping, gather the family around and decorate—not just the house but paper bags! I have a bag of bags (plus I recently inherited my mother’s bag of bags). You likely have one of these too—a paper bag filled with cutesy holiday gift bags or other plain brown bags that you KNOW you will use some day. Now is your chance to use these up. Rally around the children of all ages and the assortment of art supplies scattered throughout the house: paints, crayons, colored pens, pencils, and even old fingernail polish. Cover the work table with newspaper for protection and everyone else with aprons or smocks, and decorate your own bags for use as wrapping paper. The benefits: use up that paper collection; quality together time; lots of fun with no cost. For younger children, it’s a grand joy to have permission to get messy. (Hint: turn off all devices and share conversation and laughter.)

So for the procrastinators of the world, start with the gift list and learn from the visualization it offers. Then take the years to come to simplify your gifting experiences.