An Heirloom New England-style Gift Guide for Merry-Making!
Gift-giving is truly my love language and I could easily write a month’s worth of gift guides for all of your holiday needs and desires. I may bop in throughout the month and sprinkle in some more ideas as we go, but for now, I’m rounding up some of my favorite small businesses and experience gifts in a master list!
Favorite local(ish) shops: Crose Nest Apothecary (Hudson, MA; for the crunchy friend who reads their tarot cards and always has yummy incense burning); An Unlikely Story (Plainville, MA; for the friend that always has impeccable book recommendations); Kind Goods (Maynard, MA; for the friend who cares about ethical sourcing, sustainability, and crafty shopkeeps); Peregrin Shop (Mendon, MA; for the world-traveling friend who loves handmade textiles and globally-sourced goodies); Wasik’s Cheese Shop (Wellesley, MA; don’t miss the European candy selection, incredible cheeses, and fantastic foodie stocking stuffers!). I know I’m forgetting many and I haven’t even touched points south or Providence - more to come on that front!
Food is one of my biggest passions and I love nothing more than a restaurant recommendation. If you gave someone a gift card to any of these places, or promised a friend date to visit, you would rank high on the list of excellent gift-givers: Wildflour Bakery (Providence, RI; vegan baked goods that don’t make you miss dairy. The coffee milk latte is LEGENDARY!); Maven’s Delicatessen (Providence, RI; excellent Jewish deli, pastrami, latkes, etc.); Kosmos Restaurant (Walpole, MA; please PLEASE visit the ‘burbs for one of the best Greek restaurants in MA - signed, a Greek person); Wild Hare Restaurant & Brewery (Hudson, MA; it’s hard to find bad food and drink in Hudson, but this spot is a head above the rest); Nan’s Market (Stow, MA; there is no better friend date than fried chicken sandwiches before/after hiking the Assabet Valley National Wildlife Refuge!); Donut Stand (Hopkinton, MA; incredible donuts in interesting flavor profiles, but the food is equally fantastic!)
My favorite thing about living where we do is that a drive in any direction for 30ish minutes will yield a beautiful environment, sometimes coastline, places to stroll, and nooks and crannies to explore. Someday I will illustrate an interactive map of my favorite places with itineraries. Today is not that day, so enjoy a chaotic brain dump of favorite little trips for experience gifts!
A couple of Charlie cards will take you very far and there are so many Boston-area adventure days one could have. Here’s what I’d love to do on an inbound train: head to the Prudential Center, pop into Eataly for snacks and hot drinks, and stroll to Symphony Hall to take in a performance. Or head in the opposite direction and visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for the most other-worldly, inspiring museum stroll. Tuck a couple of museum tickets into a book about the Gardner Heist and you’ve got holiday gold!
For me, there is nothing better than a desolate beach in winter with all of its harshness - frigid air, crashing waves, moody palette. One of my favorites is Fogland Beach in Tiverton, RI, so I’d bundle up and head there for a stroll of the coastal crescent in my coziest mittens. Once fully rosy-cheeked, I’d head over to Groundswell Guild for a hot drink and a perusal of their amazing selection of cookbooks and imported foods.
Go to a concert or movie screening! Small venues are struggling and often have some of the most interesting performances and film re-releases around. Some of my favorites include: The United Theatre (Westerly, RI); The Jane Pickens Film & Event Center (Newport, RI); The Brattle (Cambridge, MA); The Sinclair (Cambridge, MA); Coolidge Corner Theater (Brookline, MA).
Thank you for reading if you’ve trudged through this far! We are so fortunate to have so many dreamers around us creating beautiful shopping and eating experiences for us, and folks who still believe in the power of storytelling through art, craft, and film. If you ever want to chat about all of this goodness, you know where to find me! And I am ALWAYS happy to help put together itineraries and ideas for moving through our beautiful New England.