It’s Thanksgiving week, and that means the holiday season is really kicking into gear. A lot of people hate that, but I love it — I’m kind of a sucker for holiday traditions, twinkly lights and anything peppermint. But even I know some holiday traditions aren’t so great — like the way we usually shop for Christmas gifts. Honestly, Black Friday should probably put us all on the naughty list.
You know the situation: You come home from Thanksgiving already tired and overloaded with work emails, so you try to ignore the commercials that tell you to buy all your nieces iPads (Seriously!?). Instead, you just put off your holiday shopping. That leads to the last-minute tradition of heading to the mall and throwing a bunch of junk with jingle bells attached to it into a bag just hoping it makes a good gift. (Spoiler alert: It does not.)
I want to break up this bad tradition — and I also want to celebrate my book release with all the people who made it possible. So I’m throwing a little party with my favorite Birmingham vendors on December 3 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at The Nest in Avondale. The products we’re featuring are on my personal wish list, and they’re the things I’m giving to my own family and friends. The idea is to gather some really fantastic stuff in one place to make early Christmas shopping super-easy. (And super-local.)
Are you going to find all your Christmas gifts at the Wish List event? Well, maybe. But even if you don’t find everything, you’ll get a really great start, and you’ll find quality, local, unique products from fantastic people who seriously consider their businesses to be labors of love. There’s no more warm-and-fuzzy way to start the shopping season than that. (But if you need further motivation, we’ll also have free beer donated by Avondale Brewery. Merry Christmas indeed!)
What’s on the Wish List? We’ll have copies of The Localist book for sale, of course, and I’ll do a (very short) little talk about shopping locally for the season. The rest of the vendors are honestly from my own wish list … these are a few of my favorite things (I feel like Maria Van Trapp — or Oprah). I picked a product from each of the vendors to feature in the graphic above, and here’s who’s represented (pictured clockwise from top left). Click the vendor names to learn and see more from each company:
Piper & Leaf Tea
oh my gosh it’s so good
Sara Cannon Art
her pieces are so lovely
Hide + True Leather Goods
I have their keychain!
Stalcup Stitchery
bunnies … bunnies! other creatures too
Spindle Photography/Kelly Cummings lettering
this is the Books Are Magic Print Set from the Kickstarter
Great Bear Wax
candles that smell like tobacco, a campfire, or a forest? um, yes please!
Magic City Macarons
if you haven’t had one yet, you HAVE to come
We Three Beeks
my favorite honey … also the honey from my Kickstarter video