The 12 Days of Small Holiday Shopping
Small retail businesses are special. Their offerings show off a person or a team’s creativity, talents and individuality. Whether they handmake food, furniture, toys, home goods, clothes or organic makeup, these small operations infuse their products and services with love and personality. For gift giving at the holidays, it’s so fun to support these businesses and surprise and delight family and friends with goodies they might not otherwise find.
To help you shop for the people on your list, we’ve assembled 12 unique gifts from small businesses that have loyal fans and followings all over the world. They are all a little off the beaten path, but so worth the detour. We have hand-picked items we love or would love to receive ourselves. There is something here for foodies, DIYers, beauty junkies, children and more. Of course we have put our SnapTwice “before & after” spin on every single one, so you can get a behind-the-scenes look at just what goes in to creating each and every object. We hope you enjoy learning about these small businesses, and we wish you Happy Holidays!
Anne Weil is a knitting expert and owner of Flax & Twine, which sells knitted products and DIY kits. We love this, because for $285 you can buy the knitted bunny for a child (or a kid at heart) OR for $178 you can by the kit for a DIY’er who might like to make this bunny him/herself. You can also choose from a variety of yarn colors: ecru, koala gray, charcoal, and doe skin.
2. Mermaid Mask by Leahlani Skincare
Leah runs Hawaii-based Leahlani Skincare, a small collection of beautiful products made with mostly local and organic ingredients. Their emerald green “Mermaid Mask” costs $32 and contains organic Hawaiian raw honey, Hawaiian organic spirulina, green clay, sea clay, and a long list of essential oils and luxurious ingredients.
3. Mexican Hot Chocolate by La Monarca Bakery
Southern California-based La Monarca Bakery brings “the sweet flavor of Mexico” to its lucky customers. Their products “are made with all-natural fresh ingredients, without the use of lard, frying or artificial preservatives.” They are known for their from-scratch made Mexican Hot Chocolate, which they make with organic cacao nibs, ground in-house, then blended w/ cinnamon, sugar and peanuts. They sell it online as well for $16 (16 oz bag).
4. Limonato Olive Oil by Long Meadow Ranch
St. Helena, CA-based Long Meadow Ranch runs a winery, an organic farm & ranch, a wonderful farm-to-table restaurant, called Farmstead, and the oldest olive orchard in Napa Valley. From those olives, LMR makes and bottles two kinds of olive oil: Extra Virgin and Limonato. This is their “ Limonato Olive Oil” ($45), which is “created by milling whole, fresh Meyer Lemons and Bearss Limes with the olives to incorporate the fruits’ essential oils into the olive oil.”
The knives that Brooklyn-based Chelsea Miller makes by hand are spectacular. She uses found materials, “such as horse shoe rasps and wood from her family’s farm in Vermont to craft her one-of-a-kind knives…Chelsea’s inspiration stems from elements of surprise: textures and compounds which are suited for knife making but not necessarily intended for it.”
More about Chelsea: “She grew up in rural Peacham, Vermont, the daughter of a blacksmith and carpenter. She has gained a broad knowledge of blacksmithing and woodworking from her father and often spends time in Vermont working alongside him.”
6. Isle of Harris Gin Infused with Sugar Kelp
Is this the most beautiful bottle of gin you’ve ever seen? It’s from Scotland, made in small batches and infused with local, hand-harvested sugar kelp by the Isle of Harris Distillery (a 70cl bottle costs £37.00). Local diver Lewis Mackenzie (featured in the before photo) harvests the kelp “from the deep underwater forests of the Outer Hebrides (and) this natural and sustainable ingredient completes the wider aspects of the gin’s flavour profile. Once gathered, our Sugar kelp is dried locally within hours of leaving the sea, ensuring no flavour is lost before distilling begins.” The team complements the sugar kelp flavor with 9 botanicals: Juniper, Coriander, Angelica Root, Orris Root, Cubebs, Bitter Orange Peel, Licorice and Cassia Bark.
The flavor of the gin is described as having “a juniper note with pine needles, immediately followed by the fresh citrus notes of bitter orange, lime and grapefruit… Sugar kelp adds to the complexity and richness with a dry maritime note.”
Ireland’s Avoca is a family-run business “that spans one of the world’s oldest surviving manufacturing companies and Ireland’s most exciting stores and food markets.” We love the colorful lambswool throws ($79.95 each). According to the current heads of the company, Hilary and Donald Pratt, the introduction of vibrant color became a a signature of the brand under three sisters with the last name of Wynn, who took over the business in the early 1920s. The Pratts have stayed true to that tradition since buying the Mill in the mid 1970’s. You can watch their wonderful story via video on the website.
8. Customized Shoes by Ell Shu Shoes
Ellory Shutan is a young artist and entrepreneur from Chicago, who hand-makes her designs for shoes, phone cases, watches and more. However, Vans canvas slip ons tend to be Ellory’s preferred … canvas … see what we did there? Custom shoes cost ~$150 per design plus the cost of the shoes. We love how she captured, the colors, energy and youthful fun of Tulane and its “Angry” Green Wave mascot. These shoes would make an ideal gift for any die-hard school fan or booster who didn’t even know s/he could have her alma mater memorialized on some sweet kicks.
9. Ceramic Cup, Koa by Kaitlin Pottery
Koa is a noun that means happiness and joy. Victoria, Australia-based Kaitlin Liddell brings happiness and joy to her work as the Creative Director behind Koa, a small designer of ceramic homeware products that include “cups, platters, pot plants and vases.” We love the color, design and simplicity of this tea cup ($35–45 AUD each).
10. Makeup by Maskcara Beauty
Cara of “Maskcara” is not only a beauty and lifestyle blogger with a big heart and honest, relatable tone, but she also runs her own line of makeup, called Maskcara Beauty. She also gives friends and colleagues makeovers in a regular series on her blog called “Monday Makeover.” This is Cara’s friend, Nicole, and we think the most striking element of Nicole’s makeover is her skin tone, and the even-ing out of her skin that Cara was able to achieve, in this case with her own line of Maskcara foundation.
11. Sweaty Betty Butterfly Pattern
London-based Sweaty Betty brings design and fashion to your functional wardrobe. For its 2015 SS15 collection, the brand chose the “Social Butterfly” as its symbol. The inspiration for this butterfly print came from, “a design trip to the butterfly sanctuary at the London Zoo. This season’s designs are every bit as lovely. Leggings run about $100–135.
12. Walnut Cutting Board by Pernt
We love these long cutting boards by Brooklyn-based Pernt, not only because we like walnut and handcrafted home goods, but also because these boards are extra long, so they can accommodate that baguette that never fits on your existing cutting board (right?!)
Christopher Beidel, the craftsman behind Pernt, trained to be an architect but has been building since he was a child. We think his aesthetic for home goods and furniture is beautiful. Of note, the amazing knives in the after photo were made by Chelsea Miller Knives (see above).
