HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
Holiday Gifts That Won’t Collect Dust in the Closet
By Judith Stiles
Some people are born without the shopping gene, so when the holidays arrive, cheeriness can give way to dread over the prospect of finding the perfect gift for that special someone. I love to give personal and clever gifts, but hunting down that fabulous something in a big store among hordes of shoppers is not my idea of a good time.
This year I took my grandmother’s advice and started looking early, in August, when nobody was holiday shopping except me. I breezed through my list for the kids before I tackled the hard part: What to buy for those headed toward their sixtieth or seventieth round of holidays, whose closets are already jam-packed with presents they didn’t want or need in the first place? Here’s my Top 10 list of groovy gifts that won’t collect dust in the closet.
SAVORY BOTTLE OF
NEW YORK STATE BORDEAUX
(1999 Laurel Lake
Credence Meritage)
$59.99
Vintage New York, 482 Broome St, New York, NY 10013 (among other locations); (212) 226-9463; www.vintagenewyork.com
I am not an oenophile but my husband is, and this is his absolute favorite blend. Vintage-wine sellers describe it as having a “big-fruit, elegant tannic structure with a silky smooth finish.” You will feel as if you’ve stepped into wine country when you enter this gallery of fine wines in Soho. Relax at the tasting bar and try more than 200 wines from 60 New York State vineyards (but not all at once). The gallery prides itself on helping you find the perfect wine for any occasion.
ROMAN HOLIDAY GIFT BASKET
$59.00
The Gifted Ones, 150 West 10th St., New York, NY 10014; (212) 627-4050; www.thegiftedones.com
The merchants at this shop in the West Village have transformed gift baskets into high art with a multitude of great choices that range from prix-fixe Chanukah and Christmas baskets to baskets filled with luscious fruits, bath and body potions, and countless other items that correspond to every conceivable holiday theme. If you don’t want to order from the Website, you can visit The Gifted Ones and elicit help to create a personalized basket for that special someone. I chose the Roman Holiday for my sister to remind her of the fabulous trip we took to the Eternal City in the 1960s. I even added some old snapshots and mementoes from that journey. The basket was overflowing with Italian treats, tastefully arranged in a cute stainless-steel cooking colander. Included were colored pasta, marinara sauce, bruschetta toppings, crackers, dessert coffee, espresso cake, Boca Bon truffles, artichoke biscuits, and more.
HAND-CRAFTED CHAMPAGNE TRUFFLES
$50.00
Jacques Torres Chocolates, 350 Hudson St., New York, N.Y., 10014; (212) 414-2462; www.mrchocolate.com
If it is good chocolate – really good – it will be gone before the holiday evening is over. But the champagne truffles from Jacques Torres Chocolates might be gone before you even deliver the gift because it takes endless willpower not to devour the contents of the box before you get it home and wrapped. These all-natural chocolates are made with fresh ingredients and no preservatives, additives, or artificial colors. The gift box of champagne truffles contains 50 pieces made with milk chocolate, fresh cream, and Brut La Francaise champagne. Also available are boxes of assorted dark and milk chocolates for $45. While on the premises you can view the mouth-watering chocolate-making process from behind a huge glass window, and watch bars of rich cocoa be transformed into fine chocolates before your eyes.
DVD OF THE COMPLETE
NEW YORKER SINCE 1925
$100.
Three Lives Bookstore. 154 W. 10th Street, New York, N.Y., 10014; (212) 741-2069.
Allow your special somebody to throw away stacks of old New Yorker magazines by delivering every single issue since 1925 on a collection of sliver-thin DVDs. If you’re one of those shoppers who finds enormous chain bookstores overwhelming, then Three Lives is for you. You can’t enter to buy a gift without exiting with one for yourself because of sales people who have too many great recommendations. What’s more, owner Toby Cox knows every single book in every corner of the shop. After he recommends a gift, he goes on to suggest “one book for me,” The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion – a work, he says, that helped him “appreciate the day-to-day things in life, and rejoice in what we have.”
