Shop Silver Spring: A Holiday Buyers Guide – For Everyone In Your Life

Christmas Eve in the D.C. area doesn’t have to be all about the White House holiday tree lighting or road rage in the Montgomery Mall parking lot; you can actually enjoy the holidays without the mass crowds right in our own neighborhood. This holiday season, Silver Spring Incorporated is rounding up places and ways to enjoy the holidays (plus where to get some gifts too!) all without having to leave the non-enclosed “city” limits. For our first installment, here’s a quick gift guide. Find gifts for everyone in your life right in downtown Silver Spring.

 

For the Coffee Connoisseur: Pick up a fair trade bag of coffee from Kefa Cafe on Bonifant Street. (My favorite is the hazelnut.) The holidays are also a great time to show everyone how much better you are than them. Gifting is a competition and a bag of coffee from Kefa definitely beats a Starbucks gift card.

For the Yogi: Give the gift of zen with a yoga mat and yogi-cessories from Willow Street Yoga at the corner of Fenton St and Colesville Road. WSY also carries tons of other things like meditation and yoga books, ayurveda products, jewelry, sari blankets and more. Mention this article and get a free class pass with your purchase! What? YES. The class pass also makes a great gift for a local yogi, or just keep it for yourself and drop in on that headstand class you were too scared to sign up for.

For the Museum Dweller: Skip the crazy price tag that you’ll find on any book at any museum downtown and peruse the overflowing shelves of Silver Spring Used Books instead. We found some great coffee table books for lovers of art, architecture and more.

bookstore books
Photo courtesy of jhPhotography.

For the Artist: Shop racks on racks on racks of art supplies at Plaza Art on Georgia Avenue. They also carry tons of easy gifts if you’re not so artistically inclined yourself and don’t understand the difference between all those tubes of paint. (Why are there so many????) Grab drawing and coloring books for grown-ups (it’s therapeutic), creative art gift sets and more.

Plaza art book1
Photo courtesy of jhPhotography.

P.S. Their kids art selection is to die for and perfect for little Monets in the making.

Plaza colors1
Photo courtesy of jhPhotography.

For the Musician: Sorry if you’re over hipster-dom, but records are definitely the hot ticket item these days. Instead of trying to find the right one in the massively unorganized bins at Value Village, pop over to Joe’s Record Paradise to find just the right Beatles album for your favorite hip musician. They also have the coolest clocks made out of old record albums if you’re  like me and don’t know anything about music.For the Foodie: Did you know that the Silver Spring Farmer’s Market is open year round? Grab some honey, cheese and more to make your own local gift basket this year. Also, don’t be that guy that shows up to the holiday party empty handed and grab a bottle of wine there too!

 

Other places to shop local this holiday season: Alliance Comics, Metamorphosis Boutique, Atlantic Guns, Dor-ne Corset Shop, Pennyworth Thrift Shop, Fenton Street Market’s HOLIDAZE pop-up shop, Whole Foods Silver Spring and more.

 

Like the beautiful photos in this article? They were all provided by jhPhotography:

Looking to give more than just your average gift this holiday season? Give the gift of custom photography with a gift certificate to jhPhotography!

Gift certificates to jhPhotography are customizable and can be tailored to any person, family, or occasion. Certificates of any amount can be used towards a photo session or any product, including digital files, prints, and canvases. The best part? Your generous gift will never go out of style!

 

P.S. The holidays aren’t just about gifts – stay tuned for more Silver Spring holiday experiences coming your way this month!

Have great Silver Spring finds you want to show off? Come across other great holiday deals? Use #ShopSilverSpring to share.

Amina Ahmad
I run an eco-friendly candle and nostalgic housewares company - Handmade Habitat - and got my start at Fenton Street Market back in 2010. I got picked up as staff for the market back in 2012 and do some vendor relations, marketing and general Silver Spring takeover type of fun. I'm passionate about creating a more engaged creative community in Silver Spring. I love this neighborhood and have met so many cool, creative people with such big and awesome ideas since I moved to the area and can't wait to see them come to life! I'd like to see more space for the arts, a dog-friendly version of the Purple Line so I can bring my bad little pup to all my favorite places with me, and just a few new but not douchey bars.

Email me non-spammy things at [email protected]

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