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Monday, December 14, 2020

10 Last-Minute Gifts You Can Add to Your Grocery Pickup Order

I haven't been inside any sort of store since early November. I am doing all of my holiday shopping either online for shipping or through my grocery curbside pick-ups. 

I've needed to add several items to my next pick-up order to round out my gifts for family members and friends. When browsing my Walmart grocery store's website, I found a surprising variety in what I could buy for all of the people on my list. No, this is nothing like Alex P. Keaton's Christmas morning gift shopping at the 24-hour mini-mart. There are abundant gift possibilities in regular grocery stores. And you don't need to step foot into the store to find them -- just add the items to your order.

I came up with a whole bunch of possibilities and am actually using several of these for my own family members. Here you go -- 10 last-minute gifts that you can add to your curbside pick-up order from your local grocery store.

1  Pasta dinner basket -- pasta, jar of sauce, wedge of Parmesan cheese, bottle of olive oil, Mediterranean olives or giardiniera, a nice jar of fruit or some Italian cookies, and a tool like a colander or mini- cheese grater.

2  Bag of spa goodies -- make a bag (like the one here  or this one here) from your paper stash or reuse a good-condition, previous used bag, fill with any of the following: loofah, bath poof, or brush, and bottle of foaming bath, bath bombs, mineral bath soak, moisturizing bath beads, moisturizing face masks, a shower cap, foot cream, foot scrub, and a bar of dark chocolate.

3  Caramel apple basket -- basket filled with fresh apples, mini caramel dips, and an apple wedger/slicer

4  movie night in a bag -- popcorn (maybe the kind in an aluminum foil pan that you pop on the stove), boxed candy, soda pop, then download or email a gift card to a streaming service like Netflix or Disney+

5  game day gift -- a bucket filled with favorite snacks like everything to make nachos, some nuts and jerky, and some upscale soda pop 

6  a trio of rubs for grilling

7  for kids and families -- toys, games, or puzzles. On your grocery website, search "toys for girls", "toys for boys", "toys for toddlers". On my Walmart Neighborhood Market site, (the grocery store, not the big store), I found: a great safety dart board that would have been enjoyed by either boys or girls; Baby Einstein and VTech electronic toys, shape sorters, spinners, and soft books for toddlers; and puzzles and games that the whole family would enjoy.

8  a box of chocolates and flowers or flowering plant

9  a bundle of the more upscale versions of any favorite food/snack/beverages than the recipient might normally buy for themselves

10  a coffee or tea basket -- a couple of bags of good quality coffee or nice boxes of tea, coffee flavoring syrup, unbleached coffee filters or refillable/reusable k-cup coffee filter pods, and a package of biscotti, amaretti, or Lotus Biscoff cookies


While browsing, I also found many, many possibilities for stocking stuffers or small gifts. 
So, here's a bonus: 15 + stocking stuffers to add to a grocery curbside pick-up order.
  1. individual items from the above list
  2. small bags of chips
  3. individual bags of cookies or crackers
  4. oranges/tangerines
  5. nuts in the shell (of course, you need a nut cracker handy)
  6. cocoa packets
  7. individual servings of cereal (those tiny boxes are fun)
  8. nice chocolate bars, any individual spa item, candle and candle holder for a grown-up small gift or older teen/young adult stocking stuffer
  9. men's travel kit/travel sized toiletries or full-size body wash
  10. bath toys or bath crayons for young kids (search your store's site for "kids bath")
  11. gold foil-wrapped chocolate coins
  12. markers/colored pencils, coloring books for young kids
  13. small balls, silly putty, silly string, flarp for slightly older kids
  14. flashlight
  15. hair accessories, nail polish/file/adhesive nail art, lip balm for teen and preteen girls
  16. car maintenance items, such as snow and ice brushes/scrapers, chamois/microfiber towels, or air fresheners for teens who have a car or responsibility for the family car (search "car tools" or "car" on your store's site)
  17. mittens or socks

Stay well, friends, as you do your holiday shopping!

14 comments:

  1. Lili, my silly brain immediately thought "all that and a bag of chips". I never thought about small chip bags or individual cereal containers. I'm officially done with shopping but will keep those ideas in mind.

    I've had a hard time finding nuts in their shells this season, perhaps because in other years it's been a self scoop purchase? I prefer mixed nuts but settled for pecans today. I prefer those over almonds and those huge brown nuts whose name I have forgotten ... and they were my only options.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kris,
      Alice beat me to it -- Brazil nuts. Here's an article on the benefits of Brazil nuts: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/brazil-nuts-benefits
      Brazil nuts are super high in selenium and may help those with thyroid disorders.
      My local Fred Meyer (a Kroger affiliate) has bags of mixed nuts in the shell. You can also buy them online (nuts.com, Amazon, walmart.com). Otherwise, I do think it's harder to find them these days. But it's such a fun thing to do -- sit around as a family and pass the nut cracker as everyone talks and cracks nuts. I miss this.

