Local Gift Guide

A few weeks back I visited many stores on Seventh and Fifth Avenues and Smith Street. Here is a list of 15 items that looked like interesting gifts. Click on read more for local gift ideas…

1. Etch-a-Sketch meets Japanese calligraphy with The Buddha Board for the Namaste person in your life. $42.00

Sterling Place [352 Seventh Ave. between 10th and 11th Streets in Slope, (718) 499-4800].

2. The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town reissue loaded with “you can’t download it” bonus materials for $100.00 or All Things Must Pass, nostalgia for boomers or other-Beatle revelations for newbies . $20.00

Music Matters [413 Seventh Ave. between 13th and 14th Streets in Park Slope, (718) 369-7087].

3. Be a secret admirer with these adorable Momiji Japanese message dolls. Turn them upside down and inside every one there’s a tiny folded card for your own torrid text or loving lyrics. $18.95

Lumiere [238 Seventh Ave. between 4thth and 5th Streets in Park Slope, (718) 369-1082].

4. A box set of 12 assorted vintage glitter postcards of the Queen, Buckingham Palace and more Anglophilia for the Prince Will and Kate obsessed. $15.00

Lion in the Sun [232 Seventh Ave. and 5th Street in Park Slope, (718) 369-4006].

5. Small striped suitcase with lusciously soft and tres French cotton infant onesie, hat and blankie at Petit Bateau for $25.00

Petit Bateau [219 Seventh Ave. between 3rd and 4th Streets in Park Slope, (718) TK].

FIFTH AVENUE

6. Take a look inside the miniature world of this light bulb terrarium with teeny tiny figurines perfect for the imaginative greeniac on your list. $20.00-$25.00

Cog and Pearl [190 Fifth  Ave. at Sackett Street in Park Slope, (718) 623-8200].

7. Eat off of Pee Wee Herman’s face on this transformed china plate made from orphaned and unloved antiques by Beatup Creations. $35.00

Urban Alchemist [190 343 Fifth Street between 5th and 6th Avenues in Park Slope, (718) 499-0758].

8. Mark the days on the 2011 I Love Bklyn Girls calendar, inspired by classic lesbian and gay pulp novels of the fifties and sixties, featuring hotties from Brooklyn’s queer community. $12.

Scaredy Kat [232 Fifth Avenue between President and Carroll Streets in Park Slope, (718) 623-1839].

9. Festive and sparkly black (gold and pink) slippers from Tom’s, the company that gives a pair of shoes to a child in need (for every one sold). $54.00

DNA [220 Fifth Avenue between Union and President Streets in Park Slope, (718)398-2692].

10. Give the Brooklyn Bridge and the Coney Island Cyclone with Paper New York:  Build Your Own Big Apple, 20 do-it-yourself projects with three-dimensional die-cut models ready to press out for the budding architects and city planners. $20.00

Cog and Pearl [190 Fifth  Ave. at Sackett Street in Park Slope, (718) 623-8200].

SMITH STREET

11. Solid maple Vermont-made cutting board shaped like a rooster, cow or pig. $32.

Environmental337 [337 Smith Street between between Carroll and President Streets in Carroll Gardens, (718)522-1767]. 

12. Wish upon a star and learn about constellations and planets with a celestial globe for your favorite astronomy aficionado. $15.00 – $22.00 (stand is $10.00)

Retrospect [333 Smith Street between between TK and TK in Carroll Gardens, (718)522-1767].

13. Ho Ho Hope Santa Claus can find this camouflage pattern Christmas stocking and fill it with Christmas treats. Price TK

Refinery[248 Smith Street between between Douglas and Degraw (718)643-7861].

14. Giant five pound jar of D.A. Costa Spanish olives hand stuffed with natural pimento for  those martini marathons. $50.00

Stinky Bklyn[261 Smith Street between between Douglas and DeGraw in Cobble Hill, (718) 522-7425].

15. Ceci n’est pas une pipe. It’s a vintage inspired artisan scented candle crafted by hand with 75 hour burn time that smells like a pipe. $36.00

Bird[220 Smith Street at Baltic Street in Cobble Hill, (718) 797-3774].