The Brooklyn Last Minute Shopping Gift Guide: 5 Great Affordable, Local Gifts
What’s that? You haven’t done all your Christmas shopping yet? You’re still in need of a Festivus gift for an aggrieved one? How, uh, irresponsible of you! How thoughtless! How… join the club! We are notoriously bad at doing our holiday shopping within a responsible timeframe, and are thus still scrambling to buy all the right things for all the people we love. But because this is something we do every year, we have kind of become expert scramblers. So, you know, if you’re scrambling too, scramble with us! We promise that this list will help you get everything under control, so you can spend the rest of Christmas Eve relaxing and drinking and, you know, wrapping these presents up.
Wooden Head, The Proper Ornaments: Even if this band didn’t have the perfect name for this time of year, and even if this album cover wasn’t awesome enough to stand as reason enough to give this gift (judge an album by it’s cover? don’t mind if we do!), we’d still recommend that you buy this album for a gift, because The Proper Ornaments have made a beautiful, low-key album here, one which brings to mind everything from Woods to, well, The Turtles. It’s a must-listen. Just make sure your recipient has a turntable!
Available at Halcyon: 57 Pearl Street, DUMBO
Coin Piggy Bank: It’s never too early to start learning how to save money (and, um, we hope it’s also never too late, because, damn, we spent a lot of money this year). So pick up this adorable piggy bank—which no recipient will ever want to break open with a hammer—and give the gift of thriftiness and financial responsibility this year. Whee!
Available at Sterling Place: 352 7th Avenue, Park Slope
Stamped Necklace/Bracelet, Bow and Arrow: Look, you could pretty much do all your last-minute shopping at Catbird and be covered. But if you’re looking for a stocking stuffer, something affordable ($12!) but also beautiful, you can narrow it right down to this delicate stamped brass disc, suspended on a simple black string, that can be used as a necklace or bracelet or even an anklet, like we do. (What? Anklets are back. They really are.)
Available at Catbird: 219 Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg
Friendship by Emily Gould: If you’re looking for the perfect literary gift to bestow upon a close friend (ideally a best friend) this novel will do the job beautifully. Gould portrays the complications and messiness inherent to what is potentially one of the most profound and long-lasting relationships in a person’s life: that of a best friendship. And she does it with a sharp wit and unsparing eye toward the way so many of us here in Brooklyn live our lives now.
Available at Word Bookstore: 126 Franklin Street, Greenpoint
Scrappy’s Bitters Gift Box: For the cocktail-loving friend that you forgot to shop for, consider upping your game from just a bottle of wine or whatever and get them an assortment of bitters. Not only are bitters enjoying a popularity surge lately, but they also have medicinal properties which—who knows?—could stave off any potential winter flu activity. Win/win!
Available at The Brooklyn Kitchen: 100 Frost Street, Williamsburg
Follow Kristin Iversen on twitter @kmiversen