Shop Southern - Gift Ideas for the Season

Well, it has become a tradition that we do our southern gift ideas to help our listeners prepare for the gift giving season, the most wonderful time of the year for many reasons. With our economy in a dire situation, what better time to support American made products and supporting local regional businesses. One thing that makes our list unique is that we make no money on what we promote. We just mentioned things we truly like. So meet us at the table to help get your gift list completed.

I'm Lainie and I'm Laura Beth, and we are Steel Magnolias. The strength of steel, with the grace of a magnolia. We are

here to have uplifting conversations about life in the South.

And we've got plenty of room at our table. So pull up a chair!

Well, sleigh bells are jingling, we've just had our peppermint mocha, we did get peppermint mochas to get us ready and in the spirit, since we have to record this probably a little earlier than what you guys would even imagine. So there are some houses around here, though, that already have their Christmas lights up. People are going earlier and earlier.

I know. And I saw, I had to drive into Nashville yesterday, and I saw on a really beautiful street where it's like, kind of close to the governor's mansion, you know on Franklin Road? Yes. And there were several that already had like the whole fence lined with garland. And and I'm like, that's because they have staff. Well, yes. That's why theirs is done. A few I've seen were professionally lit up by an outside source. So how many years have we done this? Is this our third gift list? I can't? I don't know. I think it is. And I did want to say those were great lists too so I'm just gonna link to those in our show notes. I know we did 2021 and 2020. So I'll find those and link to those if you need even more ideas. Yeah. And some of those things still exist on those companies. Right. You know, right, just brought up. Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's a great point. Because just remember, these are a lot of small, handmade items. So it might not be something that that small business or that one single person is producing anymore, but I'm sure there's some great ideas. Well, let's chat about something that happened just today while we were talking about what was going to be on the list. And that is just because something's may or carried in a southern store does not mean that it's made in America or the South. Because a couple things I had on my list I had to take off. I would say like a third of your list got off the cutting room floor. Well, because I started digging a little deeper and I'm like, Oh, just because that was carried at a store in Birmingham, Alabama does not mean it was made there. Oh, it's made in Denmark, right? Yes, yes. And that was our point was we were trying to focus on things that are made here.

Yes. Now, I have a qualifier to put forth. On our intro, we did say that we don't make any money on the items that we're going to mention, which is true. Except for the shameless plug, I'm going to put right here at the top of the list. So we produced some really cute products for our live event at the Franklin Theatre in October, because that was the first time we were getting to meet many of you face to face. Yes. And so they are so stinking cute. I'm so proud of those products.

Well, and so we wanted to make them available. And I'm gonna say just at least through the end of this year, I don't know how long we'll have a shop online, but at least through the end of this year, we wanted to make these products available to those that were not at that event. So they're available online, and we have the coziest sweatshirt ever. It's a Bella and Canvas Atlantic green sweatshirt that says Peace be with y’all. It's so cute. The color is gorgeous on everybody.

That's why I picked it is it's just one of those you should consider it for our bridesmaid dress color.  Gorgeous and the word every other feedback everybody's given is it's the coziest sweat shirt I've ever had.  It is it is. We also have an official Steel Magnolias podcast t shirt in terracotta, which says Peace be with y'all on the back. And we have a Christmas tea towel, which you guessed it it says Peace be with y’all and it’s Christmassy too because it has like a little Laurel of holly So pretty.

So we would really like for you to check it out, consider for your gift giving this season and gifting to yourself. And we've had people before tell us in regards to our Patreon support that maybe they're not able to do a monthly support, like we have a group of people that do for us, which is of the utmost help for this podcast. But this would be a great way to almost do like a one time support, you know, you and you're getting gifts or product out of it as well.So the perfect hostess gift, those little tea towels. Amazing.

