Holiday Guide: Feeling broke this season? We help ease your shopping woes
EYE-MELTING WALL CALENDAR, $3
Little Otsu
Calendars can be so ... quantifying. Leave it to craft wonderland Little Otsu to make date-finding creative again. Pick up this cheaply had bit of creativity designed by Ron Regé Jr., for the nonlinear thinker on your list, or browse the racks of Otsu's recycled material stationary and precious T-shirt designs.
849 Valencia, Mission, SF. (415) 255-7900, www.littleotsu.com
CANTAINER BICYCLE CUP HOLDER, $10
Gravel and Gold
Because nothing goes better than bikes and bevvies — they'll cruise into golden, road soda (we mean coffee, of course!) glory with an American-made bike cup holder masterpiece from this beautiful, sunny Mission store, whose shelves of hip handmade treasures take the crass consumerism straight out of your holiday shopping.
3266 19th St., Mission, SF. (415) 552-0112, www.gravelandgold.com
PISTACHIO BAKLAVA, $7.95
Sumiramis Middle Eastern Imports
Score flaky, made-in-the-Bay filo dough holiday meal or gathering treats at this fantastical, low-key grocery store, which stocks all things Mediterranean from hookahs to halvah. Your lucky guests will wonder where you got it. (Make like you had to go further than 26th Street and Mission.)
2990 Mission, Mission, SF. (415) 824-6555
DE LA ROSA CANDY, $3.69
Casa Guadalupe
These crumbly peanut marzipan gems are a recognizable staple of Latino bodegas, but the red rose on their 30-pack carton wouldn't look out of place alongside brightly wrapped presents under a Hanukkah bush.
2999 Mission, Mission, SF. (415) 824-2043
RHINESTONE INITIAL EARRINGS, $10
Good Fellows
Reward those who've been nice through 2010 with this customizable bling — they can wear their sparkly identities on their lobes! Because you know you have a friend who will be more impressed if you tell them you got their present from a head shop. And Good Fellows has a dispensary in the back if your giftee's on the very, very good list.
473 Haight, Lower Haight, SF. (415) 255-1323
YUMMYPOCKETS PB&J ITEM HOLDER, $9.50
Therapy
Stuff the mouth of their wallet — money tastes good again with this disturbingly realistic peanut butter and jelly sandwich billfold. Therapy's got the goods when it comes to gifts for the young fashionista on your list — another great choice is their faux-Guate coin purses ($10), decorated with colorful embroidered patterns that call up your trip last year to Lake Antigua.
Various location, SF. www.shopattherapy.com
THE SNOWY DAY, $6.99
Lola of North Beach
Lit love for the soon-to-be-bundled little one. The illustrations in this new board edition are as stunning as they were when Caldecott winner Ezra Jack Keats published the original book in 1962. Lola's is a great gift stop for chic families — Mom and Dad included — on your list.
1415 Grant, North Beach, SF. (415) 781-1817, www.lolaofnorthbeach.com
HOMEMADE SPINACH PASTA, $2.95 PER POUND
Molinari Deli
Step around the display arrays of Italian fruitcakes and brightly-wrapped candies up to this old school neighborhood joint's deli case. You can buy the hostess with the mostest a peck of that finest green — a skein of house-made spinach noodles. Maybe she'll even invite you back for a holiday-themed pasta feed.
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