I cringed as I typed the title, because growing up, my dad and I would always hit the mall on Christmas Eve to get my mom her presents. I have a standing policy that I don’t begin any Christmas shopping until after Thanksgiving, although just this year I decided that for my sanity, I should change course next year. While others are wishing Winter Break was here, I’ll be working up until the last minute, rushing to get all our presents purchased or ordered. Maybe being a procrastinator during the holidays isn’t such a good thing.
Before I get ready to head out to the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar, I’ll offer my thoughts on last minute Austintatious gifts:
Experience gifts
- Zipline canopy tour in Spicewood (on Groupon for a limited time) – recommended minimum age is 10 and 70 lbs. weight minimum
- Lake Travis Zipline Adventures (on Living Social) – minimum weight is 70 lbs.
- Skydiving in Lexington (also on Groupon) – minimum age is 16 and 250 lbs. weight maximum
- Horseback riding
- Indoor skydiving at iFly (gift certificates were at Costco last time I was there)
- Holiday Fun Packs, which include four tickets to Six Flags Fiesta Texas Holiday in the Park, a $25 Simon gift card and other goodies, are available from Simon Guest Services at Lakeline Mall for $85. Tickets are valid until 5/10/15.
- A teen woodworking class from wortheffort (thanks to Christine at adaptive reUse for letting us know!)
- Stitch lab classes
- Alamo Drafthouse tickets (e-Gift cards can be emailed immediately upon purchase)
- Classes at Chaparral Ice
- Thinkery membership or classes
- Membership or class at The Contemporary
- Tickets to events at The Long Center
- Tickets to Mens or Womens Longhorn Basketball games
- Tickets or camps at ZACH Theater
For your music lovers
- KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 22 – If you don’t want to head to a store, you can purchase a digital download. Retail locations include Barnes & Noble Austin-area locations, Central Market North and South, Waterloo Records, Antone’s Records, Wild About Music, Piranha Records and Oat Willie’s. Proceeds benefit the SIMS Foundation.
- Our friends at Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child are part of Macaroni and Cruise, a 4-night Caribbean cruise sailing on the Norweigan Sky from August 2-7, 2015, featuring exclusive performances from family-friendly musicians.
- Plan your next date night early with tickets to KUTX’s Second Birthday Party, taking place on Saturday, January 31st at Bass Concert Hall. Tickets go on sale on December 19th at 10am.
Lots of great stuff under one roof
- Blue Genie Art Bazaar – Open until 10pm each night and with a full bar…just sayin’.
- Parts & Labour – Great SoCo spot we wrote about last year. Not quite sure what’s in stock this year, because I haven’t made it down there this year.
- Atown – The only problem I’ve found here is that I want to buy the whole store…for myself.
- Terra Toys – Awesome stocking stuffers…and so much more.
- Whole Earth Provision Co. – Impressive kid gift section.
- BookPeople – Need we say more?
Enough writing. Now I need to get out there and get some shopping done!
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]http://www.livemom.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Nicole-Basham-Sara-Marzani-Photography-livemom.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]A native Austinite and soccer-playing mom, Nicole uses her 8-year-old son as an excuse to rediscover her hometown through his eyes. In Thoreau’s words, her mission is to “suck out all the marrow of life”, or in her son’s words, to cultivate in him a love of “advenchers”.[/author_info] [/author]
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