Shop local: 10 holiday gift ideas from Detroit-area businesses

This year more than ever, supporting small businesses is important as we enter the gift-giving season. 

Just as important is patronizing shops and entrepreneurs from your community, is doing it safely. Here's an online gift guide of locally based products for everyone on your list. 

Lifestyle gifts for our current times 

The Detroit love face mask is the most practical gift for the 2020 holiday season. It's a black mask with the word "Detroit" on it but the "o" is a little heart. The mask is machine washable and made in the USA. It's being sold via Visit Detroit at visitdetroit.com/order-your-detroit-love-mask. $7.99.

If 2020 was going to be the year you got your goals and dreams on track, well, you'll get a second chance soon. 2021 is just around the corner. Start the year with purpose and focus with an Empowered Life Planner. More than just a calendar, this guide is designed by local well-being coach Stephanie Popso to help users take daily action to become the person they want to be, create work/life balance and focus energy where it is most helpful. Find it at empoweredlifeplanner.com. $35. 

Gourmet gifts for good cheer

Eastern Market’s Detroit City Distillery and Bees in the D have teamed up for two new products. First, DCD’s single-barrel Honey Bourbon ($70), which is finished with raw honey from the Bees in the D beehives that were busy all summer on top of the distillery’s Whiskey Factory production facility. Bees in the D is also selling a limited-edition run of honey aged in the DCD’s bourbon barrels ($40). Both go on sale Friday. shop.detroitcitydistillery.com and beesinthed.com/store. 

Cook like Detroit chef Max Hardy with his signature brand of spices. Owner of Coop Detroit Caribbean fusion restaurant in the Detroit Shipping Company, as well as other restaurants coming down the line, Hardy has 10 versions of his spice blends like espresso rub, Cuban mojo, Jamaican jerk and more. Browse his flavor line and cookbooks at chefmaxcelhardy.com/shop. $9 per bottle. 

Ideas for kids 

"ABCDetroit" is an alphabetical journey through the Motor City. This hardcover book is written by Kari Jo Wagner with illustrations by Aprilia Muktirina and is suitable for ages 2 and older. Local boutique City Bird has it on their website, citybirddetroit.com, along with many other city-centric gift ideas for kids, like the book "A Fist for Joe Louis and Me." $17.95. 

Apparel company Detroit vs Everybody has an entire line of kids clothing for your favorite young city booster. Find tot-sized "Detroit vs Everybody" shirts, hoodies, onesies and bibs, plus some with the tagline "Detroit Almighty" and "Everybody vs. COVID-19." Order at vseverybody.com/collections/kids. Prices vary. 

Something fabulous

A lipstick — but not just any lipstick — this giftable cosmetic is a collaboration between FACEFX founder Pheobe Scott and Ask Jennyfer founder Jennyfer Crawford, two Detroit-based entrepreneurs. The "Ask Jennyfer" collection has bold, striking lip shades that celebrate female empowerment with names like "influencer" and "advocate." Makeup artist Scott founded cruelty-free FACEFX in May 2019. Shop the collection at thefacefx.com/ajcollection. $20. (See also Scott's Detroit Palette with eye shadow shades like "Faygo Orange" and "On the Lodge Wit It" for $30.)

Elaine B Jewelry specializes in alternative engagement rings and other minimalist, modern pieces. There's a studio in Ferndale for in-store shopping, or you can browse online at elainebjewelry.com. Proceeds of pieces from EBJ's "Rise Collection" are donated to nonprofits, like their open heart stud earrings in sterling silver or vermeil, which benefit Mothering Justice, an organization that aims to empower mothers to engage with lawmakers.  

Art plus philanthropy 

If you're looking for something for the activist or typography fan in your mix, local artist Elizabeth Isakson-Dado's artistic print reads "Time to Fight for Compassion, Justice, Empathy, Action, Love and Light." Proceeds from the print will be donated to the American Civil Liberties Union, making it a gift in more ways than one. It's sold online by handmade goods and production studio Post at mutualadoration.com/products/time-to-fight-letterpress-poster-print-in-frame. $142. 

Similarly, Signal Return Press in Eastern Market, which offers curbside pickup of their products, has a series of artistic prints from local artists that help raise funds for community nonprofits like Alternatives for Girls, Mariners Inn, Last Day Dog Rescue and Black Family Development. View the collection at signalreturnpress.store/shop/onpress/5. $80. 

mbaetens@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @melodybaetens