      Good for you to be all done with shopping!! I finished this morning with my pick-up. Now comes the wrapping!

      Have a great day, Kris!

      Delete
  2. Brazil nuts I think is what you are thinking Kris. I used to love those mixed nuts as a child. I also looked for them this year as a healthy option but cannot find them. I do like the pecans in shells.

    What a great idea for gift packages. I think I might have to think about that if we get all the kids home for Christmas. At least I'll have a little something for them.

    Alice

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes! Thank you for the reminder, Alice! I suspect that you and I are shopping at similar local stores (Meijer and Aldi) a few miles apart. Aldi used to have mesh bags of mixed nuts in shells but stopped having them a few years ago. We have inherited a nut cracker/bowl/picks and I feel like it's a fun option for everyone to have a healthy snack that they can enjoy any time.

      I like to put Christmas tree ornaments in stockings for stuffers, as well. I try to match the ornament to my kid's interests--for instance, we have a trombone and a clarinet ornaments on our tree.

      Delete
    2. Hi Alice,
      As I said to Kris, you might need to look online to buy nuts in the shell. Pecans in the shell were always my favorite as a child.

      My family will be receiving a fair amount of food gifts this year. And I think they will be appreciated because I found items that I wouldn't normally buy as groceries.
      Wishing you a wonderful day, Alice!

      Delete
    3. Great idea, Kris, to add an ornament to each stocking!

      Delete
  3. Lots of good ideas here. And if you can get a pickup at Walmart you certainly have a lot of choices. Your movie night reminds me of the teacher gifts I used to give back in the day. I would get a gift certificate to Blockbuster and put it along with a bag of popcorn in a VHS case and give them a night at the movies. It was greatly appreciated. While the teachers appreciated the thought of most gifts, they couldn't use them. This was one that they would use.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That was a great idea for teachers. I agree, while the thought is nice, so many teacher gifts are just things that aren't usable. I used to give gift cards to places like Starbucks or Subway--even if it isn't the teacher's "thing", they can usually find someone who is happy to use the gift card.

      Back when we could have Sunday School, I had a couple of different things I did for my middle school students for gifts. One of those was to find popcorn boxes (Hobby Lobby has them) and fill them with a bag of microwave popcorn, bottled water (since I didn't know what soda pop they preferred), movie candy, and fuzzy socks. The Dollar Store made it affordable. :)

      Delete
    2. Hi Live and Learn,
      your teacher gift of a "movie night" sounds terrific (love the presentation in a VHS box). As you said, teachers do receive many gifts that are thoughtful, but not necessarily useful to them. I used to give Starbucks giftcards when my son and daughters were in high school (we homeschooled grade K-8). Even if someone doesn't drink coffee or tea, there were still lots of breakfast, lunch, and snack options.

      Enjoy the rest of your day, Live and Learn!

      Delete
  4. And there are even more options if you order your pickup from a Superstore rather than the grocery store version! Not even just for gifts, but for all kinds of stuff. I've ordered cat litter, notebooks the kids needed for school, furnace filters, and more!

    We finally tried the Target drive-up option and like it even more, but, alas, they don't carry our cat litter, just a similar one that's almost double in price. And, our store, at least (not a superstore, but has the medium grocery department, more than a plain Target, but less than a superstore), doesn't do frozen items for drive-up. But they are awesome for gift stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Cat,
      It's amazing the variety of items we can get through pick-ups. Thanks for sharing your experience on both Walmart Superstore and Target. I can imagine Target would be great for a lot of items, even some basic clothing. I will mention this alternative (Target curbside) to my family members who haven't done their gift shopping yet. Thank you!

      I feel like I'm becoming the laziest shopper, letting someone else fill the cart, check me out, bag it all, and load my car -- all while I'm home sipping my coffee, then making a casual drive over to pick it all up.

      Have a great day, Cat!

      Delete
  5. Thank you for this list, Lili!
    You've sparked my last-minute gift dilemma thought process.
    Jo Ann

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jo Ann,
      You're welcome. It makes me really happy to know I've helped. Good luck with all of your holiday preparations.

      Have a wonderful day, Jo Ann!

      Delete
  6. great ideas! I love the gift of food - Good luck with gift wrapping. Mine is done because I had to mail some gifts so I decided to do the rest. Have a great weekend all!

    ReplyDelete

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