It’s Officially Procrastinators’ Day. Get All Your Last-Minute Gifts Here.
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There are two truths we know about almost all Strategist readers. The first: They have great taste. The second: They love shopping last minute. Throughout the year, we see you, in droves, only really tapping in to get gifts when the sense of urgency is high and time is running out. The very familiar traffic spikes before almost every holiday just don’t lie. Year after year, it’s exactly seven days before Christmas where we start to see a noticeable surge — and that day istoday.
We are here to support you in this high-wire act of both buyinggreat giftsandmaking sure theyget where they need to be on time,which is why we’re announcing our first-ever Procrastinators’ Day. To celebrate you and to help you, we’re dedicating ourselves to gathering all of the best things you can still order online and slip under the tree before everyone wakes up.
Thank you for joining us on the journey of our first ever Procrastinators’ Day! I think my favorite part about it wasMike Albo’s hilarious essay, but hey, that’s just me.
Of course, last-minute shopping isn’treallylast-minute until the clock strikes midnight on December 24 — and we’ll be updating the Strategist with gifts you can still get (gift cards!Subscriptions!) until that very moment. Until then,keep browsing our very vast gifts coverage. This really is the best team in the biz. We’ve got you covered.
Ask five people to name the movie, TV show, book, podcast, song, or other piece of pop culture they were most obsessed with this year, and you’re liable to get five different answers. That’s art in the time of a splintered monoculture; there’s more to love and more to be utterly baffled by if your nearest and dearest are consumed by something you don’t know anything about. But for the diehards, an IYKYK gift is often the best there is — so we’ve curated a guide full of perfect presents for fans of some of the biggest pop-culture “properties” that people were obsessed with this year, from those with Taylor Swift–level name recognition (including Tay herself) to more niche Nathan Fielder types.
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Over at the Strategist, we’ve got tons of different ways that we’re able to keep a close eye on shopping trends and consumer habits. One of the most fun ways to track it all is to see what our readers are buying at any given moment and also what stories they’re reading. And here is the type of thing we notice: Way back in November, the first gift guides that start to do well arebest gifts for husbands. Only as we get closer to the December deadline dogifts for wivesstart to chart upwards.
But don’t worry, we’re not here to make judgments about your marriage.
First, let me say that next year, you shouldplay the Strategist Gifting Game. Second, let me point you to63 delightful, surprising, actually useful gifts.
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I was shocked by how quickly pharmacies ship (CVS and Walgreens offer two-day shipping on a lot of things, or just same-day pickup).
And the fun part is that the offerings range from delightfully weird (mango gummies in the shape of an ear) to the actually useful (a pressure-point massager).Check out everything I’ve found here.
May I present to youthe mother lode of last-minute gifts. Our sales team has spent all day finding the most worth-it things on sale, and they have this piece of advice to leave you with: “There were a good number of changes between last night and this morning. I had to remove at least ten things that won’t arrive on time, so we are really down to the wire, and I think even more things will not arrive on time if you don’t order by tonight.” You heard it here first!
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The gift set is on sale and will get to you by Sunday. One of ourmany nice gifts under $50.
It “may not be full of the milk of human kindness, but it is fresh milk and coco butter scented,” according to the description!
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And while it kind of feels like she herself has been procrastinating ongetting these Instagrams up, we found some things that will definitely arrive in time.
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Starbucks Gift Card
Lovevery’s collection of books with photographs are an excellent gift for people with toddlers. They’re kind of like miniSesame Streetepisodes you can read at bedtime. You can get them as a subscription, too, which is great for procrastinators.
The potty-training ones are particularly good and have photos of “real” poop and pee in the potty, which is fascinating for 2- and 3-year-olds.
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It’s never too early to instill in your children a love for printed matter. Magazine subscriptions make greatlast-minute holiday giftsand, while the effort to sign up is minimal, your recipient will reap the benefits for an entire year. I polled Strategist staffers about their favorite periodicals for kids of all ages and rounded up the best ones to give to the kids in your life. Topics span everything from crafts to cooking to chemistry and there’s something for every age group, from preschool to teen.
Lauren’s guide goes far beyond the typical Nat Geo for Kids. Read all aboutthe best kids subscriptions here.
For ourbig print gift guide, Caroline Weaver wrote about21 stores where the shopping is better in person(she alsopublishes a guide to New York City stores every yearand runs her own called theLocavore Variety Store). For our big Procrastinators’ Day liveblog, we’re tapping her to tell us the best New York City blocks to shop on. So as you’re running out of time, just pick one neighborhood and go off.
