When it comes to gifts, we all have our private definition of "last-minute." I know people who spike a fever if they're sewing the buttons on a slew of hand-knit cardigans on Christmas Eve. No sympathy for them. Just for the record, "late" is when you give a list of "Our Beloved Baby-sitters' Phone Numbers" as a Christmas gift.

But we last-minute gift-givers don't really deserve pity either. Once in a while it's sort of fun to play the game, to see what you can make with only your household goods, the help of your eight-year-old, and the 7-Eleven closing in nine minutes. We last-minute (I prefer "impromptu") thinkers come up with some beauties. Plus we're the ones who know you can make perfectly fabulous gift wrap out of street maps, tinfoil, the society page or Big Mac wrappers. Remember: You can get 'em even faster at the drive-through.

Lynne Bertrand, a contributing editor at FAMIYFUN, lives in Massachusetts.