2025 Holiday Gift Guide

The Pod x Manimal Camp Stool is a folding leather seat available in seven bold colorways. Handmade to order, each stool reflects Manimal’s dedication to practical design and playful exploration of color and form. True to Pod’s ethos of luxury and artisanal discovery, this collaboration delivers a one‑of‑a‑kind piece that embodies craftsmanship, community, and lasting design.

Shop local at 35 Sacramento Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Shopping locally in the South End always leads to FRED’s, especially if you’re drawn to home goods that feel beautiful, intentional, and built to last. Boston native Jo Jo Kwan opened FRED’s in honor of his father, and you can really feel that sense of memory and care in the space. Among all of the thoughtfully chosen pieces, the butcher block cutting boards are a favorite: sturdy, beautiful, and elevate even the most basic kitchen task. There’s a quiet pleasure in using something well-made, something crafted with weight and intention, something that makes the everyday feel monumental.

Shop local at 558 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02118

Boston potter Earl Howard began his journey with clay on Martha’s Vineyard in 1991. He refined his skills through classes at MassArt, building on years of practice and study. That dedication and knowledge are visible in every handmade stoneware mug, finished with a distinctive copper glaze and crafted for everyday use.

Shop local at one of four stockists’ locations, including Black Owned Bos., 623 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02118

Cambridge Naturals is a one-stop shop for whole body wellness. Its wall of candles and incense boasts an impressive selection of aromatics that are free from synthetics. But don’t stop there—the store has an extensive variety of supplements, health books, and ample sweet treats for those with dietary restrictions too!

Shop local at 23 White Street, Cambridge, MA 02140

These handmade, wood‑carved mushroom ornaments bring a touch of nature’s charm to holiday decor. Crafted with care, each piece is unique, durable, and designed to celebrate the beauty of artisanal work. Hung on a tree or gifted as a keepsake, these ornaments celebrate the warmth of handmade tradition.

Shop local at Project Hustle’s Holiday Pop-Up on December 20 & 21: 59 Wareham St., 2nd Floor, Boston, MA 02118

Handmade paper from Nepal and intricately designed Rossi stationery from Florence, Italy, are just some of the fantastic finds at Paper Dragon in the South End. It’s the perfect place to peruse when in search of patterned paper, decorative notecards, and colorful envelopes to make your correspondence special. The store, with its bright walls and welcoming vibe, also has small gifts, notebooks, thank-you notes, and more for special occasions.

Shop local at 46 Waltham Street, Courtyard #800, Boston, MA 02118

This shop makes a bevy of its own bonbons on site, in flavors ranging from ginger saffron to honey cardamom to smokey scotch. It also stocks scores of other sweets, plus jams and preserves, tinned seafood, spreads and sauces, and cocktail supplies. While you’re shopping, scope out its mini-museum showcasing hundreds of relics from Cambridge’s history as an epicenter of American candy making.

Shop local at 2257 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02140

Tilden offers a lineup of non-alcoholic cocktails that are designed to taste like an experience—not a compromise. Their drinks are layered with botanicals, herbs, and unexpected flavor combinations that mirror the depth and ritual of a classic cocktail. Tandem is a bright, citrus-forward blend meant to kick off a night while Lacewing provides something floral and slow for the winding-down. They pair with dinner just as well as they pair with a party (you might have tasted a flavor or two at our Issue 14 launch event).

Shop local at Dray Drinks, 18 Union Park St. Boston, MA 02118

The small-but-mighty roaster Tiny Arms offers sustainably sourced coffee (including monthly subscriptions) as well as ceramic cups, tumblers, and mugs to serve it in, each handmade by co-owner Kate Cutlip at Lowell’s Western Avenue studios. The art on the packaging—capturing Walter the T. rex as he camps, disco-dances, explores space, and lives his best life—couldn’t be cuter, and the brand even takes a limited number of orders for custom art each week.

Shop local at Literally Local, 240 Washington Street, Brookline, MA 02445

Sweet Botanical Bakes is a woman‑owned bakery in Medford known for buttery shortbread infused with edible flowers and inventive flavor combinations. Rooted in a love of nature and committed to sustainability, they donate 5 percent of proceeds to local community gardens and seed preservation. Its Quarterly Cookies subscription—three boxes of shortbread delivered each season—is just one example of how it shares experimental flavors, seasonal treats, and joyful surprises with cookie lovers nationwide.

