Skip to main content

Local Love for the Holidays


I was reminded by a reader that I was interested in gathering a collection of shopping local options for the holidays. I am grateful for her nudge! 

Here is a completely unscientific listing, put together by suggestions and goodwill, word of mouth and past experience. Feel free to add your own ideas on the comments page on Facebook. You can get some of the most interesting gifts by shopping local and you are supporting your neighbors as well. This year feels like a particularly good time to make that investment.

First off, several folks recommend supporting favorite restaurants through purchasing gift cards. Some ideas there:

Roggenart 

Aida Bistro


Ideas for food gifts:






Local shops with an actual physical presence you can visit:

Main Street shops in Old Ellicott City
The Pearl Spa  has great lotions and candles and other self-care gifts. 
Sidamo in Maple Lawn for coffee beans or grounds and mugs. 
Gritty Goblins Games, also in Maple Lawn, has quite a selection of games.
Nest, in Clarksville

Independent local online businesses:

Gifts emblazoned with vibrant nature art (note cards, t-shirts, mugs, etc.)

Crabby Chic Crochet, Rebecca Pacheco Smith (adorable hand-crocheted animals toys)

Essential Earthwear, Katie Graybeal (Jewelry)


7th State Designs   (Maryland-themed barn stars and other decorative pieces in a Maryland flair)

Sihaya & Company (Candles, bath and beauty)

Equality  https://teespring.com/stores/equality-35 (t-shirts and assorted printable items with spirited sayings)
Hello,  Please check out my small business. Lots of products to choose from. Use promo code CHEERFUL10 to receive 10% off at checkout. A percentage of the profits will be donated to 4 local organizations (details on site)

Uptown Bowtique. (Bows and similar accessories for babies on up)

Ever important and belonging on all gift lists: books!

Books With a Past (Savage Mill and Glenwood)

Also, local photographer Michael Oberman has a book out based on his years as a music critic at the Washington Star. It’s a delightfully fun and informative read and you can purchase it through Books With a Past to create an even bigger bang for your buck, locally speaking. It’s called Fast Forward, Play, and Rewind.
Oberman is also a great local source for exquisite nature photographs. https://www.michaelobermanphotography.com/

Speaking of books, this idea comes from slightly over the Columbia/ HoCo line from an Anne Arundel company:

It’s a globally diverse children’s book subscription service. Check them out.

This last suggestion is both for small businesses and an actual event:

The Holiday Market at Clarksville Commons on 12/19
Clicking on the link will take you to their event page and a listing of businesses that are slated to be in attendance. It will be an outdoor event: wear your masks, give your fellow shoppers personal distance, find some great gifts.

Oops! Almost forgot the sweetest deal of all. Daughter of local friend is making and selling those eye-popping hot chocolate bombs. She's also pledging 10% of proceeds to FIRN (Foreign-Born Information and Referral Network) to help those in need this holiday season.  They're $5 each. If you are interested in supporting this young entrepreneur, reach out to me and I’ll provide contact info.

Happy shopping! 









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more

Separate and Unequal

  Remember “Separate but equal”? Remember how that really meant that Black schools languished in  broken-down buildings without adequate heat or toilet facilities, with cast-off, ragged learning materials, underfunded and largely ignored? The Supreme Court struck that down in 1954. The evidence was clear that separate was not equal. Plessy v Ferguson had led to - - no, endorsed - - deeply unequal schooling and opportunities. We tend to think of Brown v Board as being purely about racial integration. It was not.  It was about the logical consequences of segregation. And they were not, not, not equal. The ruling in 1954 didn’t transform public education for non-whites into a land of milk and honey by any means. But it articulated some essential truths in a way that made including everyone a legal precedent which could be relied upon and built upon. It was better than what came before it but it rested upon unsteady ground. It did not necessarily change the hearts or minds ...
1 comment
Read more