Willamette Week's Holiday Gift Guides: $35 and up | Clothing Guide | $35 and under

Contents Gift Guide 3 $35 and under Entertaining Others Beauty Biz Home on the Range The Thrifty Apocalypse Read It and Reap Eat Me! Hearts and Crafts Space Savers Kid Stuff Connect the Dots, Loops, Jams and Riffs Cuisine Art Gadgetry

Give A Little Bit Plump economy notwithstanding, most of us do not have day-trader-size money rolls to blow on presents. Instead, we must rely on our deepest resource: ingenuity. But who has time to create and be thrifty during the holidays? This sort of pressure leads to rash purchases of gifty gifts--bloated Northwest food baskets, chi-chi soap, mink earmuffs. We've got some ideas to help you avoid becoming such a sucker--and leave you with enough coin to party like it's 1999. Impress haughty artistes, not with a gouging gallery painting, but with $3.49 jumbo cans of Campbell's soup. Bypass Vicki's $50 velvet knickers for some Lucky Devils' Liquid Latex ($16.99) to show your lover how much you dig peeling her like a grape. Seek out a restaurant supply store for a $15 wok and the noodling recip will never be the wiser. And for your neurotic pals, there's Erwin S. Strauss' guide, How to Start Your Own Country (only $12.95!). Still not finding any copacetic choices? Then look inward for inspiration; read how imposed gift-making brought one strung-out shopper back to his senses. Finally, travel beyond malls and boutiques for truly original works made by artisans. Although the words "holiday bazaar" instill fearsome images of nubby afghans, gilded pinecone wreaths and jawbreaking peanut brittle in the minds of the sane, we recommend the following two: * If you've been to one of Kara Larson's dress sales before, you know the frocks go fast. Her pretty, fluid Kara-line designs are sold locally at Mimi & Lena and Matisse, but you can get 'em at a deep discount ($40-$75) at this bazaar. Larson has corralled a handful of girlfriends to participate too. Sarah Minnick's '20s-inspired Bess Dress gowns, men's fashions from San Francisco's Manifesto line, flapper-style necklaces by Amy Farris and Kathleen Tesnakis' Ekologic hats are among the goodies for sale. Kara-line showroom, 532 SE Belmont St., No. 206, 235-2035. 4-9 pm Friday, Dec. 10; 10 am-4 pm Saturday, Dec. 11. * The fourth-annual Holiday Bobble displays the wares of many local artists, such as jewelry by Tad Chi, recycled and reassembled furniture from Salvage Works, bags, boxes and more. Snake & Weasel, 1720 SE 12th Ave., 232-8338. 11 am-7 pm Friday, 10 am-7 pm Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 10-12.

 

Contents Gift Guide 1 $35 and up Fun and Games Literary License Windows Shopping Kitchen Aid Get Out Gremlin-Free Gizmos Discmen Skintillating Eat, Drink and Be Merry Gifts That Keep On Giving Child's Play Well-Furnished Gimcracks and Geegaws Gift Guide 2 clothing guide Scene Stealers It Girls 4th-Grade Somethings Little Women Action Jacksons Shredding Bettys Boys to Men Edge of 17 Dads Who Dig Hip Mamas

The Time Has Come En route from the cereal aisle to the shampoo section at the Stadium Fred Meyer, I heard it. "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas," in all its hollow cheeriness, invaded my weary mind. It was Nov. 11. Magazines such as Town & Country and Victoria make holiday shopping look gorgeous and inspiring: Apple-cheeked women and children in long red coats and furry earmuffs stride through quaint old-town sections of clean cities. Snow falls lightly and lights sparkle mischievously. The shoppers are relaxed and confident. They aren't in a hurry. Idiot drivers don't plague them at every turn. There is no tinny Muzak to set their teeth on edge. They aren't strapped for cash. It isn't raining. Enough of the visions of sugarplums. You're in Portland, and you've got some serious shopping to do--even in the face of the Pokémon onslaught, tinsel that comes out too early and those persistent clanging bells. A few tips: * Small, local retailers create holiday environments--real brambles instead of plastic greens, offbeat carols--that actually do put you in the mood. * Fancy stalwarts such as Saks and Nordstrom display grandeur that's fun to look at, even if it can't be touched. * Be nicer to people than they are to you--it'll make you feel gracious and happy. * And, naturally, use this gift guide to jumpstart your plan of attack. Don't spend it all in one place, OK? Our gift guide for fashion, new this year, comes out next week. And just when you'll need it the most, our guide to gifts under $35 is heaven-sent on Dec. 8. Editor Christina Melander Design Director Katherine Topaz Art Director/ Production Manager Mariane Zenker Cover Photography Michael Parrish Inside Photography/Design Anne Reeser Copy Chief Becky Ohlsen Copy Editors Matt Buckingham Ian Gillingham   Contributors Caryn B. Brooks Lara Gifford Naomi Gollogly Alyssa Isenstein Trevor Kearney Brian Libby Kate Lopresti Michaela Lowthian Dave McCoy Mac Montandon Beth Nicewonger Deborah Rossiter Susan Wickstrom