Yes. So go check that out. I'll put it in the show notes on how to access that. I do want to also say before we get into the list, shipping is so unpredictable these days. That's so true. Consider making your mental notes as we're talking as to what you're going to order that you need to order online because I just feel like it's getting longer, longer leads more expensive. And so yeah, I just wanted to hit that at the top by saying you know, shipping is unpredictable. But here we go shopper like you'll you'll be ready. So if you want to access a special discount for some of the brands and products that we are going to be discussing, we reached out to several companies and if you will visit the description of this show what we call the show notes. You will also be able to see any and all discount codes that we have to share with you on the products that we're discussing today.

Yippee for discounts every little bit helps as one more detail you could buy I'm just kidding. It's right. So I'm gonna let you go first. Okay, well we got to make a trip to Fort Worth earlier this year. Yes. And I came across a company totally unexpectedly because we were in a museum we were in a museum museums have really great gifts sometimes though too. And so there was this gift shop in the was Amom Carter Museum and I came across Susan Shaw jewelry. So they are a company I found out later out of San Antonio, Texas but I love this lady's jewelry.

It looks so good on you so classy look it's it's a statement yet classy. Yeah, so she uses a lot of toggle clasp. If you don't know that's like where the little like straight pin kind of thing goes through a circle as the hold. yeah and just catches to hold and she does a lot of different lines but some of them I use the word antiquity like it looks like yeah what do you jewelry with coins and yes kind of, I don't know European. So she has a coin toggle necklace. And this particular one you can get it in silver or gold and you can get it in 16 or 20 inches. But the 16 inch gold I think is so beautiful. It's $88 and it has a Swiss franc coin from 1948 in the necklace, so pretty. And so that's the one that jumped out at me but there's so many pretty things on her website and also wanted to mention in addition to that necklace, I thought $88 was a good price point for how it nice it's so expensive. Yes. But they did a nod to Queen Elizabeth as well and they have one with a coin of her own it and now that one's $150 But I just wanted to mention it in case there's somebody on your list that you know loved queen, Queen Elizabeth or royal family. It's kind of a special momento so pretty. It's good. So that's one of the items I wanted to mention and you know me I can't I have a hard time narrowing things down. She also has these three toggle bracelets. Oh, bracelets. Yes. And three bangle bracelets that are kind of uneven in the edging. They just looked super cool. They come as a set of three and they're gold and kind of hammered looking $140 for the set but they're really unique and pretty. So San Antonio based Susan Shaw jewelry.

I'm so glad you found her that necklace you have that you bought there is so pretty unusually really it really is. Well, I will mention a business that we've actually had on the podcast before many episodes ago. 1818 farms out of Birmingham, Alabama. They are a flower farm. They have many goods that they produce but we mostly when we were talking to her focused on the flower business and they have a pressed flower tray that is absolutely gorgeous these, these are a labor of love. So they grow the flowers, there on their farm. Once they're harvested, they press them, it can take seven to 10 days to make each of these trays. And the tray that I was going to highlight is rectangular. I showed it to you, Lainie, you thought that was one of the prettier ones too. And they've got it, you know, you can see all the pictures, of course, on their website, but it's a good size tray. It's 14 by eight inches. And they also offer a circular tray, but the rectangular tray is $135 the circular tray is $160. Or if you just wanted to get a set of coasters they can give, you can do a set of four coasters for $78. But these are really, really pretty would be so great for somebody that is a flower lover or just loves gardening and

the colors are come through. So pretty. So pretty. So pretty. 

Okay, next up on my list is a gift for the dudes in your life. Colonel Littleton out of Lynnville, Tennessee does beautiful leather work. yeah, so many beautiful things. But what has caught my eye as of late is his belt collection. Okay, so there's various belts, they range in price from $98 to $150, depending on what kind you know what it's made out of. You can get gold or silver hardware. But they’re just so beautiful. I had a client that came in and had on the number five leather cinch belt. It was which is $120. And I just said, Oh my gosh, I love that belt. Well, so that you're I know how we started talking. But I was already familiar with Colonel Littleton. So he said, I got it in Lynnville, Tennessee. And so I said oh my gosh, is that Colonel Littleton. But there's different ones. Some are more simple than others. But very good quality leather, strong, sturdy, pretty hardware. If you have a guy on your list that would enjoy a nice belt definitely check out Colonel Littleton.