Shop local at the Snowport Holiday Market, 100 Seaport Boulevard, Boston, MA 02210

Cambridge is home to a couple of great options for spicing up someone’s life. Head to Inman Square stalwart Christina’s for a robust selection of international spices that are sure to delight your palate. Their locally famous wall of hot sauces from around the world are not to be missed. Or hit up North Cambridge’s Curio, a certified B Corporation that sources directly from small sustainable farms. In addition to single-origin spices and dozens of house blends, like Bonga Spice (an Ethiopian-inspired green chile rub) and Kozani Spice (a Greek-inspired mix of fennel, oregano, saffron, and other herbs), you’ll find gift sets, a Spice Club subscription option, teas and honeys, kitchen tools, and plenty of cookbooks for further inspiration.

Shop local at 1297 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02139

A tiny storefront tucked away on Church Street in Cambridge, Bonde Fine Wine Shop boasts an impressive selection of organic, artisanal wines from US vineyards, handpicked by the owner, Bertil Jean-Chronberg. Book a themed wine tasting for up to twelve at the shop and Jean-Chronberg will expertly pair homemade bites with a handful of assorted wines as he regales you with anecdotes and insights. A world-renowned sommelier who’s refreshingly unpretentious, Jean-Chronberg’s wit and sense of humor alone are reason enough to stop by for a visit.

Shop local at 54 Church Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Loquat in Portland, Maine, features work exclusively from marginalized makers—BIPOC, LGBTQ+, chronically ill, and disabled artists and entrepreneurs. It’s the place to find meaningful gifts that directly support these communities. Enter 2026 in style by picking up a matching fit for you and your favorite little one with their signature button-downs.

Shop local at 521 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101

Handmade in Brighton from new and upcycled materials, Atelier Loubelle’s products are crafted with an emphasis on sustainability and inclusivity. Creator Georgie Wilton uses funky prints, inclusive sizing, and off-beat patterns in all of her one-of-a-kind pieces, which include corsets, heart-shaped puffy bags, quilted coats, and unique holiday decor.

Shop local at Model Cafe’s Holiday Pop-Up on December 4, 7 N Beacon Street, Allston, MA 02134, and at the Speedway Holiday Stroll on December 20 & 21, 525 Western Avenue, Brighton, MA 02135

There’s something deeply charming about RFORM Studio’s tiny objects—each are small, almost secret gestures of personality. Handmade in Rhode Island by a mother-daughter duo, the charms feel like artifacts from someone’s rich inner world: a cornichon, a tiny buffalo, a skating girl, a peanut. Perfect for someone who loves pieces that feel feminine, specific, and a little whimsical.

Shop local at Lindquist Object, Rumford, Rhode Island (by appointment only)

Not only is it bright, colorful, and design-forward, the bucket tote from Pneuhaus is also eco-friendly, as it turns material waste into wearable art. Crafted by hand in Rhode Island, the totes are made from upcycled scraps and studio off-cuts, giving each one a unique, rugged character. It’s the perfect gift for that person who values sustainability, originality, and fun utility.

Shop local at 310 Bourne Avenue, Suite 4, Rumford, RI 02916

Sunnies are always a great gift, regardless of the time of year. Niraji, a Black-owned brand producing small-batch, handmade styles, creates find fun, stylish, and affordable shades for every kind of personality.

Shop local at Black Owned Bos., 623 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02118

Body care is a cornerstone of the collection at Green Tiger & Co., a woman‑owned store and refillery dedicated to sustainable, intentional goods. The Activated Charcoal Detox Salt Scrub from Little Seed Farm exemplifies the kind of nourishing, eco‑minded products you’ll find—purifying skin with coconut charcoal, Dead Sea salt, and botanicals. Alongside scrubs, creams, and other thoughtful essentials, each item reflects its commitment to people, community, and the planet.

Shop local at Bow Market, 1 Bow Market Way, Somerville, MA 02143

Emanate Essentials is rooted in founder Sha Hannah-Santo’s commitment to wellness, born from her own experience navigating illness and choosing only what truly nourishes the body. That ethos guides the brand’s Aromatic Wellness Oils—eight distinctive scents, including blends like “focus” and “mind at ease”—each crafted to bring balance, clarity, and care into everyday rituals.

