Last minute Christmas gifts for kids: printable gifts you can make tonight

It is December 23rd, the shops are packed, and delivery dates have passed. You still have three good options that arrive the moment you pay:

1. A printable activity book or kit. Print it, bind it, wrap it with crayons. It looks and feels like a real present because, once printed, it is one.
2. An emailed gift card. It arrives instantly, so it works even on Christmas morning. Best for children you will not see on the day, or when the parents would rather choose.
3. A coupon book of time together. Free, personal, and often the gift children ask to "use" first.

Most families mix two of these: something to unwrap (the printed book) and something to look forward to (a coupon or gift card).

If you want one download that covers the whole holiday, we built The Ultimate Christmas Activity Kit for exactly this. Here is what is inside, straight from the product details:

• 204 pages for ages 3 to 7, one PDF.
• A countdown calendar and paper chain, letters to Santa, ornaments and a reindeer headband.
• Gift tags and cards, bingo, roll-and-draw and memory match games.
• 19 coloring scenes plus counting, reading, maze and puzzle pages, snowflakes, lacing cards and puppets.

Like everything in our store it is an instant PDF download, black and white to save ink, prints on US Letter or A4, and comes with a 14-day money-back guarantee. Not sure yet? You can try our free printable book first and see the paper quality and style for yourself.

A printable gift lands well when it matches what the child can actually do. Here is a quick guide.

For the youngest, the Merry & Bright Christmas Busy Book is 43 pages of coloring, tracing, counting, mazes and matching for ages 3 to 5. It makes a sweet stocking stuffer when you print it, staple it and roll it with a ribbon.

For a family with several children, the Christmas Mega Bundle holds all six of our Christmas printables in one download (359 pages for ages 3 to 8), so you can print a different book for each child from one purchase.

The difference between "some printouts" and "a present" is about twenty minutes of finishing. Here is the method we use.

What you need

• A printer and about 100 sheets of standard paper (or a print shop, see the FAQ)
• 10 to 20 sheets of cardstock for craft pages, ornaments and gift tags
• A long-arm stapler, a three-ring binder, binder clips or a print shop's comb binding
• A three-hole punch if you use a binder
• Optional: a clear plastic sleeve for the cover

Step by step

1. Choose the pages. You do not have to print every page. For a 4 year old, pick the coloring, counting and maze pages and skip the reading pages for now. Save the rest for January.
2. Print the craft pages on cardstock. Ornaments, headbands and gift tags hold up much better. Everything else is fine on plain paper.
3. Print single-sided. Children color through thin paper, and single-sided pages are easier to tear out.
4. Make a cover. Print the first page on cardstock and write the child's name on it: "Maya's Christmas Activity Book."
5. Bind it. Under about 40 pages, staple twice down the left edge and cover the staples with a strip of washi or masking tape. Over 40 pages, use a binder, binder clips, or ask a print shop for comb binding.
6. Pack the craft pages separately. Put cut-out pages in a large envelope labeled "Crafts to make together" so they do not get colored before they get cut.

Presentation does the heavy lifting with a printable gift. A few ideas that work:

• The activity box. Put the bound book in a shoebox with a new pack of crayons, a glue stick, safety scissors and a roll of tape. Wrap the whole box. It becomes "my Christmas craft box," and children love having their own supplies.
• The book and a pencil bow. Wrap the book in brown paper and tie it with string, with a new pencil or two crayons tucked under the knot.
• The countdown starter. If you are giving the gift early, wrap the countdown calendar and paper chain separately as a "first night of December" gift, then the rest of the book later.
• The stocking roll. Roll a stapled busy book into a tube, tie it with ribbon and stand it up in a stocking with a few crayons.
• The family night envelope. For bingo and memory games, print the cards, put them in an envelope with some wrapped sweets for counters and write "Family game night, Christmas Day, 4pm."

Say something about it as it is opened. Children follow your tone. "I made this one into a real book just for you. Shall we do the first page after breakfast?" turns a printable into a plan.

