Disney, celebs, adopt a tiger: 8 clutter-free gifts for the last-minute Christmas shopper
What do you get for the friend, coworker, or family member who has everything? Or, say, the friend, coworker, or family member you completely forgot about?
You can go out shopping, of course, and local retailers are a great place to find unique and personal presents. But maybe the last few days before a big holiday are insanely crowded, or there's no time left to ship something, or everyone's closed and you're not impressed with the late-night selection at Walgreen's, or your gift recipients just don't want more stuff to dust in their lives. No problem!
There are lots of clutter-free gift options that still show your liked or loved one that you're thinking about them this holiday season that can be purchased all the way up to Christmas Day. Here are some suggestions.
Buy them Disney tickets
Look, it's what your out-of-state family visits you here for anyway, and very few things that fit into an envelope can get kids more excited. Tickets to Walt Disney World or any of its other theme parks such as Epcot and Animal Kingdom currently start at $109 (check for any changes) and you can hunt around for discounts and deals.
Or get them tickets to Universal Studios, or Universal’s Island of Adventure, or Legoland, or Peppa Pig Theme Park, or Busch Gardens.
Donate to worthy charities in their name
If your recipient has personal interests, or if a specific disease has touched their lives, or if they or someone special to them is a veteran, you can donate in their name to any of the many good charities that can use help.
As an example, are they an animal lover? Consider donating to the Florida Humane Society, or to a local one, or to places like these:
Friends of Animals and the Humane League help free animals from cruelty and exploitation.
PetSmart Charities work to find lifelong homes for all pets.
The Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind and Guide Dogs for the Blind train and place guide dogs for people who are blind or vision-impaired.
Patriot Service Dogs and K9s for Warriors are both Florida-based services that provide trained service dogs to military veterans.
Project Chance is a Florida-based service that trains service dogs specifically to help children diagnosed with autism or developmental disabilities.
Consider local services or churches, or groups you know your recipient supports (or belongs to). Or you can donate to Feeding America, or United Way Worldwide, or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, or Habitat for Humanity, or the American Red Cross, or the Make-a-Wish Foundation, or many, many more. If you need more suggestions last week Forbes released its 2023 list of America's Top 100 Charities.
You may want to use your own email or a temporary one when donating, so you don't add your recipient to a mailing list they don't want. Check with your employer, some companies match donations to approved charities.
Be sure to check charities at Charity Navigator, which can help you weed out scams and find the organizations where your money actually will go toward help.
Buy them a meal
Gift cards have a bad rap. They can seem like an easy, generic way out and, frankly, they often are.
But, as in any other gift-giving, it's the thought that counts. Get your recipient a gift card to a restaurant you know they've always wanted to go to, or someplace that's just opened up in their area. If your friend or loved one is especially busy this season or has a lot of stress in their lives right now, prepay for some meals at their favorite comfort food eatery or even send them a DoorDash gift card.
Gift cards also are great when you know your recipient has a need but you don't know what they already have. Are they working on their house? Get a gift card from Lowe's or Home Depot. Need clothes for a new trip? Plenty of places there.
Keep in mind that scammers love gift cards and have lots of ways to drain them.
Do they like the outdoors? Get an annual parks pass
Want to give someone the great outdoors? An annual pass for all Florida State Parks is half price through Jan. 13, 2024, just $30 for unlimited park entrance without the daily entrance fee. Local fees may apply, along with any special-use fees. Check out Reserve.FloridaStateParks and check the box next to "Purchase as a gift."
Anyone with them will pay $2 a person, or you can go for the family pass at $60 (half off the usual $120) to cover up to eight people entering as a group, except for Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park and Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, where the family pass is good for admission of up to two people, including the passholder. Tax and shipping fee for the card(s) apply, but you can start using your pass immediately,
Or you can go wider and get them a National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass. $80 for people between the ages of 16-62, $20 for anyone 62 or over. Go to store.usgs.gov/recreational-passes to find the pass appropriate to their needs.
How safe are Florida's national parks? Pretty safe, but some are more deadly than others
Buy them a book
There's nothing like waking up on Christmas Day to find a new book in your library, waiting for you. Does it matter if it's in your Kindle, phone or tablet?
Depending on what reader they use, you may need to know that and what email address they used to sign up for it before you can send books right to them. Most ebook retailers, such as Amazon, will have a Buy for Others or Buy as Gift option for purchases.
If they use a Kindle, you can skip trying to choose a book and get them a subscription to Kindle Unlimited with access to 4 million books, magazines and even audiobooks.
If you don't have that information, there are sites that sell thousands of unlocked or DRM-free ebooks that can be manually added to ebook readers such as eBooks.com, Smashwords, Rakuten Kobo, StoryBundle, LuLu and many others. Science fiction publishers such as Baen Books and Tor also sell DRM-free books. Or you can go to one of the many legal free ebook libraries online and download public domain books your loved ones might like.
Give them a zillion movies
Most of the major streaming services offer gift subscriptions or gift cards toward subscriptions, and it can be a thoughtful way to say "I'd like you to experience all the wonder in the world," or possibly, "I'd like you to stop using my login." Here are just a few of them.
Gift cards for subscriptions: Apple TV, Crunchyroll, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, Paramount+
Gift cards that can be used for subscriptions: Amazon Prime,
Gift subscriptions: Britbox, The Criterion Channel, ESPN+, Mubi
Buy a Cameo message from a celebrity
It can be surprisingly affordable to have your recipient's favorite celebrity send them a personalized message. As of the end of 2022, the Cameo site listed more than 50,000 actors, comedians, writers, politicians, reality stars, content creators, athletes and even famous animals and many more joined up for some extra cash during this year's writers' strike.
Want to send Christmas messages from such Florida-based celebs as Carrot Top, Urban Meyer, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Jesse Palmer or Vanilla Ice? It's just a click away.
'Adopt' an animal
You can adopt a giraffe in the Central Florida Zoo, or a tiger at ZooMiami. ZooTampa has African Elephants, the Florida Aquarium has penguins, and the Brevard Zoo has white rhinos. Unsurprisingly, the Jacksonville Zoo lets you adopt jaguars. All of these locations offer a wide range of animals available for (symbolic) adoption.
No, you don't get to take your new elephant home with you. But your adoption helps feed and care for them. Most location offers different levels of adoption with each one getting you more personalized stuff (except for Jacksonville, which has a flat $45 fee). Adoptions include some form of "adoption" papers, fact sheets about the animal and a photo, and some may include tote bags, magnets, discounts on entry or a plush version of your chosen critter.
Or you can care for your very own sea cow with the Adopt a Manatee program from Save the Manatee. You can pick out and choose your specific manatee from Alabama, Blue Spring State Park, Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, Tampa Bay, the Florida Keys or the rest of the east coast and membership levels range from $35 (Associate) to $500 (Steward), with increasing amounts of swag.
If you can't decide on just one animal, consider zoo memberships instead: Brevard Zoo, Florida Aquarium, Jacksonville Aquarium, ZooMiami, ZooTampa.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Last-minute Christmas shopping: Give them these 8 thoughtful gifts