That's a good one. I want to mention a puzzle because who doesn't love a puzzle this can bring you together during your Christmas season if you're actually looking for something to do while you're gathered, or it can just make for some good entertainment on winter days. You just can't be outside. So the True South puzzle company is based out of right here in Nashville. They make puzzles to remind you of home or a place you fondly remember. They have 750 piece puzzles that are made in collaboration with Nashville based designers. They also have 500 piece puzzles which I was going to highlight. The legendary women of country music is so cute. So stinky. Glad you showed me that. It's a $25 puzzle. They also have the legendary men of country music. They have all sorts of cities, states imagined like post vintage postcards. They even had I think one that was sort of celebrities of the 80s,  oh that’s fun. There's just so much so many fun, different themes that they have. So true self puzzle, so many good choices.

Okay, so I'm gonna mention three separate items that I think you could mix and match. Okay, put together. Okay, so first up is I have found that I've really liked this mule town coffee from right down south and Columbia, Tennessee. I've given it as gifts before and gotten good feedback. Yes, a bag of their coffee is $15.99 they have some different varieties but I've given mostly the original and yeah, and he'll just meal town is the nickname for Columbia, Tennessee, which was the was in back in the day the mule trading capital of the world. Yeah. And there's an annual mule Day celebration to commemorate that so yeah, people call it Muletown which is why it's Muletown coffee. Now they have a subscription where you can get coffee oh wow lay or something but okay, just mentioning, you know, you can order from their website to get the bags of the original coffee. As well as I love We've mentioned this on our podcast before but orca cooler from here in town. makes a wonderful camper. Oh, I love mine. And so their camper mug is $32 comes in all kinds of fun, bright and neutral. Colors all kinds of color choices. I have the dark green one which kind of looks Christmassy to me.

That's so true but it keeps things hot. Yes cold. Whatever you put in there. has a handle has a lid. Just a really nice sturdy mug. Yes. So putting that coffee with great would be a great guest Yes. And if somebody is not a coffee drinker, but instead a tea drinker, I got your covered. Okay, um, they're out there. I'm in the coffee camp. But tea lovers are out there.

Tea lovers are out there and southern lady is not just a magazine, they have some exclusive products as well. One of their exclusive product is they make Southern lady holiday teas. And there's two separate two separate flavors. The winter orange spice. Ooh, that sounds one word the holiday apple cider. Ooh, yeah. Comes in a pretty tin with like little Christmassy looking  Holly on it. Each tin is $16.99. So again, you could just buy both flavors and give that to somebody you could get one and put it with a camper mug. I just thought the nice coffee tea mug situation is a fun gift well and consumables. That's where it's at for many gift givers and gift recipients.  Well, and if you know someone who's a minimalist, they don't want to let a clutter in their house consumables is a great way to go.

Yes. So I'll add a consumable to the list. If you caught our interview last week on our episode with Hubbs peanuts, then you got the full story of how that that brand came to be almost a dynasty. I'm gonna guess it is a dynasty. It's a family owned business. But, Hubs peanuts are Virginia peanuts. And they're larger peanuts. They're the largest you'll find. And they taste different. They are so good. I can't even believe it. They have a crunch too. I'm gonna list off all of the varieties that you can purchase. They've got salted unsalted chocolate covered honey, red skin, sweet heat, peanut brittle, Happy Hour mix. I mean, there's something for everybody. It really is in this list. If it's a gourmet foods, so it feels special. It comes in this beautiful tin can with the opener taped on top. So you can just crack open the freshness. And it feels like a special consumable. It really does. I was thinking now they have on their site when you're ordering some gift trios. True. And some of them are savory. Some of them are sweet. I think even some of them you have choice on what you want to kind of customize. Yeah, I think that's a great gift. But I was also thinking I really liked to have a couple of little things like this on hand. Yeah. When anybody's going to be drinking any alcohol at my house because you just don't want somebody just drinking. Right? Alcohol, right with no food. Right. So having that either happy hour mix, or, you know, maybe the happy hour mix. And I liked the sweet heat peanuts. They're not hot. Yeah, but it does have a little a little tinge to it. Yeah, I'm having a couple of things like that just near your bar, or whatever. The stands are pretty. They're big. They're big. Yeah. So you're talking like it's gonna last. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah. I want to Yeah, I want to sort of piggyback on that. It may just sound like canopy nuts. No, it's a good size canopy nuts. It would be even a complete gift to somebody that you're for sure. Friends with a teacher gift, whatever. It's a very complete gift. Yeah. So and the packaging is cool with the tin and the little key that pops it out. Yep. Love that. 

