Tiny Travels: The 12 Days of McMinnville Holiday Gift Guide 2019

Every year, the tiny travelers seek out great gifts you can buy locally this holiday season, presents your loved ones can’t help but sing about. 

On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me… 🎵

Twelve Cases Aging
Take your pick from among 20 downtown tasting rooms, or pick one from each and take a full case of McMinnville home with you. 

Eleven Scarves for Swishing
Scarves are the perfect gift. Seasonal. Flashy. Cozy. Infinitely variable in texture, print, material and affect. Nab some great neckties at Mes Amies, Accessory Appeal, Many Hands, and Yamhill Valley Dry Goods.

Ten Luscious Lattes
Take your bestie out for coffee anytime they want with a gift card from Flag & Wire, home to award-winning baristas and single-origin brews. If you buy the coffee, you can take credit for their big project, new promotion, or college degree.

Nine McMinnville Candles

These heavenly hygge-makers come from Landmark Fine Goods, available at the Mac Market, and are, I’m predicting, going to be the go-to, catch-all gift for 2019.

Eight Gripping Novels

Slow down with some literary therapy from Third Street Books this season. Here’s our picks:

Colson Whitehead’s Nickel Boys, Steven King’s The Institute, Margaret Atwoods’ The Testaments, J.K. Rowling’s Illustrated Harry Potter (the 4th is out!), The Water Dancer by Ta-Nahasi Coates, The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, Elizabeth Strout’s Olive, Again, Joe Wilkins’ Fall Back Down When I Die, and Juliet Grames’ The Seven Or Eight Lives of Stella Fortuna.

Seven Stylish Vases

Go the extra mile for someone special with a handmade vessel at Currents Gallery; or, if you prefer DIY gifts, head to Golden Girls Pottery to paint-your-own. Stick some flowers in that baby, and you’re golden. 

Six Sexy Bracelets

Or necklaces. Or earrings. Or pendants. Word on the street is that the styles of the season call on trends like rough gemstone pendants, geometric shapes and variations on the classic hoop. Mes Amies, Accessory Appeal, Many Hands are your go-to places.

FIVE SASQUATCH THINGS!

When you give the gift of Sasquatch, you say as much about yourself as you do about the receiver. Find imaginative offerings for the lover of all things hirsute at Many Hands Trading. How about Sasquatch trading cards, giant bigfoot slippers, decals, posters, or an enamel pin?

Four Jars of Jam

These jam-makers from Alchemist’s Jam are home-grown (as are the berries) for this adorable stocking choice. I recommend the morning marionberry. You can pick it up locally at Pierano & Daughters. 

Three Cool Plants

Thistle and Pine has a lovely pop-up flower bar at the Mac Market, and should be your destination for all of the Instagram-worthy houseplant love. 

Two Groovy Gloves

A pair of hand-warmers are an auspicious choice for the darkest of seasons, and they carry an implicit message: Don’t meet me with cold hands. Pick up a pair at: Yamhill Valley Dry Goods.

🎵 And a pound of that CALMING TEA!!! 🎵

Seriously, after this season we can use all of the nerve tonic we can get. Local tea emporium Velvet Monkey’s got the goods: Three varieties of calming looseleaf, including my fave, Lazy Daze Organic Tea. Throw in a gorgeous tea pot while you’re at it and you’ve got the perfect gift.

Happy Holidays from All of the Tiny Travelers!

Emily Grosvenor is Editor of Oregon Home Magazine and head storyteller for #McMinnvilleDentist.  Follow her on Instagram @emilygrosvenor.

---