SEATTLE — Our South Lake Union gift guide tour starts with a home-grown product with a huge local following.
"Welcome to glassybaby. You're here at our South Lake Union location," Tracy Morgan, president of glassybaby said. "Our founder started this out of her garage 20 years ago. We have over 450 colors available throughout the year."
You can not only get glassybaby's at their South Lake Union location, but you can also watch them being made at their hot shop.
"It takes four glassblowers to make one and there's a lot of love that goes into it. It's two layers of clear glass and a layer of glass,” Morgan said. "What also makes it unique is you can buy five glassybaby's and none of them will look the same because they're all made by hand, and they're trimmed by hand. So, one might be a little taller, shorter, fatter, skinner and that also makes it unique."
And with five dollars from each purchase going to charity, it's like giving two gifts in one.
"They truly are one of a kindness."
Just around the corner from glassybaby, you'll find another store making gifts by hand.
"Hardmill is a company my brother and I started together here in Seattle," Ryan Barrie, co-founder of Hardmill said. "We started making aprons in our garage and it's all kind of grown from that."
The retailer has made a name for themselves for making products that are made to last.
"We try to find the highest quality materials we can in the products we produce. About 95 percent is made locally,” Barrie said. “We try to have our products appeal to a wide range of people. If they like high-quality rugged stuff, we probably have something for them."
Some of the most popular items they make and sell are their tote bags and aprons.
"We have two different styles of aprons. We have our wax canvas apron also our non-wax canvas aprons that can be machine washed. Our totes have two different styles. We have our leather ones and our wax canvas ones."
"People love our stuff, they just keep coming back for more, buying things to gift to their friends and family."
The last stop on our gift guide tour is on the banks of Lake Union at the Museum of History and Industry gift shop, MOHAI Mercantile.
"The museum is all about Seattle history, so we want to keep everything in the mercantile local," Vanessa Nourozi from MOHAI said. “We sell more than 100 different items from different vendors, authors, artists. All kinds of stuff."
That stuff includes several things hardcore locals would love.
"We have the Seattle RainGlobes. We have the J.P. Patches bobbleheads."
"We have a wide variety of items from indigenous artists. My favorite is the native works by Chief Seattle Club, they're these beautiful earnings."
While buying a ticket to support the museum would be nice, it's not a requirement to shop at their store.
"You can check out the MOHAI Mercantile without paying museum admission as well as the cafe."
So if you still have things to check off your holiday gift list, South Lake Union has lots of places to get things under the tree.
Dec. 10 – 12 is Shop SLU weekend, where select retailers will be offering SLU branded totes and treats like hot cocoa and s'mores.
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