Parties, planning, packing, decorating—the holidays are some of the busiest times of the year. It can be tough to get gifts for everyone on your list ahead of time, but even if you’re scrambling on your way to the airport, you can still find great presents courtesy of your local terminal newsstand. If you need some inspiration, we scoped out the best airport finds (even if you’re flying domestic!) for the the people you never know what to get.
Divert questions about your relationship or employment status by gifting the splendors of Michelle Obama's life story in narrative form with the former First Lady's new memoir, Becoming ($32.50). Throw in some Burts Bee’s Shea Butter Hand Repair Cream ($17.99), because the pun is just subtle enough not to offend.
...But have to get a gift for anyway. The Google Home is perfect for your second cousin's new fiancé or your estranged uncle—the standard version runs at $129.99, but if you're not looking to impress you can snag a mini for $29.99.
Some people just don't trust a home speaker that also listens to your every spoken word, and for those giftees, a Sony Wireless Speaker ($59.99) will do the trick. It serves the main function everyone uses the Google Home for, but without the potential commercial spying. This person may also enjoy the gift of the greatest conspiracy of this century: the story of Elizabeth Holmes and the downfall of Theranos, John Carryrou's Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Start Up ($32.50).
Highbrow magazines are probably low on this giftee's priority budget, so if you want to encourage life-long learning, you can take one of the little postcards inside a New Yorker magazine on the newsstand and give them that opportunity in no-time—subscriptions run around $50. Top it off with a pair of reading glasses (~$15.99) to foreshadow the future of their newfound adulthood: aging eyesight.
You don't want to try too hard with this type. They'll be grateful for the simplicity of a Moleskin ($19.95) and/or Sony Wireless Headphones ($39.99), so they can transport themselves to wherever they'd rather be at the moment.
For the person who wants the latest and greatest, the early-adopters and tech-fanatics, get a MyCharge Wireless Charging Powerbank ($59.99) and an Amazon Kindle Gift Card, because you know these giftees don't waste their time with hardcovers.
Short of offering your own babysitting prowess to give them a night out on the town, the best thing you can gift new parents is a set of Sony Noise Canceling Headphones (~$59.99) and a sleep mask (~$19.99) to aid some R&R.