Geek Girls + Shop Girls

In anticipation of our appearance on Shop Girls this morning, we wanted to jot down some of our favorite sites for last-minute holiday shopping.

Last Minute Holiday Shopping

The key when you’re in last-minute mode is to keep it simple: go with the old standby sites that are easy-to-use and whom you trust to actually ship your stuff on time. Now is not the time to experiment with some crazy new site; save that for a more low-pressure time.

Land’s End: Every day they’re featuring a last-minute holiday item with a deep discount and guaranteed Christmas delivery. They’re also tweeting these deals — and you can win free stuff by re-tweeting. Follow them on Twitter: @landsendchat

Other trusty standbys (many featuring daily deals from now ’til Christmas):

  • Amazon: Check Daily Deals and Top Holiday Deals.
  • DealNews: Great aggregator of deals around the web, geeky stuff and more!
  • Overstock: Check their 25 Deals, 25 Days.
  • SmartBargains: The name pretty much says it all.
  • Zappos: It’s not just for shoes anymore!

A helpful aggregation of retailers on Twitter: http://www.noturnonred.org/twitter/

Unique & Local

  • Etsy: Find amazing, inspiring and lovely things on Etsy. Just check the seller’s ratings and — if they don’t clearly state their shipping information — contact them to ensure you can get it on time. Another great local alternative (without biting your nails about shipping) is NE Minneapolis shop i like you, which features tons of handcrafted gift items.
  • Threadless: Totally awesome t-shirts for men, women and kids. Great last-minute deals on shirts ($10!) and shipping.
  • Viewville: Fine art photo prints by professional photographers. Browse by photographer or style. If you’re in the Twin Cities and order by the 22nd, you can get your matted print by Christmas Eve!
  • Spot Spa: A great Minneapolis spa offering both gift certificates online and online DIY scheduling.
  • iTunes: One way to avoid the shipping hassle is to find digital downloads. iTunes offers ways to give the standard gift-card, but you can also give someone a movie to download, or a season pass to a favorite TV show.
  • One of the reasons I find myself in last-minute mode is total lack of inspiration. A favorite spot for browsing for inspiration (mainly for the ladies on my list or, uh, myself) is Polyvore.
  • ‘Tis the season to also consider not buying gifts at all; you can find Minnesota non-profits to donate to at GiveMN.org.

From Our Twitter Peeps

  • Land of Nod: Unique gifts for kids. If you’re looking for unique items that you won’t be at the big department stores – this is for you.  Children’s furniture and so much more.
  • Figis.com:  Corporate gifts are sometimes hard to do affordably.  But, if you want to say thank-you to clients on a budget, you’ll love the selection at Figis.com.
  • Uncommon Goods:  Not only is this site chock full of beautiful and totally unique gift items, but it’ll also help you find gifts for those hard-to-buy-for folks on your list.  Visit the site and try the handy ‘gift finder’ right on the  home page.  Tell them who you’re looking for, how much you want to spend, and provide a few more details and this thing will cough up a wide  variety of suggestions from sock monkey slippers to a pictoral dictionary.

Happy shopping, y’all. Let us know how it goes!

Update: Another thing we talked about on the show: Owle! Perfect for an iPhone 3GS owner in your life who wants to capture better video on their phone. Super cool gadget!

Also the Flip camera, which is really easy for anyone to use (and can shoot HD video). We’ve had a lot of people we know also recommend the Kodak Zi8 as an alternative to the Flip (we’ve never used that one, though).