Shop Small Saturday Gift Ideas

Isn’t it fun to be “officially” in the holiday season?  I love this time of year–it’s busy, but a fun busy, if you know what I mean.

Today is “Shop Small Saturday,” and so I thought it would make sense to share some of my favorite gift ideas from small businesses.  We all love our big e-tailers–I know that I, for one, couldn’t survive without my Amazon Prime–but small businesses are truly the backbone of our economy.

We have a great downtown here in Southern Pines and it’s easy to spend our time and money here.  I love knowing the shop owners by name and being greeted by them when I come in.  You can’t get that kind of personalized service through a web purchase!

How many shop owners will let you hop on the counter to snap a birthday photo?  My friend Haley at Pink of the Pines is totally cool with it!

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If you want to “shop small” but don’t want to leave home (no judgment), then just head over to Etsy.  Etsy is the online marketplace for creative small business owners and you can find anything and everything there, from vintage, to handmade, to one-of-a-kind, and sometimes all three of those things at once!

Our favorite Etsy gifts are {here}, or you can head over and visit our shop {here}.  Use coupon code BLOGREADER for free shipping.

We also love Jane.com, so much so that I usually share a daily deal from them on Facebook.  Jane shares a new collection of sales daily and orders are fulfilled by the individual stores or shops, most of whom are small businesses. Their home section is one of my favorite places to find gift and decor ideas.

“Merry Christmas” banner

Today is a great time to make a day of it–head out to lunch at a local restaurant, do some “shopping small,” and then enjoy a cocktail out and about.  If you happen to be in my area, I wrote an entire post on my favorite restaurants (food is very important to me!).

One of my favorite gift ideas is to purchase tickets to a local event–dance, drama, music, you name it–that you can then share with your giftee. My daughter and I have done this for years; since she’s a ballet dancer, we attend “The Nutcracker” together and go out to eat.  Even now that she’s dancing in that same performance at this time of year (twelve shows between now and Christmas!), we still like to see how other companies handle their costuming and choreography.

If you’re in my neck of the woods, check out movie tickets at the Sunrise Theater in Southern Pines, Amahl and the Night Visitors at the O’Neal School in December, and of course–this weekend–the best Nutcracker in the world (I may be biased; that’s my Snow Queen:).

Thanks for supporting small businesses today, and thanks for stopping by!