7 Last-Minute Gift Card Ideas (That Aren’t Amazon or Starbucks)

It’s less than a week before Christmas, which marks the official start of “Amazon and Starbucks gift card” season. There’s nothing wrong with gift cards per se, but these two in particular are so commonly gifted that they practically scream “I panicked and got this at the last minute”—which is exactly what you don’t want in a last-minute gift.

On top of being predictable, Amazon and Starbucks have spent most of 2022 engaging in blatant union-busting, which is a great reason to not give them your money. For this exact reason, unionized Starbucks workers are asking customers to skip the gift cards this year: In a Dec. 16 press release from Starbucks Workers United, partner Nabretta Hardin pointed out that “Each year, [Starbucks] makes over a hundred million dollars from gift cards that are never even used by customers.” That’s free money for Starbucks to spend on whatever they like, and by now, it’s obvious that they really like union-busting.

This year, don’t be a bore—or worse, a scab. Skip Amazon and Starbucks and shake up your gift card game with any of these great options instead.

Giving a book-lover an Amazon gift card is sort of a faux pas at this point. If you don’t know the bookworm on your list well enough to pick the perfect title for them, a Bookshop.org gift card is the next best thing. Bookshop ships all their books from independent bookstores, so you’re supporting small booksellers instead of Jeff Bezos.

Shipping yourself a sandwich from Pittsburgh or deep-dish pizza from Chicago is indulgent to the point of being hard to justify, which is why a Goldbelly gift card makes such a fun gift. It’s the perfect excuse to splurge a little, and even the person who seems to have tried every restaurant on the planet will be sure to find something totally new to them.

If Goldbelly is great for equal-opportunity food lovers, this one’s for the real ice cream freaks. Jeni’s makes some of the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted and they ship nationwide. (There’s a four-pint minimum for shipping, though, so keep that in mind.) A digital gift card makes the perfect choose-your-own-adventure gift for your favorite ice-cream lover—and if you ask nicely, maybe they’ll share.

If you know someone who loves puzzles, a Jiggy Puzzles gift card is just the ticket. This company makes cute jigsaw puzzles in 100, 450, or 800 pieces, so there’s something for all ages. Another great detail: Each puzzle comes with puzzle glue so your recipient can keep and frame the finished piece of their choice as artwork.

The Criterion channel is the ultimate streaming site for film-lovers, and they just happen to offer gift subscriptions. Their offerings change every month and include curated themed collections, interviews with filmmakers, and archival footage—everything you can’t get from Netflix and Hulu, in other words. (If your movie buff prefers physical media to streaming, you can also get them a physical or digital gift card to the Criterion collection store so they can stock up on DVDs.)

Not everyone would be thrilled to receive a password manager subscription for Christmas, but if you know someone who would, now is a great time to buy one; the best deals typically pop up around the winter holidays. 1Password is a great product, and they offer gift cards in $25, $50, or $125, so you can choose the right level of commitment.

The niche hobbyist who already has everything they need (and buys themselves everything they want) is a deeply frustrating person to shop for. This is the perfect use case for an eBay gift card. Whatever weird shit they’re into—model trains, vintage sports memorabilia, limited-edition Margaritaville Crocs, things of this nature—they’re more likely to find it on eBay than Amazon anyway. Why not go straight to the source?