Here are the best last-minute holiday gifts that won’t break the bank

It’s officially crunch time for buying gifts before the holidays arrive. If you haven’t yet begun your shopping, it’s time to start now, because if you wait much longer, it’s possible that your gifts won’t arrive on time — or you’ll pay much more for them to be delivered. On the other hand, you’ll probably appreciate that most retailers are offering the year’s best deals on the most popular tech products right now.

Before we get to the deals, here are some important cutoff dates to keep in mind if you plan to buy gifts online:

  • Amazon: Free Shipping ends on December 16th, and your last day to pay for Standard Shipping and receive items before Christmas is December 18th. If you have Amazon Prime, December 22nd is the cutoff day to place orders. You’ll be pushing it, but December 23rd is the absolute final day to have items shipped via Prime with One-Day Deliver.
  • Walmart: Walmart’s NextDay shipping cutoff is December 23rd at 12PM ET. The TwoDay shipping option ends a day earlier, December 22nd, at 2PM ET. Until December 17th, you can select the “3-5 Day” shipping option.
  • Best Buy: December 20th at 11:30AM ET is the last opportunity to place an order and have it arrive by December 24th. If you live in select areas, you can order later and still have items arrive on time.
  • Target: Order by 1PM ET on December 20th to have your gifts arrive by December 24th.

Here are a few more important dates if you’re buying gifts in a store and shipping them yourself:

  • Shipping via FedEx: December 16th is the cutoff date for Ground and Home Delivery parcels, December 19th for Express Saver, December 20th for 2Day services, and December 23rd for overnight services
  • Shipping via UPS: December 19th is the cutoff date for 3 Day Select shipping, December 20th for 2nd Day Air services, and December 23rd for Next Day Air services
  • Shipping via USPS: December 20th is the cutoff date for First-Class deliveries, December 21st for Priority Mail, and December 23rd for Priority Mail Express

Now, for the deals. We’ll be keeping this list up to date as new deals come in and old ones expire.

is $249.99 (usually $329.99) at Target. It’s one of the few retailers to have this model in stock, and the only one that still has its Black Friday and Cyber Monday deal running. Same goes for . It’s $329.99 at Target, which is $100 off.

Fitbit’s Versa 2 is $129.95 at Best Buy. This is $70 off of the usual price. You can have it shipped before the holidays, or swing by a local store to pick it up yourself.

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

SimpliSafe’s eight-piece home security kit is $199.99 (usually $266) at Amazon. This is the model that we recommend for most people who are looking for a system that’s easy to set up and use.

Two Google Nest Hub smart displays are $99.99 at Best Buy (usually $79.99 per display; outside of the sale season, they can range from $99 to $129). These make for great digital photo frames, and they can also play YouTube videos and make voice calls via Duo.

The Outer Worlds is $35 at Walmart for PS4 and Xbox One. This matches the best price that we’ve seen, and makes for a great deal on one of 2019’s best shooters.

Death Stranding (PS4) is $39.99 at Amazon, as well as online and for pick-up in store at Walmart, , GameStop and Best Buy.

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

Nintendo Switch deals are tough to find right now, but for $299.99. What’s notable about this deal is that it includes a $30 Target gift card. Best Buy also sells the revised Switch model for $299.99. It includes the Starlink: Battle for Atlas game for free.

If you need a ton of storage for your Nintendo Switch, SanDisk’s 512GB microSD card is $63.99 at Amazon, matching the best deal we’ve seen. Each game ranges from a few gigabytes to over 20GB, so this will last you quite a while.

At Target, when you activate it with a carrier. You’ll also get a free Google Nest Hub display with your purchase.

Google’s Pixel 3A (unlocked, select “activate later”) is $299.99 at Best Buy. This is $100 off, and matches the deal we saw during Black Friday. For a slightly sweeter deal, the Google Pixel 3A XL is $359.99 (usually $479.99) at Amazon. The price for this unlocked phone beats what we saw during Black Friday by $20.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Bowers & Wilkins PX noise-canceling wireless headphones are $229.99 (usually around $299.99) at Amazon.

Sony’s WF-1000XM3 truly wireless headphones are $198 at Amazon. These have seen a similar $30 price drop before, but it’s back again in time for the holidays.

Beats Powerbeats Pro truly wireless headphones are $199.95 at Amazon. This $50 discount matches the best price we’ve seen, and all colors are slated to arrive before Christmas.

Bose’s Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 are $50 off for the first time. They’re currently $349 at Amazon, Walmart, and . They’re $349.99 at Best Buy.

https://www.theverge.com/good-deals/2019/12/16/21011446/holiday-gifts-tech-last-minute-apple-ipad-switch-beats-fitbit-amazon-best-buy