Shop local at Salvage Angel, 83 Morse Street, Norwood, MA 02062

Named for the founder’s Aunt Eugenia, eu2be is a brand rooted in family legacy and resilience. Its Keepsake Body Cream uses twelve premium carrier oils to calm irritation, deeply hydrate, and strengthen the skin barrier without coconut oils or heavy scents. Suitable for all skin types, these products provide nourishment that honors a tradition of care and creativity passed down through generations.

Eu2be will donate 15 percent of online purchases from its site to Boston Art Review when you use code BAR2025, and you’ll receive free shipping on your order too!

For the friend who would rather learn how something is made than simply buy it, Greater Boston is full of places to pick up new skills—or sharpen existing ones. Whether it’s jewelry design, woodworking, bookbinding, sewing, or painting techniques, these organizations offer classes led by working professionals. Check out winter 2026 classes at Arlington Center for the Arts, Cloth Collaborative, New Art Center, Cambridge Community Center for the Arts, The Umbrella Arts Center, The Eliot School, North Bennet Street School, or The Foundry.

Gifting an experience is more fun than giving another object, especially when it’s both playful and a little educational. The Local Hand, a studio, art gallery, and gift shop in Dorchester, offers beautifully made goods from local artists as well as a lineup of intimate workshops and classes. Take an embroidery class with a friend or make a Christmas wreath for a personal touch. The best memories are the ones you create together, and honestly, memories are the best gift of all.

Visit at 1912–B Dorchester Avenue, Boston, MA 02124

To encourage relaxation and mindfulness for a friend who might need to slow down this season, consider gifting a package of meditation sessions at Cambridge Insight Meditation Center. Meditators of all levels are welcome to explore its group practices, workshops, and retreats.

Visit at 331 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139

Prefer to stay in? Hannah Elbaum will bring the experience to you. Elbaum started Pana Tastings just within the past year but brings a breadth of knowledge gained while living in the San Francisco Bay Area. She offers four different tiers of tastings and pricing for up to fifteen guests at a time, with the option to accommodate even larger parties. It’s a great option if you’re looking to go in on a gift with others or if you want to treat family or friends to a cozy personal experience they won’t soon forget.

Sometimes the hardest part of starting a project is simply knowing where to begin. Make & Mend removes that barrier with a pocket-sized zine that walks you through visible mending techniques—patching, reinforcing, stitching—as both practical repair and creative expression. The matching kit includes thread, needles, pins, and fabric scraps, so you don’t have to hunt for supplies before the inspiration fades. It’s a gift that encourages care over replacement and pride in fixing what we already have. Perfect for anyone curious about sustainability or the friend who keeps saying they’d love to learn how to sew—someday.

Shop local at 21 Hawkins Street, Somerville, MA 02143

This sleek leather tool roll is designed for makers who like to keep their tools close—and their supplies organized. Though perfect for fiber arts (needles, snips, markers, rulers), its roll-and-tie structure makes it just as useful for paintbrushes, pens, or any pocket-sized studio essentials. Made in Ukraine from genuine leather, this is a gift for the on-the-go friend who always has a project in progress. 

Shop local at 1343 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02139

This queer‑owned, community‑focused shop brings Boston crafters and visitors yarns from independent dyers you won’t find everywhere else. With an emphasis on sourcing from queer-, women-, and BIPOC-owned businesses, the shop’s shelves showcase fibers made with care by local dyers and artisans. Every skein connects you directly to the makers behind it.

Shop local at 61 Thayer Street, Boston, MA 02118

In this collection of nearly seventy short pieces, James Parker, a staff writer for The Atlantic, offers rhapsodies on everyday experiences (naps, small talk, cold showers, chewing gum) and finds grist for gratitude in surprising sources (crying babies, insomnia, bad reviews, difficult people). One ode is dedicated to “the right art at the right time,” and if you know someone who could use a lift and a perception shift, this book might be it.

PS: Parker also runs Boston’s Black Seed Writers Group for homeless and recently housed writers and edits their literary magazine, The Pilgrim—a subscription to which ($50) makes a meaningful gift too.

