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TechChristmas shopping

5 Last-Minute Gift Ideas That Say You Care (Or Have a Credit Card)

By
Stacey Higginbotham
Stacey Higginbotham
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By
Stacey Higginbotham
Stacey Higginbotham
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December 24, 2015, 11:35 AM ET
AP F NJ USA Earns Starbucks
A person holds a Starbucks Coffee card Wednesday, Nov. 31, 2007 in Pennington, N.J. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)Photograph by Mel Evans — AP

My goodness, it’s Christmas Eve and you, my friend, are stuck with a gift giving occasion in less than 24 hours and no idea what to wrap. Before you pull into the nearest Starbucks let me offer a few quick ideas that yes, does include a gift card (but it is a gift card for a specific item, so it at least shows you care). I’m a gadget lover, so these skew toward the connected and expensive, but I tried to offer a few cheaper options. We don’t have a lot of time, so let’s get to it.

For the lady in your life: Give her the gift of jewelry that frees her from her phone. The Ringly connected ring is both attractive and functional. It connects to her Android or iOS phone and vibrates or lights up via an LED on the side to let her know when a text, phone call or a variety of other messages are coming through. It’s too late to pick up the ring, but order a gift card and let her pick her own favorite style and size, which is what she’d want to do anyway. Ringly-$195

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For the renter: Give your kid who is at college or your apartment-owning friend a sense of security with this all-in-one connected home security and air quality monitoring device called the Canary. To get it today, pick it up before 5pm from your local Home Depot (HD), and also get $70 off the retail price. This product connects to an Android or iOS device and sends an alert and starts video recording when it detects motion in the home. Canary (at Home Depot)-$179

For the fitness fanatic: This is a great gift for anyone who is feeling stressed about their health or weight. Give your recipient a jump start for their fitness goals with a subscription to the Daily Burn. This is a program of unlimited workouts that can stream to a huge variety of devices. Offering this as a gift may be a tad difficult since there isn’t an option for a gift card and you’ll eventually want to cancel the monthly payment or transfer it to your friend, but this isn’t a gift you want to offer a total stranger, so I bet you and your pal can work this out. Daily Burn-$12.95 a month (first month is free)

WATCH: For more on this related topic see our highly relevant video.

For the host/hostess gift: Look you already know this one, but I’m going to tell you anyway, because you are stressed and you’ve forgotten. Williams Sonoma (WSM) makes really baller, expensive candy that is a great gift to bring along for holiday parties when you don’t know the host or hostess well. Yes, it’s pricey, but its Peppermint Bark is actually the best I’ve ever had (the sales people tell me it’s because the company uses real peppermint oil, but of course, they would say that). Get there before 6pm. Williams Sonoma-$20-$40

For host/hostess/anyone else: Did you feel that I led you astray with the candy idea? If you were expecting some kind of app or gadget and felt like candy was just the lamest thing I could offer, then how about you trundle over to Best Buy (BBY) (it’s open until 6 pm today) and pick up a Google (GOOG) Chromecast Audio device? This is for your friends who like to listen to music on their computers or phones but also want to hear it coming from their actual speakers. Plug one end of the Chromecast Audio into the port in the back of your speaker. Plug the other end into a power outlet and then connect it to your Wi-Fi network. Soon your loved ones can “cast” any music they listen to on their phone or computers to their house speakers without worrying about going out of range as happens with Bluetooth speakers. It’s also cheaper than a Sonos setup by a lot. Chromecast Audio-$30.

Hopefully you’ve found something better than that iTunes or a Starbucks (SBUX) gift card on this list, so gas up the car and get thee to the mall. Apparently everyone shopped online this year, so maybe the crowds won’t be so bad.

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By Stacey Higginbotham
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