Mural Credit: Ricky Loves Painting. You’ll find it on 6th Ave.
This list of ways to give in Tacoma is organized into Buy Local and Local Love sections, but in most cases they’re one and the same. Local businesses are supported by your purchase while offering opportunities to give right at the same time. A choir made of refugees and USA-born residents of our city offers a concert to celebrate peace. A gift card drive supports women at the YWCA, a diaper drive comforts local families, $1 given transforms into 2 meals for a food insecure household. There’s even a gift that cares for the environment and local birds. And you’ll find the fun of a Christmas movie marathon at Washington’s oldest continuously operating theater as well as holiday markets featuring local makers, fresh wreaths, and holiday treats.
This list isn’t about shopping sprees; it’s about being out in the community face-to-face with the people working hard in their small, local, and family-owned businesses. And it’s about giving that is beyond shopping and carefully wrapped packages, giving that cares for our unknown neighbors. We’ve said it before, “Bah-humbug to bootstraps!” We all need someone else—people known and unknown—watching out for us, someone to share a coat or a meal, a community to rally around us and keep us warm. So take a look at the list; see if you can find a way to give that supports our local community, local economy, and local relationships.
If you’re not shopping this season, or don’t celebrate with gift-giving in December, tuck some of these ideas away for a time when you’re seeking to celebrate someone in your life, or need an outlet for showing your love to community.
Image from Urban Grace
Image from Tacoma Sunday Market
1. Buy Local - Visit Holiday Markets
If you’re interested in buying vintage, choosing a fresh wreath, snapping a photo with Santa, donating toys, finding locally made arts and crafts, and tasting small-batch local treats get out to a holiday market this December! Follow these links to learn more:
Friday-Sunday, December 1st - 3rd
Holiday Artisans Market at Urban Grace in Downtown Tacoma
Saturday, December 2nd
21st Annual Meeker Holiday Bazaar at Meeker Middle School in NE Tacoma
Holiday Christmas Market at the Pavilion in Downtown Puyallup
Saturday-Sunday, December 2nd & 3rd
Tidefest at Gig Harbor High School
Image from the Black Night Market
Saturdays, December 2nd & 9th
Downtown Holiday Haul Crawl - this isn’t a traditional market, but a fun way to support small downtown businesses, with fun photo booths, special offers, and festive carriage rides
Sunday, December 3rd
Tacoma Sunday Market Holiday Edition at Courthouse Square in Downtown Tacoma
Saturday, December 9th
Black Night Market - A Very Merry Market at the Tacoma Armory downtown
Saturday & Sunday, December 16th & 17th
Tacoma Night Market & Sunday Drag Brunch at Freighthouse Square
Image from YWCA Pierce County
2. Local Love - YWCA Holiday Giving - Empower Families to Shop for The Holidays
The YWCA Pierce County is reaching out for Holiday Giving support for their clients. The best way to give to the people seeking safety and next steps at the YWCA this season is by giving a gift card from these shops by December 12th:
Visa gift card
Walmart
Amazon
Target
Fred Meyer
Safeway
As the YWCA says, “For survivors of domestic violence, one of the most empowering feelings often comes from being able to make decisions on their own.” With these gift cards, people can have the fun and fulfillment of shopping for their loved ones this season. Send (or drop-off) physical gift cards to the YWCA by Friday, December 16th and they’ll distribute to clients. Find the details for the Holiday Gift Program here.
A glimpse of the books awaiting discovery at Teaching Toys.
3. Buy Local - Give the Gift of Reading & Support a Local Book Shop
A selection of new books at King’s in the Stadium District.
Giving a book is giving an adventure in the mind. If it’s a book you’ve read and loved it can also be a gift of future conversation, or shared experience, an invitation into who you are and what you love. Giving a book from a local book shop supports a small business, helps local employees and shop owners check-off the items on their grocery list and ensures those bookstores will still be there when you’re ready to browse. To take a full bookstore tour of Tacoma with food and drink suggestions along the way, visit our Tacoma Bookshop Tour. For now, we’ll recommend:
King’s Books - both new and used books in stock, plus order any book for delivery or pick-up
Teaching Toys & Books (Tacoma & Gig Harbor) - for babies, children, and young readers
Parable - both new and used books in stock along with lots of gifts from local entrepreneurs, plus order any book for delivery or pick-up
Curious Bear Toy & Book Shop - for babies, children, and young readers
Hi-Voltage Books - new books for all ages with plenty in stock and more they can order in by special request
If you visit Teaching Toys or Curious Bear you’re almost guaranteed to find some other toys, puzzles, games, or art supplies for young ones in your life along with some good reading.