There’s a quiet stillness, almost a meditative quality, to the images in Boston-based photographer Amani Willett’s most recent photo book, Invisible Sun. By juxtaposing photographs of his children with brooding landscapes and AI renderings of dreams, Willett reconstructs the memories his body holds from childhood medical trauma. With searing colors, fold-out pages, and full-bleed images, it’s yet another gorgeous release from local handmade and small-edition publisher Dust Collective.

Written by graphic designer and paper engineer Kelli Anderson, and published by Boston’s beloved Katherine Small Gallery, Alphabet in Motion is the ultimate pop-up book for adults. The history of type—the philosophies and technologies that have shaped letterforms from the very beginning—is brought to life through interactive demonstrations and accompanying essays that are sure to delight the typography lovers in your life.

Preorder Artifacts today and be the first to dive into Natalie Lemle’s dazzling debut. This gripping novel follows attorney Lena Connolly as she’s pulled into a case involving a rare Roman glass cup, forcing her to confront the summer she spent on an archaeological dig in Italy—and the secrets that still haunt it. Told in dual timelines, Artifacts blends suspense, history, and cultural heritage into a powerful story of love, loss, and preservation.

You Draw My House, I’ll Draw Yours is a beautifully crafted collaboration between artists Ezri Horne and Indigo Conat-Naar, who reimagine each other’s childhood homes through cyanotypes, rapidograph lettering, and intimate acts of memory. This limited-edition hardcover celebrates the poetics of place and the artistry of translation between word and image. Proceeds support Gaza Soup Kitchen, extending the book’s gesture of care beyond the page.

Black in Blues, written by Cambridge native Imani Perry, makes such a beautiful gift because it invites you to feel history rather than just read it. Perry looks at the past through a palette of blues, and the way she unravels history, memory, pain, joy, beauty, and Black resilience is stunning. It’s a book that will shift how you see the world around you, making it a great option if you’re looking to gift something thoughtful, textured, and emotionally intelligent.

In More Butch Heroes, Ria Brodell brings forward the lives of twenty-eight individuals assigned female at birth who lived, loved, and expressed themselves outside rigid gender norms. Through tender, icon-like paintings and carefully researched biographies, Brodell restores dignity and visibility to personal histories that were otherwise erased or obscured. The book feels like a resurrection of queer and trans lineage: a reclaiming of stories that deserve to be seen, remembered, and honored.

Lonely Crowds is Stephanie Wambugu’s long-awaited debut novel. Wambugu traces two women from a strict Catholic school to the grittier fringes of the ’90s art world, exploring how class, identity, and survival shape their bond. This is for the literary friend who thinks about ambition and intimacy in the same breath, who understands how friendship can hold both admiration and envy, and how art-making can feel bruising and beautiful all at once.

Now celebrating its eightieth birthday, Play Time started out as a toy store but soon pivoted when a local scout troop was having trouble sourcing arts and craft supplies. Today its two maze-like floors are crammed with all manner of materials for grown-up artists and makers, but it remains a treasure trove for kids, with an entire wall of coloring books, sticker books, and step-by-step guides to drawing dinosaurs, monsters, manga, and more, not to mention shimmering origami paper, 3-D wooden puzzles, lacing cards, a staggering array of artmaking and STEM kits, a rainbow of glittery markers and glow-in-the-dark paints, and stocking stuffers galore (fun-size volcano, anyone?).

Shop local at 283 Broadway, Arlington, MA 02474

With gorgeous illustrations rooted in her woodcut printmaking practice, this book by award-winning, local author-illustrator Kari Percival follows kids who find a way to help migrating amphibians cross the road safely. Perfect for little nature lovers, it’s also a pint-sized primer on citizen science and the workings of local government.

What if kids felt empowered to change the world right from their own living room or neighborhood corner? This playful, die-cut book invites kids and adults to try small-scale social experiments from home: inventing neighborhood currencies, granting animals equal rights in the park, or simply realizing we’re already flying through space. Written by Sibylle Peters, director of Hamburg’s Theatre of Research, the book distills two decades of performance-based research into prompts guided by children’s curiosity and concerns. With collage illustrations and composition-book aesthetics, it treats imagination as methodology—and play as a tool for reshaping reality.