For grandchildren, nieces, nephews and godchildren far away, a printable still works, but the parent has to do the printing. Make it easy for them.

Send a book as a gift

Any book in our store can be sent as a gift. In the cart, tick "This is a gift," add the parent's email, a short message and the date you want it to arrive. We email it that morning (US time) with your message, and you get a printable gift certificate with a QR code right away to put in a card. They never see the price. See how gifting works.

Give a gift card

If you are not sure of the age or what they already have, a Built Brains gift card lets the parents choose. Cards run from $25 to $500 with three illustrated designs, or a custom card with your own photo from $50. It is emailed instantly with your message, or on a later date you pick, and it never expires. A photo of the grandparents or a favorite family moment on the card makes it feel far more personal than a plain code.

Give the child something to open

Print the gift certificate, fold it into a Christmas card and post it, or text a photo to the parent to print. A five year old does not care that the real gift is in an inbox; they care that an envelope came with their name on it.

A coupon book costs nothing but a sheet of paper and some time, and it is the last minute gift children tend to remember. Fold three sheets of paper in half, staple the fold, and you have a 12-page book. Write one coupon per page and let your child decorate the cover later.

Coupon ideas by type

• Time with you: "One trip to the park, just us." "A bedtime with three stories, not two." "Help me bake cookies, you choose the kind."
• Small freedoms: "Pick dinner on a Friday." "Stay up 15 minutes late." "Choose the music in the car all day."
• Outings: "One hot chocolate date." "A trip to the library to choose five books." "Drive around to see the Christmas lights."
• Family fun: "Family game night, you choose the game." "A blanket fort in the living room." "Pancakes for dinner."
• From a sibling: "I will play whatever you want for 20 minutes." "I will help you clean your room once."

Make it work in real life

• Write a "use by" season, not a date. "Use any time this winter" feels generous without being forever.
• Only promise what you will do. A coupon you will not honor is worse than no coupon.
• Mix big and small. Five easy ones and one special one keeps the book exciting.
• Pair it with something physical. A coupon for a baking afternoon pairs nicely with a new cookie cutter tied to the page.

• Handing over loose paper. Unbound pages look like homework. Always bind, clip or box them.
• Printing every page for a young child. A 204-page stack is overwhelming for a 3 year old. Print 30 to 40 pages they will love and keep the rest for later.
• Forgetting the supplies. A coloring book with no crayons in the box is a gift that has to wait. Check you have crayons, glue and scissors before the 24th.
• Choosing a gift for the wrong age. If it says 3 to 5 and the child is 8, choose a craft kit or bundle instead. If you sent it as a gift and got the age wrong, email us within 7 days and we will swap it.
• Leaving printing to Christmas Eve night. Printers jam and ink runs out at the worst moment. Print a day early if you can.
• Making it all screen-based. For young children, a game app or video subscription adds screen time to a day that already has plenty. A paper gift gives them something to do with their hands.

Here is the whole thing, start to finish, for the evening you remember you still need a gift.

1. Minutes 0 to 5: choose and download. Pick the gift for the child's age. The download link arrives straight away.
2. Minutes 5 to 25: print. Craft and tag pages on cardstock, the rest single-sided on plain paper.
3. Minutes 25 to 35: bind and cover. Staple, clip or binder. Write their name on the cover.
4. Minutes 35 to 45: build the box. Book, crayons, glue stick, safety scissors and a coupon or two.
5. Minutes 45 to 60: wrap and label. Use the printed gift tags from the kit if it has them.

If you want one download that gives you the cover, the crafts, the games, the gift tags and weeks of quiet coloring and counting, The Ultimate Christmas Activity Kit is the one we would choose. It covers ages 3 to 7, so it works for siblings too. For more ways to use it through December, see our Christmas activities for kids.

And if the child is far away, send it as a gift with your message on Christmas morning, or choose a gift card and let the family pick.