It is that time of year once again: the tree is decorated, Mariah Carey and Wham! are dominating the airwaves, but some gifts have yet to be purchased.
Last-minute Christmas gifts are a trademark of my family. Our Secret Santa exchange gets delayed until a week before the holiday and serves as a great source of seasonal stress.
I feel like an expert at finding the best gifts at the very last minute, so allow me to share some tips.
In Carrboro, there are many small stores that carry unique gifts, preventing the need to hope a package will arrive before Christmas, as often happens with Amazon and Etsy gifts.
The shops I patronize usually depend on the personality of the recipient. For music lovers, Schoolkids Records and All Day Records are my two personal favorites. All Day Records is relatively limited in its stock, primarily selling vinyl records, but Schoolkids carries a wider variety of CDs and typically offers deals for purchasing multiple CDs.
For the beauty gurus or teenagers on my list, I typically make the trip to Be Pure Beauty at University Place. Face masks, eyeliner and eyeshadow palettes are my personal recommendations for last-minute beauty shopping.
When it comes to gifts that suit those people who constantly knock it out the park with personalized wonderful gifts, WomanCraft Handcrafted Gifts is a nice alternative to making handcrafted gifts. Making a scarf or anything else at the last minute never seems to work out well—I still have a scarf from two years ago that remains halfway finished as a testament to my less-than-timely crochet skills.
The hardest group to shop for at the last minute are the avid sports fans. Merchandise for professional teams usually winds up selling out for the holidays, so the week before Christmas the best thing to do is to make use of our college town merchandise shops and buy all things University of North Carolina or the occasional Panthers gear that remains. Johnny T-Shirt is great for Carolina Blue, and Underground Printing is good for more personalized gifts.
Last-minute gift giving does not have to take the fun out of the holidays. If anything, it shows the love we have for the important people in our lives and attempts to make feelings known, despite busy schedules or just plain procrastination.
