Holiday Shopping Part Two – Hello World Wide Web

In part one of our holiday shopping guide, we stayed close to home and explored what locally owned shops had to offer.  Now, let’s head out to the world wide web and find the best places to shop online.  Because it’s hard to beat shopping without leaving your bedroom!

Here’s some of our favorites sites for Internet shopping:

Shopping for good. Shopping at online museum gift shops is a great way to find unique gifts and support a good cause.  Musee is a website that has searchable lists of museum gift shops. Our favorites are MOMA and the National Building Museum.   You can also Google “museum gift shops” and settle in – you could browse for days!  Additionally, there’s Greater Good that has a whole slew of websites with gifts that can make a difference.  And who can resist Heifer International?  Can there be a better gift than the donation of a flock of chicks when it means lifting a family out of poverty?

Handmade gifts, made manageable. We love Etsy, but sometimes it’s almost too much of a good thing  They tout themselves as “the world’s handmade marketplace”.  That great, until you need to sort through 1,066,762 (as of 11/9/11) necklaces for the right one.  Try these  “Etsy-like” sites – they’re full of beautiful handmade things with the added bonus of being a curated collection.  Warning – make sure you’ve got time to shop before you start looking at these sites.  I sat down in front of my computer with a glass of wine, started shopping and before I knew it my credit card was melting from overuse.

• Poppytalk Handmade
• Papernstitch
• Supermarket
• Renegade Handmade

You can hardly go wrong with food. If you need a gift for your favorite food-obsessed friend, try Foodoro or Foodzie.  You’ll be amazed at their yummy offerings!

T-shirts and hoodies and more, oh my! If you need a fun gift for that favorite teen, college student, or friend with a passion for something, CafePress and Zazzle have what you’re looking for.  You can get a t-shirt that proclaims a love of pit bulls (or doxies), a mug that touts one’s geekiness or favorite sport, or a hoodie that declares devotion to the Twilight series.  And much, much more!

Simply weird.  The folks at Vat 19 tout themselves as “Purveyors of Curiously Awesome Products” and that is correct.  They have everything from the World’s Largest Gummy Worm to my favorite, the Beer Pouch Sweatshirt.

Let’s not forget the obvious. Amazon still rules, especially if you’ve followed our advice and purchased their Prime membership.  We continue to love Uncommon Goods.  And the websites for your favorite brick and mortar stores or catalogs are uber convenient.  Our favorites are Sur la Table, Crate and Barrel, Signals, and Wireless. For stocking stuffers, The Container Store can’t be beat.

Here’s to shopping in your jammies!  Enjoy.

Related posts:

1. Holiday Shopping Part One – Keep It Local
2. You’ll Love Holiday Shopping at Etsy.com
3. Hello, Holiday Season
4. The Joys of Shopping Locally