Last Minute Gift Ideas

So you are minutes away from sleeping in the dog house, again. No need to fret, just browse below and you will find many quick, easy and cheap gift ideas that you can make or buy most any time of day or night.

Drug Store/Grocery Store

These locations are the only ones open and you are running out of time. Stop by your local drugstore. Buy her a bag of her favorite candy (if she has none, then Hershey's kisses will do just fine), a loving card, a bottle of lotion or massage oil, a box of name tag stickers, a marker and some flowers of any kind as long as they have lots of pedals.

In the parking lot, sign the card including a nice hand written note and tell her two things you like about her. Then seal the card and write her name on the front. Next, replace the label on the bottle of lotion with the name tag and write in the white open space "Jennifer Gets a Massage Anytime" on the tag. When you get home, make a trail from the door she will enter to the bedroom of flower pedals and the candy she loves. Place the card and the massage oil on the nightstand and be ready for her arrival. If she will be home when you get there, and this is possible, call her on your phone and ask her to come out and meet you in the driveway. Ask her to close her eyes, put a piece of candy in her mouth and a flower pedal or two in her hand and tell her enjoy the smell and taste while counting to 100. Then have her come inside. This will give you time to make the pedal/candy path and get ready.

Cooking / Baking Your Way Out of Trouble

Cooking a meal is always impressive, especially if you do not usually cook for her. Making something she loves and feeding it to her adds an extra special romantic touch. Anything that shows effort will make her feel special. You can bake cupcakes or even a cake.

A Simple and Fast Idea:

Buy a box of vanilla wafer cookies, a bag of Hershey's kiss candies and some almonds. Turn the oven to "broil". Place the cookies on a cookie sheet (ungreased) 1 inch apart. Next place one Hershey's kiss in the center of each cookie. Broil in the oven for 1 minute (until chocolate is soft, but not runny) and then place one almond in the soft chocolate and allow them to cool before serving. She loves sweets almost as much as the thought of you baking for her.

Read more quick and easy recipe's for love.

A Picnic in the Park, Beach or living room.

Everything you need can be purchased at any 24 hour grocery store including a basic and everything needed to fill it. Don't forget the utensils and condiments. Arrange the basket in the parking lot and don't forget to place the gift card in the basket so it looks "pre planned". Now for the location. A park, beach, rooftop with a view or just about anyplace where you can be with one another and enjoy the view. The living room with no TV or phone is also acceptable.

Other places include:

Make out point
First place you kissed. (This works especially well with compilation CD)
The first place you told her you loved her. Even if it is in the parking lot of an old apartment, it will set the right mood.
Your high school parking lot, skating rink or sports field.
The place you first realized you loved her. (stop light, ball field, whereever it was, she will love the sentiment)
The spot where you decided to ask her to marry you.
The place where you actually asked her to marry you.

Sex Shops

These are actually great places to shop for romantic and funny gifts. You can usually find things like massage oil or romantic games, funny cards and other unique gifts. They almost all have gift cards of sexual nature and funny wrapping paper. Best part is, they are always open late ! Don't buy her anything she is not COMPLETELY comfortable with unless you want to ruin a perfectly good gift idea.

Compilation CD

Yes, it's back. Do you remember in the good old days where you would make a "mixed tape" with all her favorite songs or "your song"? This can actually get you out of hot water in a hurry. At your computer, download songs that make you think of her, old songs, new songs, does not matter as long as they mean something to you, or her, or both of you. Write a nice word or two on the outside, draw a few hearts or an I heart you. Then put it in a card, case or wrap it up. Make sure you can answer some questions about what in the song reminds you of her or makes you think of special times with her. Sharing those thoughts is the real gift. Doing this along with a nice meal where you can listen to the CD and share memories is a spectacular date. She will be bragging to her friends about how sweet you are.

Last Minute Jewelry

If it is late in the day, you can call some local jewelry stores and see if they might stay open for you just a bit longer if you promise to make a purchase. FYI, locally, Sam's Club is a great place to buy jewelry, it is of high quality and they are open early (7am in some cities) and late (10pm in some cities). On line purchases will only work if the site has a tool that allows you to email a gift page and say "it's on its way".

