With the holidays around the corner, and little time to buy online and wait around for shipping, here’s BLDRfly’s take on gift giving, sourced locally from our favorite stops around Boulder.
Coffee for Christmas
You can taste the difference, buying from a local company that roasts their coffee beans themselves. Stop into Boxcar Coffee Roasters at 1825 Pearl Street to snag a fresh bag of coffee, or gift one of the shop’s subscription plans, which allows you to order coffee to the door of someone who you know will appreciate the extra caffeine.
Starting at $18 per shipment, choose between sending a subscription of one of several rotating single origin coffee beans from the likes of Columbia, Guatemala and El Salvador or one of four of Boxcar’s signature blends: No.7 House Blend, Bareknuckle “Darkish” Blend (roasted at a higher temperature for a smokey, caramel flavor profile), Stella Espresso and Decaf.
Show time
If you know that the person you’re buying for prefers an experience over a wrapped gift box, buy a pair of tickets for the two of you to one of the Dairy Arts Center’s upcoming shows in the new year.
The first week of January at 2590 Walnut Street, magician and mentalist Hayden Childress will put on a thought-provoking show linking psychology and, of course, magic for $35. If illusionists don’t do it for you , Nancy Norton graces the stage on January 21st as a part of Dairy Comedy. For a $20 ticket, experience the 2018 Boston Comedy Festival winner, the only woman winner at the time, since the festival started in 2000.
In February, the Butterfly Effect Theatre of Colorado is coming to the Dairy Arts Center for their performance of “Fourteen Funerals,” a comedy about family and death, and tickets start at $25.
DIY pub crawl
Rather than find out how beer is made, plan your own tour experience and an evening out on the town – and maybe even pay for a few of your gift-receiver’s drinks – taste testing draft holiday brews at some of the many beer-making facilities around Boulder.
Stop by Avery Brewing Company at 4910 Nautilus Court for the new release of Sweater Party, a winter ale with
mulling spices. Next, hit Upslope’s Flatiron Park location, which serves two Wild Christmas Ales, one with cranberries and the other with tropical fruit. As winter fast approaches the front range, Finkel & Garf at 5455 Spine Road rotate their tap list’s seasonal brown ales. The brewery’s Hazelnut Brown, currently on tap, is also available in six-packs.
If your favorite beer drinker isn’t one for bar hopping, grab a six-pack of Avery Brewing’s Old Jubilation Ale, with hints of hazelnuts, mocha, and toffee, at your grocery or liquor store before they stop stocking it at the end of this month. The same goes for Upslope’s Spruce Tip IPA, brewed with the end part of Colorado spruce trees with candied orange peel notes.
Feast of the Seven Fishes
Treat someone to a holiday dinner under the sea at Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar at 928 Pearl Street on Christmas Eve. The restaurant has celebrated the Southern Italian tradition of the Feast of the Seven Fishes every holiday season for more than a decade.
For $85 a person, enjoy a five-course meal with seven types of seafood, including clams and white beans, grilled gem salad with lemon-anchovy dressing, and striped bass with potatoes and olives. If this sounds like a dining experience you’d love to give, make a reservation at Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar here.
Bearing bouquets
Don’t know someone well enough to share an experience with them, or just need a casual housewarming gift? Ditch the bottle of wine and come with flowers instead, and not just your classic Christmas poinsettias.
Fiori Flowers at 1833 Pearl Street offers all types of blooms in moody tones, plus holiday reds and greens. Or stick to something even more with-the-season and bring one of Fiori’s Noble Fir or Boxwood wreaths to the party for $43. If you think the recipient might want the wreath decorated, do it yourself or throw in one of Fiori’s private wreath arranging classes, complete with Cured cheese and wine.
Outdoor world
Head into Neptune Mountaineering at 633 S. Broadway for gear for every kind of outdoor activity. From skiing and climbing to camping and hiking, find the tools and knick knacks your adventurer will get everyday use out of.
With ski season upon the Rocky Mountains, treat someone to the necessary, but sometimes pricey, upkeep of their equipment. Neptune Mountaineering offers mounting and tuning services out of the ski shop, as well as bootfitting.
Read BLDRfly’s story on Neptune Mountaineering here.
Make your own gift
If you can turn an art project into a gift in a week, go for it. But you’ll have to stop in at Art Parts first, the secondhand crafting store at 3080 Valmont Road, where you can buy most any art supply you need for cents on the dollar.
You’ll get gift-making supplies for cheap at Art Parts, whether you want to pick up just enough jump rings to make a pair of earrings out of a small memento your gift recipient likes, or paint a picture of their pet, or make a collage out of vintage postcards that remind you of them. Save on wrapping paper too and choose from an assortment of patterns of neat, pre-wrapped rolls.
Until December 27, Art Parts is also offering Green Gifts, made by 11 local vendors using recycled and reused materials, like fairy garden kits, fabric scrunchies, woven scarves and bicycle jewelry.
Read BLDRfly’s story on Art Parts here.
Header image provided by Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar.