Image from Windermere Abode
4. Local Love - Give Mom’s and Babies the comfort of dry diapers
It’s the 4th Annual Step by Step Diaper Drive at Windermere Abode lead by our warm-hearted colleagues Kylee, LaTosha, and Shelley. Learn more about how Step by Step empowers families.
Donate Funds via Venmo
LaTosha, Shelley, and Kylee can do the shopping for you. They’ll make a bulk order and pick-up diapers from Costco in a big truck. We personally vouch for trusting these three with any funds donated to them.
@kyleehillhomes
@shelley-heck
@LaToshaThomas777
Donate Items
Diapers - Sizes newborn & 3-6 months
Wipes (lots of them!)
Onesies - sizes 3-12 months
Warm Pajamas - sizes 9 months up to 5T
Small Stuffies without buttons or small pieces
Deliver diapers or other goods to our Windermere Abode office in Old Town: 2200 N 30th St, Suite 102.
Image from the Blue Mouse Theatre
5. Buy Local - Give Festive Nostalgia/Friend & Family Time at the Blue Mouse Theatre
Give the gift of a few hours enjoying silly, classic, and goofy Christmas movies. It’s a Christmas Movie Marathon at the Blue Mouse Theatre! Bring a gift for Toys for Tots and catch a different Christmas film each day of the marathon:
Tuesday, December 5th, 7 pm: Elf
Wednesday, December 6th, 7 pm: The Polar Express
Thursday, December 7th, 7 pm It’s A Wonderful Life
Friday, December 15th, 10 pm: Krampus (for Friday Fright Night)
Don’t forget the Blue Mouse is hosting a Toys for Tots drive too, so share the love and bring a new unwrapped toy when you come for the movie.
Image from Emergency Food Network
6. Local Love - Give the comfort of food on every table with Emergency Food network
We celebrate with food in this season, and need it every day in every season. It’s true—but isn’t right—that 1 in 10 people in Pierce County is food insecure. Among our children, 52% of public school students (70,000 kids) in the county qualify for free or reduced-cost lunch. The good news is you can be part of putting food on every table even if what you have to spare is $1.00.
Every dollar donated to Emergency Food Network becomes two meals. $1=2 meals!!! A lot of partnerships, organization, and volunteering goes into making that work. Share a meal today.
If you’re feeling organized and want to include family, friends, and coworkers, you could host a food/fund drive now or in the new year. EFN makes it easy!
Manifesto Coffee in Hilltop
7. Buy Local - Give Beans & Leaves, the Gift of good Morning Brews
Curran Coffee in Old Town
Tacoma is home to a growing group of coffee roasters and cafes. A couple of independent tea shops are excellent choices for tea enthusiasts too. These cafes are scattered all across the city, so go on a treasure hunt fueled by the sampling you’re encouraged to do along the way. Support local roasters and tea shops by buying a bag of beans, some loose leaf tea blends, or a gift card.
Manifesto Coffee Roasters - Hilltop
Valhalla Coffee - 6th Ave
Bluebeard Coffee Roasters - 6th Ave
Olympia Coffee - Proctor
Lander Coffee - Three Bridges
LUX Coffee - McKinley Hill
Beware Coffee - McKinley Hill
Common Ground Coffee - Downtown
The Method Skateboards & Coffee - Downtown
Campfire Coffee - Downtown
Curran Coffee - Old Town
Civic Roasters - online at at pop-up events
Mad Hat Tea - new Dome District shop (no longer on Commerce St)
Mimi’s Teas - Fircrest
Image from Tahoma Audubon Society
8. Local Love - Give Conservation & Creature Care - Tahoma Audubon Society
Maybe you love birds. Maybe you love someone who loves birds, or creeks, or meadows, or natural habitats for our neighbor creatures. In that case, it could be really sweet to give the gift of a membership to the Tahoma Audubon Society.
Choose monthly membership starting at $5/month, or annual memberships start at $30/year ($25/year for seniors and military)
As the Tahoma Audubon Society says, “Your membership with Tahoma Audubon connects people throughout Pierce County with birds, other wildlife and their habitats through education, conservation and recreation. Thank you!” What a gift! See all the membership levels and what membership in the society includes on their membership page.
Image from Lauda
9. Buy Local - Support Tacoma’s Small Businesses
Image from Cocobolo
There are a lot of places to spend money. They’re all over our phones and computers, they fill malls and shopping centers, they’re endless. Nobody needs more ways to spend money! But, if you’re giving gifts now or throughout the year, consider supporting a small business, one run by just a handful of dedicated people, one where you might even be conversing with the shop owner while you choose a gift.