For a vast diversity of shops, I like to send people to the stretch of 9th Street in the East Village from Second Avenue to Avenue A because there’s really something for everyone (Mr. Throwback, Rosemary Home, Irving Green, Pillow-Cat Books, Confectionary!, Flower Power). Toys, books, great fashion, home goods, lovely chocolates, and more. If you have time, snake up to Tenth for stationery, records, and prints (Niconeco Zakkaya, Manhattan45, and Archie’s Press).
Fifth Ave. and Seventh Ave. in Park Slope are also great areas to find pretty much anything (Leroy’s Place, Rider Gifts, Tarzian West, Slope Home, and more!).
Nearly every storefront is full on the Lower East Side these days. Hit Orchard Street, especially below Delancey, but don’t miss the shops on the adjacent and parallel streets, too. And be sure to go to Essex Market for special food items and holiday-season groceries.
In Williamsburg, hit Grand Street west of the BQE to the river (Leif, Twenty Sided, Mogutable, Night Owl Video, The Twisted Spine, etc).
It’s kind of like getting hit by lightning twice: a rarely-in-stock pepper mill both in stock and shipping fast
I was recommending some kitchen-related stuff to a family friend last night and saw that my favorite unicorn pepper mill (which is inmy gift guide for home cooks) is currently in stock and will arrive in plenty of time. A rarity, as it is out of stockveryfrequently.
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Okay, I’ve been working on my lip combo sinceSteal My Lips. I think a pair ofSacheu lip stainswould make a good gift. The nudes kinda work for everyone. Arrives by Saturday.
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And this NYX lip oil makes a great stocking stuffer.
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One day ago, the Creami wasn’t going to arrive on time for Christmas, but now it will (and it’s still on sale).
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You could even pair it with one ofthe best cookbooks to give this year.
And here we have detailed shipping-deadline info on even more Strategist-approved brands
We’ve compiled the holiday shipping deadlines for a bevy of Strategist-approved brands, from Everlane to Catbird to West Elm, so you can know exactly what options are available to you and plan accordingly. In addition to shipping, many universal retailers like Nordstrom, Target, and Best Buy are offering in-store pickup through December 24, for those who tend to take it down to the wire. And if you’re in need of some gifting inspiration, we have gift guides for just about everyone in your life, fromhard-to-shop-for dadstopicky Gen Z-erstoPilates princesses.
Read Kitty’sfull brand-by-brand breakdown here.
Backcountry is offering 20 percent off a full-priced item (some exclusions) with free express shipping todayonly. It’s a members-only deal, butfree to sign up for that here. Heads-up: The Nuptse deal is almost entirely sold out, but you can still get the green colorway in most sizes.
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The top-selling product inour gift guide for teen boysis this brush for curly hair. The boys just want good hair for Christmas!
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Free shipping from Ban.do! Get your Flamingo Estate tomato candles in time for Christmas! Free shippingand40 percent off nearly everything at Lands’ End! Procrastinators’ Day is here to helpyou.Get all the codes here.
Very random, but today is the cutoff date for ground shipping before Christmas, and you can get an “officially licensed” Dyson Ball vacuum toy, diamond-cluster studs, and an Alessi Plisse toaster at T.J. Maxx?
Not long ago, I was a considerate holiday shopper. In fact, I used to break my gay ass giving gifts. As early as January, I kept a list in my yearly planner of perfect presents for friends and family like I was a humanMartha Stewart Livingarticle. Then, by November, I would hustle through the city streets to find them. I thought I was being so organized and saving time, the real-life version of Jennifer Love Hewitt in a Hallmark Channel movie.
I stopped when I realized no one cared.
Mike Albo goes all in onthe perks and pitfalls of procrastinating here.
Here are the most-sold products from all of our gift guides this holiday season. They will all arrive very soon. (Full disclosure: I bought myself that makeup bag, and I love it).
We’ll have comedic essays, we’ll have exclusive Strategist-only expedited-shipping codes, we’ll have a report from a local NYC shop owner, and, most important, we’ll have lots of fun guiding you on how to shop for presents with just seven days to go.
To get things started, may I direct you to43 gifts on sale for half off (or more!!)?
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The Strategistis designed to surface useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Every product is independently selected by our team of editors, whom you can read abouthere. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