 

Contents Gift Guide 2 clothing guide Scene Stealers It Girls 4th-Grade Somethings Little Women Action Jacksons Shredding Bettys Boys to Men Edge of 17 Dads Who Dig Hip Mamas Gift Guide 1 $35 and up Fun and Games Literary License Windows Shopping Kitchen Aid Get Out Gremlin-Free Gizmos Discmen Skintillating Eat, Drink and Be Merry Gifts That Keep On Giving Child's Play Well-Furnished Gimcracks and Geegaws

Welcome to the Land of No Returns "Um, thanks." That's the sound of a pair of flared cargo pants (that was last year, genius) going limp in the hands of a teenage girl on Christmas morning. It's like your love repeating, "Will I marry you?" when you pop the question--in a way that tells you she won't. While there's no accounting for the capricious favor of a 16-year-old female, a 9-year-old boy or your mother, zeroing in on a piece of clothing the recipient might actually wear in public is easier than getting hitched. Marginally. The ability to intuit someone's style is a gift in itself. But it's not so much a matter of being au courant as it is knowing a person well--and relating to and accepting the fashion in which he or she chooses to dress. If your teen son combs Value Village for Scorpions T-shirts, old-school windbreakers and vintage ties, chances are he's not going to be too psyched about a Seahawks jersey. The mother who runs around in Steve Madden and Bisou Bisou isn't dreaming of sweaters from Eddie Bauer. If you want to buy clothes for people, you've got to spend time around them. The reason your aunt back in Baltimore keeps shipping out Champion sweatshirts and chunky fisherman cardigans is that she hasn't seen you in 10 years. But knowing what makes a person look the way she looks only gets you halfway through the Miyake/Miu Miu/Mossimo/Moschino/Monica minefield. You need another map just to get the size right. If you can't surreptitiously determine pant or shoe size, stick with tops, which are easier to eyeball. Another word of advice: Do not get swept up in the colors of the moment; tangerine looks dynamite on about 10 percent of the population. Of course you can always fall back on gift certificates, which in some ways are the perfect presents--currency that can only be redeemed for clothes, not car payments. They are also gift-giving by proxy, the badge of a nation too busy to think. There's another option. For our premier gift guide devoted solely to style, we went to the source to discover what everyone from 8-year-old footballer Damarcus Chaney to working mother Julie Bergstrom, 39, wants to wear this winter. We solicited a wish list from each interviewee/model, talked to shopkeepers and buyers and cruised Portland to capture the spirit of self-decoration. We're not claiming there's something for everyone, but with more than 100 items to mine, there's surely something for someone on your list. So when Fiona gasps with joy and approval upon ripping open a box of Fornarina Mary Janes and asks, "Dad, how did you know?"--just smile. And forward all thank-you notes to WW. Editor Christina Melander Art Director Mariane Zenker Cover & Inside Photography D-J@AMOS Copy Chief Becky Ohlsen Copy Editors Matt Buckingham Ian Gillingham Jennifer Sargent   Contributors Liz Brown Mary E. Campbell Susie Cieszewski Elizabeth Dye Trevor Kearney Michaela Lowthian Mac Montandon Design Team Thomas Cobb Jason Linscott Anne Reeser Jesse Woodruff

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Willamette Week | originally published December 8, 1999