Low-Stress, High-Tech, Down-To-The-Wire Christmas Shopping

The holiday season is about to wrap up and you’ve got the Shopping Outing Blues?

If the television and  couch are more your speed, then here’s a quick solution to your bah-humbug attitude to holiday shopping.

In this age of immediate cyber-gratification consider yourself lucky and cast off those SOBs!

I’ve put together a very short list — only four items —  of penultimate-day before Christmas gift ideas that are budget-friendly and just a click away. Before we get going,  pull your sorry self over to your wallet and grab that credit card so you don’t have to interrupt your simple shopping spree. You can thank me later for these last-minute gift ideas I’m about to list for you — and for being able to shop in your pajamas, too.

The Golden Age of Television is upon us, and who among us doesn’t value good TV content and entertainment, right?

No. I’m not hinting that you pay everyone’s cable bill for a month to impress them. But you can most likely afford a subscription to Netflix!

Netflix Blogger Party in San Diego. Jenn Boyd and Richie Equid. Photo by S. Valle

At $7.99 month, you can get those on your Christmas list hooked on the entertainment industries newest obsession: Binge-Watching!

For  less than the cost of a “teenth,” you and Netflix can get  your friends and family addicted to the high-inducing “Breaking Bad” phenomenon. Maybe then they’ll get all those Hazmat suit and Heisenberg jokes they’ve been hearing about, yo.

For the political animal in your family, “House of Cards” will get their conniving juices flowing. You can also add a note advising them that the second season is scheduled to start in February 2014, so they better catch up on Kevin Spacey’s superb acting now.

And for the not-easily-amused ones in your circles, “Orange is The New Black” should do the trick. Yeah. I’m still having trouble getting rid of the jarring opening-scene visuals in a few of those racy episodes.

Plus, there are countless films and other television series on Netflix available for this nominal subscription fee!

Have an animation freak in the lot? Then get them the Disney Animated App for iPad. Apple named Disney Animated as the iPad App of the year for 2013.

Photo Courtesy of Disney

“Disney Animated is a premium iPad app which gives fans unparalleled access to an astonishing amount of content, including text, art, sound, images, interviews and interactive activities, spanning all eras of Walt Disney Animation Studios history, many previously unavailable to the public.  With over 90 years of innovative and beautiful animated moviemaking at your fingertips through the power of the iPad, Disney Animated truly represents the magic that can happen when art and technology converge. ”

All of this for only $9.99!

If you’re still lacking inspiration, and you’d rather sit at home in front of the computer streaming episodes of The Awesomes (Seth Meyer’s creation) on Hulu (also $7.99 and makes a great gift, too)  instead of zooming over to a crowded shopping center, then you can’t go wrong with an educational gift.

Seth Meyers and Mike Shoemaker at San Diego Comic-Con. Photo S.Valle

However, you’ll have to dig deeper into your pocketbook for your loved ones to give them something  instructive.

The latest online edition of the Oxford English Dictionary would fit this bill. (Yes, this is a shameless plug for my alma mater!)

At 50% off, the $145 OED will educate those on your list about the newest additions to our formal lexicon. In the OED’s digital edition, they will find the definition for “Binge-Watching,” “Twerking,” and “Selfie,” among others, which will bring them up to speed on our latest pop-culture inspired vocab.

And the OED could also be one of those presents you could bequeath  to the whole family.

Oh, you cultured beast!

So there are you are. These are just a few of my favorite ideas for low-stress, high-tech, down-to-the-wire gift shopping.

What are you waiting for?

Don’t be an uncle Scrooge this Christmas. Be the cool relative instead, and do what Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon sang on SNL’s Christmas episode opening number. Take your Christmas list on down to virtual “Wrappinville”  and you should be golden for Christmas Day!

What are some of your down-to-the-wire Christmas gift ideas?

Happy Holidays!

This post is partially brought to you by Disney Animated. I got a free Disney Animated app to try out. All opinions are my own.