After Searching The Shops and Arts Markets, here’s the 2025 Favorite Things List to Inspire Your Local Gift-Giving This Holiday Season: Things I Actually Use, Re-buy, & Adore.
No junk!
By Deann Armes
I love holiday pillowcases. Send your guests or little ones to bed dreaming of sugarplums on Christmas Eve. These sweet edges are hand-embroidered. Spotted at Kaffe Mercantile on 26th Street.
For your beer and spirits-loving, or retro quirky someone in your life, there's Salt N Hops. I love these cocktail-themed stained-glass ornaments made locally by Chelbie Hunger Glassworks.
For your friends and family who love a good diner breakfast, send them to Ogden's iconic No Frills Diner on Historic 25th Street with a gift card.
The Diamond Room has simple classics, a solitary pendant or pair of stud earrings, for $100.
The coffee advent calendar is back at Grounds for Coffee on 25th Street. I'm still hoping to find this under my tree. Another great coffee-lover gift, coffee subscriptions, are now available.
Someone out there needs this vintage hat. Is it you? Find shoes, gloves, bags, dresses, sweaters, and more to look fabulously chic this season. Mariposa on 25th Street is my new favorite consignment shop.
I love Rovali's most at Christmastime in Ogden because it's where I took my kids before the Holiday Electric Parade when they were little. This Italian eatery on Historic 25th Street for more than 20 years feels like home, and they have the best house-made desserts. Share your own favorite local restaurants (and support them) by giving gift cards!
Soaps and lotions are always nice to receive, and Beehive Naturals is a great local alternative to Bath & Body Works - far superior, in my book. The store is full of locally-made gifts.
All the things from Lisa at Lavender Menace Ink! Old vinyl-cover notebooks (blank, grid, lined paper...and you can also custom order), gift bows made from vinyl covers, and pizza gift boxes (fits 7 records) are brilliant. Available at Lavender Vinyl record shop on Historic 25th Street.
Petal Puffs by Wild Meraki. "Snuff" said. But, if smoking botanicals isn't your thing choose from a delightful assortment of high vibe witchy herbals, all handmade, in Carli's enchanted new retail shop next to Salt & Hops on 27th and Washington Boulevard.
Lene' Marie Chocolates is a gift to 25th Street since they opened this year; my mom doesn't miss it when she visits from St. George, and leaves us with caramel apples or fudge every time. The shop is filled with ready-to-go holiday baskets of locally-made chocolates and caramels. I love the ornament and chocolate trains. There's a Golden Spike chocolate, too! So very O-Town.
The Salted Roots flavored salts - Thai Basil, Whisky Sugar, Breakfast Salt, Red Wine Salt, and more bring more fun to the table. Available at Urban Prairie store along with many other of my locally-made favorite food and body care products. New tote bags to wrap it all up in, too!
Making the list again this year, Glow, Warrior, and Goddess are three herbal tinctures, handmade in Ogden that I can't live without. Khroma Herbal Apothecary is also home to artisan gifts like handmade incense, decor, teas...and an incredible rotating collection of vintage consignment - I almost always find something. The latest, a bright-colored flannel Pendleton.
Match your person with their perfect candle. I spy Jeff Goldbloom. I hope he's not taken. I gave my son a Sabrina Carpenter for his birthday. He loved it. The Weber State Downtown store, on 23rd and Washington, is a nice retail shop with a Daily Rise Coffee. Great assortment of Cotopaxi packs, WSU attire, local goods, and tech gear.
These handmade dolls make the list every year. I still love dolls. I'm still hoping to find one under the tree! I want one of those homey late 80s mugs, too. Spotted at Kaffe Merc on 26th.
The season wouldn't be complete without Caffe Ibis holiday flavors. Jingle Bell Java and Cranberry Creme are my go-to, but Bourbon Truffle, new this year, is a new fave! Available at The Mercantile and Kaffe Merc.
The Wizards make the list again. I can't get enough of them. I already a few in my home, in a plant, window sill, and on a shelf...so now I'm gifting them. Pair them with a plant from The Jungle Room for your forest, tree-lovin' nature friends. Hand-carved by Wizards of the Wood.
An embroidery project for the 2026 calendar year by Hey Be Fab! This one I really want (I hope my kids are reading this). I'd love to take this to Christina's Stitch N Bitch afternoons at Kaffe Merc, or to work on while watching old movies this winter. Embroidered watercolor kit with all the supplies for each month.
For more gift ideas, check out last year’s Favorite Things list, our Shop Local Ogden page, and visit these local shops to find your own favorite things: Art Box, Atlas Tea Company, Ccrafts, Dancing Moose, Dirt Roads Couture, Graywhale Record Store, Great Harvest 25th Street, Grounds for Coffee (25th Street and Harrison Blvd. locations), The Jungle Room, Honey and Lime, Kaffe Mercantile on 26th, Khroma Herbal Apothecary, Kitchen Kneads, Lavender Vinyl, Lene Marie Chocolates, The Local Artisan Collective, Mariposa on 25th Street, McClaren’s Collectibles, The Mercantile, The Monarch shops: Sage Art Utah, The Eco Location, Sweetpea & Sawdust, and more (see their pages for hours), The Needlepoint Joint, Ogden’s Own Distillery, Pitmaster Supply Co., Queen Bee Bookery, Reborn Vintage, The Romantics Archive, Salt and Hops, Shepherd’s Bush, Underground Books, Uptown Cheapskate, Weber State Downtown Store, Wild Meraki.