Private Movie Showing

How many times have you been to the movies and there was only 10-15 people in the theater. Most towns have many movie theaters and they are open 7 nights a week. If your celebration falls on a Sun-Thurs you can probably rent an entire theater for yourselves relatively inexpensively. Call the theater and explain to the manager that you are in a bind and need a unique gift. Propose that you buy X amount of tickets in advance, but you want your own showing. Most likely, you can see a current run movie in a theater all by yourselves for about the same price as a decent gift would cost. If the manager is proud of his theater and is asking you to pay more than you feel it is worth, then ask for some free snacks or that you are allowed to bring in a picnic or perhaps a message on the big screen to announce your spouse's special occasion. Then ask the manager to photograph the two of you in front of the big screen. If your spouse is a movie buff, ask the manager to include a tour of the theater behind the scenes, your wife will feel extra special and wonder what that cost you. You will be her hero. All of this can be done on the phone from your bedroom closet if you are really in bind.

Gift Ideas of Travel

Romantic Night in a Hotel

On your way home (or even before, if you remember in time) you can dial information and make a reservation at a local hotel and order room service for the two of you including champagne or wine. Spending time with her in a romantic hotel high above the city, or on a beach, or in the country will set her heart on fire once again. Stop and buy a card and say inside how you wish to spend time with just her and no tv, phone etc. Then when you get home, tell her you have a surprise. Go into her room and pack for her so she does not get an idea of what is coming, take her by the hand and lead her to the car. Just before getting to the hotel, give her the card. When you pull into the parking lot, she will be in tears. In order for this to be meaningful, you need to leave your laptop at home and turn off your cell phone for at least a few hours.

You can spend extra and arrange for a massage in the room that evening or the next morning. Hotels are usually pretty good at last minute arrangements and eager to help. You could have flowers delivered last minute, or the next morning along with breakfast in bed. Even if this is a work day, she will appreciate the gestures. Spring a little extra cash and you can get the honeymoon suite with Jacuzzi tub and have them send up some bubble bath. Surely to please her, I bet she returns the favor in spades. Remember you can negotiate with a hotel for a suite during the week (Sun thru Thurs) pretty favorably, so get them to include the flowers, chocolates or a free dinner or breakfast.

Weekend Getaway

You can easily sit down at your computer and book a hotel room in a nearby town or city. With the click of a button you can make a reservation and print out the confirmation and place it in a card. To make this even more special, locate and print out some dinner ideas near the hotel and maybe a show, museum, movie or other place to visit or activity as well. The more thought you place into this the better it will come across. Place it all in a card and seal it with a kiss!

Coupons for Travel

You can plan an extravagant trip for some point in the future. The keyword here is "plan" not just agree to go. Settle on the destination, arrange for travel and lodging and then identify several things to do while you are visiting this special place. Again, the amount of effort you put into place, print out confirmations for including maps etc will show her you put a lot of thought into her gift. This can all be done with a credit card and a computer with a printer at any time of day or night.

Gift Coupons

Coupons of Love

Making coupons for things you can do out of love are always a good idea. These can be made by hand or you can find templates on line. Visit our coupons of love page to read all the do's and don'ts.

Coupons of Labor

Taking the trash out for a year (without being asked) or spring cleaning the windows or refinishing that item of furniture she has been wanting you to do are also good gifts. Please don't use this as an excuse to not give anything, you must follow through quickly on your promise. A handmade card also goes well with this gift.

Coupon for a Show

This is a gift that you can pull off if you are sincere. There are shows that come to town and most likely you are not interested in or willing to suffer through that your spouse would like to see. She won't ask because she knows the answer. Make her a coupon and state you are willing to get dressed up, go to dinner and politely sit through any show, museum or chick flick she chooses. IF you know the show, movie or museum, getting the tickets in advance is optimum, but one could argue you were not sure which one she would cash her coupon in for as the reason why you do not have an actual gift.

You are in a hurry, so no need to take notes, print this last minute gift checklist and scram to the store!