6 Last-Minute Holiday Gift Ideas

Buy experiences. Though about half of survey respondents in the Consumer Reports holiday poll said they’d like to receive a material gift, almost as many prefer the gift of a special experience. Get tickets to a professional game, a concert, or a play. Event ticket prices can be steep, but Consumer Reports explains how to get the best prices and land hard-to-score tickets.

For an adventurer, great gift ideas include rock climbing and race-car driving lessons, whitewater rafting, or a windjammer cruise. For more modest budgets, consider buying movie tickets in bulk from theater chains or Costco.

Shop the supermarket. Here's a gift idea you could pull off on the way to a present-exchange gathering: Make your own foodie gift basket. Most big supermarket chains carry high-end food. You can gather the ingredients for an Italian meal—gourmet pasta sauces, pesto sauce, different types of pasta, a hunk of Parmesan cheese, and a fancy bottle of extra-virgin olive oil. In the housewares aisle, pick up a colorful colander and arrange the items in it. Or fill a basket with gourmet coffee, tea, and hot chocolate, add in nice mugs, a teapot, and colorful tea towels.

Give the gift of time. Time is precious, and you can help loved ones gain some back with gifts of personal services. These can make good group gifts. For the stressed out parent, get a monthly cleaning service for a year. For elderly parents, the gift of a yard-maintenance service could be very welcome.

For someone who doesn’t have time to make a nice home-cooked meal, give a meal delivery service. Consumer Reports tested out five major meal delivery services, such as Blue Apron. The services aren't that expensive. At Blue Apron, for example, all the ingredients are delivered to your home and you can buy one week's, two weeks', or even a month's worth of meals. Cost is about $10 per person per meal.