For Last Minute Christmas Gifts

Last minute shopping, last minute wrapping, I'm sure we all feel the crunch on the last day before Christmas. There's always an eleventh hour gift to pick up, we miscalculate our wrapping paper situation, and of course, times a ticking!

Well, internet to the rescue. There's a bonanza of last minute ideas that don't need to be ordered online, you can download things from songs to gift tags and sit nicely curled up by the fire at the same time, let alone, dodge all that traffic delerium.

Sometimes too, the shops are already closed when you think of it. So a few ideas I've used in the past and will probably end up using again myself, knowing me.

The obvious thing I can think of is downloading a few songs from iTunes, and making an amazing compilation for someone.

There are also magazine subscriptions you can buy online. Speaking of magazines, there a lot of free zines online that you can find and download into pdf format and print out. One of my favorites, Bloodwars Magazine (for graffiti and streetart lovers). These are great stocking stuffers!

Oxfam Unwrapped is an amazing gift you can buy online for friends or family and give something extra special to people who haven't got much at all. Your friends will receive a card detailing the present you bought them and the real item goes to those who need it most. You can give goats, donkeys, emergency kits and so many other wonderful gifts that will help families in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean.

Even though this column is supposed to be about indie/budget living, sometimes money is no object and a last minute gift idea could always be an airline ticket. All those wonderful flights can be bought and printed out and slipped into a card last minute. Heck, you can even download the boarding pass if the date is close enough! Ah to have a ticket to Paris in my stocking this year!

Speaking of cards, gift tags, wrap; there are some lovely papers and cards to download for free. PBTeen has some really groovy Christmas cards to download here and gift tags (which I'm going to be using for sure)! Hewlett Packard has a huge assortment of free printable gift wrap & boxes.

And Dr. Seuss has some nice grinch tags, color them, add some string, for Christmas gifts they're just the thing!