Are you panicking because you have yet to come up with a gift for your hard-to-buy-for person that won’t bust your budget? Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all stressed out people. Here are 25 gift ideas that cost more time than money.
- Bake cookies – It’s not about the cookies. It’s about spending time together. If you don’t want to make the cookies, then clean up the kitchen afterward. If you don’t want to eat the cookies, drop them off at your local police station, firehouse, or emergency department in appreciation to your first responders
- Free labor – Does someone need help painting their living room? Moving to a new residence? Rearranging furniture? Print a gift certificate offering help
- Christmas movie marathon – Choose your favorites and watch together. Yes, Die Hard is a Christmas movie
- Cooking class – If someone loves to eat a certain meal of yours, take all the ingredients to their kitchen and teach them how to make it
- Parades and football all day – Take turns explaining why you think these activities happen on a holiday
- Video game tournament – Teach someone how to play your favorite or learn how to play theirs
- Love notes – For those whose love language is words of affirmation, write them a paragraph explaining what you love about them
- Skill share – You are proficient in Excel, but can’t trim your dog’s toenails. Your brother needs an Excel primer and can trim doggy toenails. Trade tutorials
- Brand refresh – Audit their website, proofread their resume, tell them what you like about their LinkedIn profile and what could be improved
- Go for a walk/hike – If the weather does not currently permit, issue them an IOU
- Holiday lights – Map out a route, take along some hot chocolate and maybe the dog, and drive through local light displays
- Volunteer together – Your church and local food bank always need help
- Online yoga class – Turn on YouTube and search for “twenty-minute yoga for beginners”
- Scavenger hunt – Think Easter egg hunt but with candy canes
- Video tribute – Are you good with iMovie or a similar platform? String together some of their favorite photos and set them to music
- Playlists – On the music-streaming platform of your choice
- Museum visit plan – Some museums are free and some are free on certain days. Spend some time brainstorming where you’d like to go and when
- Start learning a language together – set up a schedule to practice with one another
- Sit – Create a gift certificate for a few hours of baby, pet, or house-sitting
- Photographer – Intentionally document this year’s celebration and send the photos to everyone
- Pre-celebration service – Help the host clean house before guests arrive. Or, take their car for a wash and vacuum before their holiday trip
- Outdoor service – Create a gift certificate for shoveling the snow off their driveway and sidewalk after the next accumulation
- Something to look forward to – Schedule a future 1:1. Coffee date? Church date? Ice Cream date?
- Storage – Offer to scan their printed photos and save them on a USB
- Give it away – Create a gift certificate to help clean out their closets. After the purge, take the donations to a Goodwill or Salvation Army store and bring back a receipt for their tax purposes
The most expensive gift you can give is your time. You can make more money, but you can’t make more time. Please spend yours wisely. Thank you for the time you spent reading this article. Happy Holidays!