Okay, so for someone who is in a dorm or that age group, that college age group, they are always wanting to you know, display things in a cute way. Show their selfies. Just kidding. So I found a company in Birmingham Alabama called dorm decor fun decor has all the cuteness that is dorm ware that did not exist. When I went to college we used milk crate with plywood in between for bookshelves, now they have dorm cubbies and all these things. Anyway, they have a Hang it photo display that I think is so cute for $28 It's basically natural wood. It comes with the mounting hardware to hang. But if you can picture it's like five rows of twine. with these cute little clips where you could clip up photos or postcards or reminders, yeah, it's just really cute to keep things all in one place and change it out frequently, which I feel like at that age, you're always wanting things freshened up. And if they're not familiar, tell them where to print photos at Walgreens or Shutterfly, or snap fit. Maybe even print out some cute photos for them to go with it that anyway, it's $28 I just thought that was a cute little room room add you know who else would possibly love this is someone that's in assisted living or in an extended stay at a nursing home. If if you're allowed to really change it out? Yeah, if it's allowed to mount something on their walls, they're the ones that could probably best use some pictures of loved ones and maybe are receiving cards more than the average person. So so sweet. That might make sense to you. Yeah. 

Well, I for my birthday got a new leather handbag from Patricia Nash. And she is a leather maker out of Knoxville, Tennessee. So I wasn't familiar with her before I picked this handbag out so I went digging on her website. Oh, y'all fell in love y'all. Well, and I thought one of the cutest things that really hooked me in was their photo shoot for their new season of products they did at the Chattanooga Railroad where we took out the train in our visit Chattanooga episode. Oh, fun. So all of that was all too familiar, but they have what is called a boucle, which is just the yarn looped and curled in a tweed look. Yeah, yeah, so they have a whole series of these. It's red, black, and like beige plaid. I specifically loved the satchel, which most of this the satchel and the crossbody, those were both cute. They're 150 and up, but the satchel reminds me, it's very vintage looking of just maybe even something like a pocket book that the Queen would have carried. I love it. It’s very vintage. And so I specifically said pocket book for that reason, just buying in in the middle of your arm. Basically, where it would say it was in the look is inspired by the 50s and 60s and it's very retro material. But it's there just don't think it's classy look at the whole set is super cute. So if you're wanting to dress up an outfit for the season, or gift this to somebody that can appreciate cute fabrics. They will love this. Also on that site, though, were some very affordable octagon map drop earrings. So their dangly earrings showed me these very cute Yeah, they're on sale for $16 right now. So they have a signature map print collection that they have different products from and so these earrings are from that particular product line, but if you've got a travel lover, or just the ones that sell said London Yeah, really cute. Yeah. So it's like vintage maps. And yeah, and these just be drops. It's just super cute. So cute.

Yeah. Okay, next up. I know this might be a little, I don't know cliche. But I know again, I don't know why I'm going to the college age but I know lots of people have called people up college students are sure young adults they're needing to shop for and pretty well known company out of Austin, Texas is Kendra Scott. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think jewelry is a good gift. It's simply even because it always fits right? It's like Yes. Well, Kendra Scott has an it's called the Alyssa pendant necklace. And there's probably 22 color choices. Wow. So wow, surely there's one that this girl you are buying for is going to like. Yeah, I liked the London blue. I thought it was really pretty. It's kind of a aqua blue, Teal blue color. My favorite. Basically. It's $55. Now it depends on what stone they put in there as to the price point. Some of them are $65. Some of them are $80. But I really liked the London blue that was 55 and it's just on a simple gold chain. I just thought it was really pretty and I know it's 15 to 17 inches depending on where you hook it on the chain. Okay, and I know brand matters exactly what I was about to say brand matter. All right, especially young people, yes. Over 5000 reviews with only, I think four and a half out of five stars. Yeah, a lot of reviews. Yeah. So anyway, Kendra Scott has lots of options. But I thought that the Alyssa pendant was pretty.  That’s so fun. 