The idea here isn’t to advocate more spending, but rather to recommend a few small, local businesses—some of which are women-owned and BIPOC-owned—in which the experience of shopping can feel like a pleasure, rather than an errand.
There are days in Tacoma when I stop by a local shop for a gift, then into a restaurant for a gift card, and when I enter those businesses I’m likely to be greeted by name. That can change my whole day, and the whole experience of spending time and money to give a gift. It’s not about me feeling important, it’s about belonging, and it’s also a signal that the people in those businesses have a sense of belonging too. I think shopping where we live, from people rather than corporations, helps build community. I invite you to experience that.
Image from La Paloma Tacoma
This is not a comprehensive list by any means, but just a selection of some Tacoma small businesses run by people we know, or feel good supporting.
Vessel Vintage Collection
Scorpio Rising Vintage
Fibers, Etc. Tacoma
Tacoma Glassblowing Studio
Image from Adorned Abode at Freighthouse Square
Image from Paper Luxe in Fircrest
Lauda - Downtown - Every purchase goes a long way in supporting this small and very thoughtfully stocked small business. Go in search of greeting cards, the perfect pen (and delightful pouches for storing those pens), an array of day planners, journals, attractive desktop tools, beautiful paints, even some home goods like woven blankets and cashmere mitts.
Cocobolo - Downtown/St Helens District - Sister-owned, carefully curated apparel, supporting small, environmentally conscious brands and vintage, with their own house line designed and sewn in Tacoma. Along with apparel you’ll find beautifully packaged soaps, perfume, jewelry, and incense.
La Paloma Tacoma - North End/Three Bridges District - This is a beautiful shop. It’s beautiful because it’s run by family, because the family wraps around community and celebrates people, and because they choose such an eclectic mis of items for the shop. Enjoy plants, pottery, small press publications, vintage goods, non-toxic nail polish, watercolor paints, books, candles, stationary, beaded jewelry, and all manner of unexpected selections. Stop in for Lazy Sundays and find fresh baked good, seasonal flowers, friendly faces.
Vessel Vintage Collection - Antique Row/Downtown - A place for the mid-century modern enthusiast, for ones who love a small space lovingly arranged in which each item shines. Find cocktail glasses, tumblers, candle holders, furniture, tableware, and decor for those who treasure treasures. It’s colorful and clean and never a disappointment.
Scorpio Rising - 6th Avenue - The place to go for vintage 70s calico, 90s flannels, graphic tees, worn-in denim, woolen car blankets, and patchwork quilts that are faded just right.
Fibers, Etc. - Downtown - Where the knitters go for inspiration, necessary supplies, replacement needles, and the widest array of yarn anywhere near here. Where those who love knitters can go to give the most beautiful lace weight alpaca that was ever spun, a sturdy hand-dyed worsted just right for mittens, a tweedy wool straight from Donegal for the perfect winter cap. Exploration is encouraged and help is on hand.
Tacoma Glassblowing Studio - Downtown - Family owned and operated since 2006 TGS is both a storefront with an array of blown glass ornaments, jewelry, and trinkets more colorful than a candy shop and a studio for learning and practicing the art of blowing glass. TGS participates in the extremely beloved and highly anticipated tradition of Monkeyshines each year as part of celebrating the Lunar New Year. You can pre-order next year’s commemorative Year of the Dragon candle cup, a purchase that supports the making of free-to-the-finder glass art hidden all over Tacoma during the lunar new year festivities.
Adorned Abode - Freighthouse Square - Cozy, thoughtful gifts for the home and beyond, stocking stuffers, and lots of edible treats like caramels, tea, smoked salmon, and popcorn, with online, curbside, or in-person-by-appointment shopping with a special Gift Box Concierge Service (ask Benita!).
Paper Luxe - Fircrest - A wide array of stationary, greeting cards, and writing implements give this shop its name, but it’s much more than paper. Stocked with jewelry, travel mugs, candles, journals, home goods, holiday decor, ornaments, and party supplies, think of this as a “general store” full of appealing gifts. Head next door to their sister shop: The Curious Bear Toy & Book Shop for games, books, stuffed animals, art supplies, coloring books, baby gear, and lots of toys.
Image from Tacoma Refugee Choir
10. Local Love - Celebrate Community, Belonging, Music & Peace with Tacoma Refugee Choir
Tacoma Refugee Choir invites you to their 3rd annual “Let There Be Peace On Earth” Concert on Saturday, December 16th at 2:30 pm in the Mt. Tahoma HS Auditorium. The event is free, but those who are able are encouraged to support choir activities with a $25 donation. Please feel welcome no matter what and register here to save your seats.
This year, TRC is joined by HraiMore, bringing traditional Ukrainian music and culture to the performance.
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