Everybody loves presents, but what happens when the holiday season catches you unprepared? Here are some suggestions for getting some last-minute gifts.

Despite the joy that the holiday season brings, it also causes stress when we empty our pockets shopping for presents and decorations.

For some, Christmas shopping takes place at the beginning of the month and presents are wrapped and hidden well before Christmas. For others, it is all about rushing out on Christmas Eve and shoving last-minute gifts into their carts.

Lastly, there’s the DIY for anyone who prefers to spend their time crafting personalized presents. If you’re one of those, but don’t have months to prepare ahead of time, we’ve thought of some last-minute gifts you can add a personal touch to.

If you’re a truck driver spending time on the road, this will be especially helpful if you’re finding yourself stuck without presents on your way back home just days before Christmas.

Presents in a Gift Basket

Gift Baskets can be a hit or a miss for gift giving. There’s nothing too personal in getting a gift basket for someone during the holiday season.

All you can do is pick one out and hope they like everything inside. Store-bought gift baskets often feature presents that may not be popular with everyone, such as stinky cheeses and olive tapenade which is already foreign to most people.

This year, ditch the store-bought baskets and design your last-minute gifts! Fill the baskets with things particular to the person receiving them during the holiday season for truly personal presents everyone will love.

You can throw together a personalized basket from just about anything and make it look like you put some solid thought and time into it.

If you can find a convenience store, gas station, or even a truck stop, you’re sure to find some way to put together some last-minute gifts. All you need is something to hold everything whether it is an actual basket, a tin box, even a cardboard box will do.

If you’re stuck with the cardboard box path just find some pens, colored pencils, stickers, markers, anything that can help you personalize the box, then fill it with candies, snacks, drinks, anything you can find that reminds you of that person.

Organize last-minute gifts creatively and there you have it.

If you have access to some cellophane or gift wrap then you’re even better off. A special touch you can add if you have a way of printing out pictures is to print out a picture of you and the person you’re giving the presents to and find a little frame to put it in and add to the basket.

No frames? Think of something you can use to clip it with. The possibilities are endless! No one will know and you’ll look like the DIY-er of the year.

Last-minute gifts that Document your Travel Journey

If you’re an over-the-road trucker you’re probably used to truck stops and the array of items they carry. Some truck stops are packed with great last-minute gifts you can give.

But no friend or family member will feel special getting cliché truck stop presents. The way to work around that is to get a souvenir from multiple truck stops-or just say they’re from multiple truck stops.

The added personal touch to last-minute gifts is providing the receiver with the joy of thinking you thought about them all through your trucking journey.

A snow globe from Colorado, a hat from Texas, etc. This way the presents show your journey across the country and now your loved ones have some pieces of that journey as well.

If you forgot to collect things on the way and you don’t think you can fool anyone by getting them all in the same place, print out pictures of your journey and put them into a little photo album. That’s a great gift during the holiday season.

Even if you have to grab last-minute gifts, try to think of a way to personalize presents even if it is simply with a poem or note attached to a favorite bottle of wine.

Everyone wants to feel loved during the holiday season and everyone wants to believe that we are thinking of them always, so these little personalized and DIY touches add some love and appreciation to our last-minute gifts.