Gift Guide
Welcome to the 2025
Holiday
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ou don’t need to add holiday shopping to your likely already alarming screentime. Peel your eyes away and look outside — better yet, step outside. The holiday lights and decorations are out on the streets and in the windows of locally owned shops. Remember when you were a little kid with your nose pressed to the windows? Time to log off and touch glass. That daunting holiday shopping list can actually be … fun? Absolutely. Stroll the streets of Humboldt County’s retail districts and be greeted by familiar faces, both in the aisles and at the registers. Do these soft wool socks seem like something your homebody friend might love curling up in? Perhaps with a handmade mug and a soon-to-be-favorite book? The mixologist in your life would appreciate old-school barware and local spirits to stir.
1955 Ford Fairlaine Sunliner convertible, illustration by Dave Brown.
Maybe you’ve got a skincare guru you can treat to a little natural beauty in the form of mists, oils, body butters and creams. The host of the holiday dinner wouldn’t say no to an inlaid cutting board, fancy herbs or a freezer full of local ice cream. The adventurer on your list (and in yourself) is a perfect fit for fine flannel, sturdy boots or a well-made knife. The littlest ones on your list always want one more story(book) and a stuffie to snuggle. And we all have that one friend that needs banana slug slippers.
Treat yourself to a tour of our neighborhood shops with your neighbors. Stop to smell the cocoa, pet the plushies and marvel at the work of local artists and artisans. It’s all in here and out there.