Go Local This Holiday Season

While FarmRaiser is most cued in when it comes to local food, we want to encourage you to go local with any gift you might be purchasing this year. That includes food of course, but also toys, art, jewelry, books, and so much more! By supporting a local artisan or local business, more of your money spent will stay right in your community – brightening both the lives of your gift-receivers and those people who own businesses nearby!

Here are a few pro tips and suggestions for supporting more local businesses this holiday season!

1) Keep an Eye on our Facebook Page: From now until Christmas Eve, we’ll be posting gift ideas from our incredible FarmRaiser vendors. Maybe you’ll be inspired to buy what is posted or look for a similar business in your own community!

2) Shop Downtown: Downtown shopping districts are often made up of locally owned stores. While the products won’t all be made locally, supporting a locally owned business still ensures more money is staying in your community!
3) Visit your Local Farmers Market: More and more farmers markets are staying open all year round or hosting special holiday markets – make sure to take advantage as markets are often a great place for gifts! Value-added products like jams and soaps are commonly found at markets and make great gifts, but you can also think outside the box! A few vegetable farmers at our local market allow you to purchase credit in their stall — a gift of farm credit means weeks of market shopping without needing any cash!

4) Go to Art Fairs: Every community has one or more (I think we have 20 or more!) holiday art fairs with vendors of all types. These are members of your community who have special talents to create beautiful or useful products which make great gifts! Often a community will have a variety of these events, find one that you think will fit your style!

5) Make Big Box Stores your Last Resort: Sometimes it is so easy to stop in a big box store that sells everything under the sun to find your holiday gifts — consider saving that option as a last resort this year, visiting locally owned stores first!

Personally, this week before Christmas always seems to be the time when I finally start rushing around to buy gifts for those special people in my life. The options for holiday gifts are seemingly endless, so we thought you might appreciate this ultimate last minute local gift guide! We have a full week until Christmas arrives, and plenty of opportunity to buy some local gifts!