courtesy DCanter
Hmmmm, if you’re reading this you’ve left your shopping until a bit late in the game. Hopefully, your parents are local — and you, in turn, will keep your shopping local.
To treat parents who like to entertain, or just like elegance in their everyday, head over to DCanter. While perusing the variety of wines from around the word, including unusual bottles at every price points, the staff will help you choose something special. Pair the wine with an elegant classic European crystal ($55), or buy a set of soirée multicolor glasses ($129) and they’ll feel like true sophisticates toasting family and the new year. Do your parents like a challenge? The large ceramic platter ($36) that features wine and cheese pairings of EVERY sort is for the person who loves cheese and loves to check things off their list. Hopefully you’ll be visiting when the best of the cheeses and wines come round the wheel.
Courtesy the Library of Congress
Are your parents readers? The gift shop in the Library of Congress is for you. An elegant infinity scarf is the perfect accessory for Mom, and the text of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre and Romeo and Juliet are hand printed on both sides with text from the classic novels. The scarves ($49.95) are 100% cotton and hand cut, sewn and silk-screened. A pair of cast iron Hide & Seek bookends ($69) may recall the family’s younger days – and dress up a bookcase. Does your dad making it through the great books? Cover that head in a I Cannot Live Without Books baseball cap. For $15 he’ll be jaunty and clearly a cerebral guy.
If the kitchen if your parent loves to spend time in the kitchen, I’ll point you towards Sapore Oil & Vinegar. Head right over to the 25-year Balsamic Vinegar. Splurge on a large bottle of the $27.95 treasure from Modena, Italy. This thick, dark vinegar made from the ice of the Trebbiano grape, is a treat and dressed up meals like nobody’s business. Go in a different directions and choose the Chipotle Chile Infused Avocado oil (%16.95). It’s not flavor infused, but made the old fashioned way from the flesh of fresh avocados, extra virgin and cold pressed. There’s an extra kick from the chipotles and smoked jalapeño chiles.
Perhaps your parents like to boast that their accomplished child has their pulse on Congress. Head to the gift shop in the Capitol Visitors Center and treat them with a pewter dome paperweight ($52) or turn-of-century guilded tray that features a drawing on the Capitol ($32). If you want to give them a momento of their visit to Washington, gift them with a Capitol memorial 2015 snow scene ornament ($24). Need a stocking stuffer? Who doesn’t need Great Seal ear buds ($5.25).
Recent reports say that the millennials among up far prefer experiential gifts this time of year, but I’ll hazard to say that many in the 50+ age range might also prefer outings or events. Buy them tickets to an upcoming play at the Folger Shakespeare Library and you’ll assure them of a memorable night on the town. A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs January 26 through March 6 and stars DC favorites Holly Twyford as Bottom and Erin Weaver as Puck. Buy tickets for February 10 and the can attend a pre-show talk with the director of the Folger. Stop by the Folger shop for your tickets and peruse the variety of literary and historical gifts.
Time to get shopping — just four days left!