Well, there is a good amount of people that will be doing some baking this season. And so I wanted to highlight this next gift and I would say, even especially if you're going to be giving this gift early, this would be fun because you could use it. So I wanted to mention Redland cotton aprons. These are out of North Alabama is where their farms are. And

they farm all the cotton there. Yes, everything's weaved here in America likes every step of the process.

They have share sheets, throws, towels, etc. So I wanted to specifically mention these aprons, their red ticking, they have an adult size, which is $55 and a youth size, which is $30. And I just thought this would be third. So budges Yeah, Jane or, or grandma, or just who always need them to whoever. But yeah, especially if you're going to be giving the gift, you know, before Christmas day and you're going to be having the opportunity to actually use it. That would be even more fun. You know, what's fun about red and white taking, too. It's like, actually, you can do it. You can use it all year round, for sure. But it looks so cute at Christmas and Valentine's Day. For some reason. I noticed that Redland cotton had some bedding that was just the red and white ticking. Yes. But you stick a Christmas pillow on your bed and all of a sudden it's holiday. Exactly. Whereas it didn't look with site like that with a white pillow.  Exactly. No, that's a good point.

All right, so my last item I believe is 30. Dude, like you would think I'm buying for guys a lot.  Well guys need recommendations because I think they get the short end of the stick on gift lists most of the time. It's funny because I love shopping for I love some of the guy stuff. Anyway, there's a company out of Atlanta, Georgia called South Hampton. And I really liked this law waxed log carrier. Okay. So if you have a guy that or female doesn't have to be a guy that is bringing in wood from outside to put in the fireplace. Praise The Lord. Waxed log carrier is really cool. It comes in some different colors. I really liked the one that they call olive, I think it looks like brown. Different computer screens look different though. So it might have some green to it.

They have a khaki, but I really liked the I think that's anyway, you can have it monogrammed as well.  You know us southerners like our monograms.They have lots of monogram styles and colors that you can do. But anyhow, that wax log carrier is $59.99. And it looks really cool and hardy. So yeah, check out South of Hampton. And they also have like a shave kit, a garment bag, but I thought for the price point, the wax log carrier looked really nice. Yeah, that's so fun. 

Well, I had something just pop in my head that I'm gonna throw in at the end, even though it's not on my list. A lot of times you and I, Lainie we like to give each other experiences or tickets to events. If I was going to recommend if you have the ability to travel to the south, if there was an experience I was going to say do that at Christmas, I would say gift somebody tickets to go see the Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina at Christmas. My gosh, it is exquisite it is we've actually done a whole episode on the Biltmore we have. So if you don't know the history of it, I'm not going to go into it here. But if you're looking for something that's just, you know, you don't want to give stuff but you're looking for an experience here in the south. That is what I would recommend. Yes, everybody should see it at Christmas, at least once in your life. Well, I think that's gonna do it. We hope this inspired you and got your wheels turn in. And like I said, we have other episodes that we've done in the past that we will link to in the show notes. So if nothing sparked your interest on this one, surely there's something in those other lists that will and we will look forward to just one more episode this season this year to close out the 2022 year. I am not ready to say 2023 yet it just seems so weird but I'm not either we are we're coming into the decorate because I went to a couple of Christmas Open House things in stores yesterday. Oh fun and it got me like Okay, I'm ready to pull out all the all the stuff after Thanksgiving.  I love it. Well, we hope that you all have a wonderful week. And Lainie, Peace be with you.

And also with y’all.