Food & Culture

Holiday Gift Guide 2021

Surprise with these unique offerings

By Seattle Magazine Staff December 13, 2021

MOTSI

Perhaps we’re a little biased, but who doesn’t love a good magazine? Big Little News, a new newsstand in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, boasts more than 250 domestic and foreign magazines. Add beer, wine, Champagne, gifts and sundries, and Big Little’s bimonthly subscription box makes for a creative and unique holiday gift.

A sample gift includes a magazine, plantains, tote bag, pencils, eraser, pencil sharpener and gourmet chocolate bar. Cost is $35. Biglittlenews.com.

“Print matters,” says Joey Burgess, co-owner of Big Little News who also owns Seattle’s Queer Bar, Cuff Complex and The Woods. “We feel it’s a metropolitan necessity to have newsstands, magazine shops and bodegas on our streets.”

Here are a few of our favorite gifts from local merchants this holiday season.

Find an array of unique gifts including candles, facemasks and curated gift sets at Seattle-based Tokki, which just unveiled its Tokki Bow-Card. The card allows gift givers to “show up from afar” with a reusable photo and video card created with recycled plastic that can be attached to any present. Tokki.com.

Wow the ecoconscious fashion lover with Seattle-based Arvin Goods’  super soft socks and T-shirts made from recycled and organic materials. Arvin products consist of recycled and organic cotton, hemp biofiber, and recycled polyester and nylon. Arvingoods.com. While we’re on the topic of apparel, Seattle’s Tommy Bahama has, as usual, an extensive range of gifts including pajamas in fun and festive prints, sportswear and a child-sized version of the popular infamous take-anywhere beach chair. Arvingoods.com; Tommybahama.com.

For beauty products, check out Motsi, a Seattle-based Black-owned brand. Bestsellers include Arabian coffee-infused beard oil called Cold Brew; a detoxifying charcoal mask, cucumber herbal eye gel and cleansing oil, called Perfect 10. The company recently launched with the goal of developing high-end products for all skin types. Another gift for good skin: the Eye Rescue and Amber Honey Face & Body Scrub from Seattle’s MadisonMD , a new dermatologist-created skincare brand. For good hair, consider the 123 Bundle from Seattle’s iconic Rudy’s Barbershop, featuring shampoo, conditioner and body wash. Motsicouture.com; Skintour.com; Rudysbarbershop.com.

For those who love sleep as much as the holidays, The Modern Dane in Seattle offers sustainable, luxury linen bedding inspired by serene Scandinavian design. Portmanteau Home, which just opened, celebrates the plurality of multiracial heritage with home and lifestyle products from authentic textiles around the world, starting with Japan, India and Korea. Moderndane.com; Portmanteauhome.com.

Find handcrafted jewelry, home goods and sculptures are available from Seattle’s CG Sculptures. Owner Catherine Grisez created the Landscape Collection of miniature bowls inspired by a 900-mile backpacking adventure on the Appalachian Trail during the height of the pandemic. Each piece is sketched and painted on hand-forged copper fused between layers of glass enamel. Another unique, local handmade artisan product crafted in the Seattle area comes from Be Outspoken, creator of hundreds of one-of-a-kind artworks and other innovative décor items based around themes of empowerment and equality. Its newest line is mixed-media wall art on optically clear acrylic and unique 3-D elements of laser-cut steel, aluminum and glass. Catherinegrisez.com; Be-outspoken.com/collections/3d-empowerment-art.

Bring the farmers market directly to your door with Acme Farms & Kitchen. Local and regionally sourced meal kits include vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, surf, turf and even kids’ options. Acme will also pick up your boxes. Enjoy a variety of artisan food and craft products sold by Genuine Skagit Valley, an organization that supports Skagit Valley growers and producers. Those with a sweet tooth will enjoy jcoco’s new single-origin dark and milk chocolate bars made from ancestral Peruvian beans. Theacmebox.com; Genuineskagitvalley.com; Jcocochocolate.com.

Tinte Cellars’ holiday gift sets include award-winning Tinte Cellars wine, custom glassybaby drinker, jcoco chocolate, and corkscrew. Each item included helps those in need, with a percentage of the proceeds supporting charities. Tintecellars.com.

Head on over to Bellevue-based SimplyFun if you’re looking for educational board games for kids 3 and up. Several popular games have won awards this year, including Rooby’s ABCs; Hazel’s Helpers, which develops decision-making and planning while teaching fine motor skills; Isn’t, which teaches antonyms and synonyms; and Shore Seekers, where players roll dice to move their turtle and collect cards to determine how many eggs will land in each nest. And here’s a bonus: All games take 30 minutes or less to play. Simplyfun.com.

And don’t forget the fur babies. If you dislike those annoying middle-of-the-night pet potty walks, consider a luxury pet potty made by Seattle-based City Loo. It is designed to be used with fresh grass patches or potty pads without exposing them, keeping the area contained and sanitary. Muddy paw prints and soggy car seats can be a thing of the past with car seat mats for dogs from Seattle’s Buster Boy. The company promises a clean and tidy, no-slide ride. Thecityloo.com; Busterboy.com.

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