Edmonds Kind of Play: Last-minute gift ideas; holiday trolley invites you to shop local Saturday

The Edmonds Holiday Trolley runs Dec. 23 for those last-minute shopping trips.

From my seat near the front window of Chanterelle last Saturday, I saw a lot of holiday goings-on in Edmonds. With the early sunset contributing to the dark clouds, the bundled-up shoppers, and the kids waiting for the Holiday Trolley outside the Edward Jones location on Main Street, it was clear the holidays were in full swing. After lunch was over and with winter break being on deck, I took the opportunity to keep my “hands-free” (read: “no kids”) time going and walk around downtown Edmonds. I ducked into a couple of my favorite stores and realized that after close to 13 years as an Edmonds resident, there are some stores I’d yet to check out.

First, I was able to find parking on 4th, closer to Dayton, around 1:30 p.m. last Saturday after being nervous I wouldn’t be able to find anything close to Chanterelle, my original destination. As I was leaving, tucking my grilled chicken and brie sandwich and white elephant present into my purse, I headed east up Main Street knowing Santa often fills stockings with items from Teri’s Toybox, 420 Main St. This is a great destination if you are looking for a gift and need some help. You can truly go in with an age range and come out with a gift-wrapped, age-appropriate winner. It is also a good place for stocking stuffers, which is a term you are likely to be inundated with this week whether it be the commercials during “Elf” or the ads on the side of your Facebook feed. Teri’s has “Thinking Putty,” stuffed hedgehogs, and a rack with accessories from small watches to things that attach to kids shoes. We got our boys their Corolle baby dolls and train tracks at Teri’s and some of our favorite games. You can reach Teri’s toybox at 425-774-3190.

Baking items at The Wooden Spoon.

After Teri’s Toybox, I headed to The Wooden Spoon, 104 5th Ave. S., which is a new frequent destination of ours as my youngest has taken an interest in baking. I’m not a baker, but the more episodes of “Holiday Baking Championship” I get under my belt, the more I recognize the baking tools — are they even called tools?!? — on the shelves and racks in the store. Since he requested both a tool belt and a Harry Potter Apron from Santa, I have experienced a steep learning curve in both Lowe’s and The Wooden Spoon this season. This packed shop has a huge cookie cutter selection, all the fancy decorations seen on baking shows, and both practical and gift-level options. I left with some cookie cutters and a powder sugar dusting gadget whose name I could give you if freeing it from the deep dark corner of my closet wouldn’t ring the “She’s definitely got presents in her closet” alarm. If you have any questions, you can contact The Wooden Spoon at 425-775-3344.

ARTspot offers gifts galore.

Having made a purchase, I intended to head back to my car, but I ended up having a lot more to see. ARTspot Edmonds, 408 Main St., was brightly lit and is filled with so many colorful items, I decided to stop in. Last year, Santa filled stockings with ARTspot pearlescent watercolors and mini canvases. On top of a candy bowl with peppermints, I saw a lot of gift options at ARTspot Edmonds. Frida Kahlo-based art projects, fancy pens and colored pencils are among lots of other items they offer for any level artist.

This has always been a comfortable place to stop into even though I am not an artist. The staff has been friendly to me even though I don’t know much about most of what they offer. If you prefer experiential gifts they also offer classes for adults held down the street at Cole Art Studio, 107 5th Ave. S. If you have questions or need more information, you can reach ARTSpot at 425-640-6408.

As I headed back to my car on 4th, I realized I’d never walked into the pair of businesses on the west side of the street between Main and Dayton. I stopped into the Edmonds Hobby Shop, 120 4th Ave. S. It was like stepping into another time, which is dramatic, but the bells and whistles they likely offer are actually bells and whistles for trains and not dimensions on a screen or memory capacity. The man behind the counter was working on a model train while I looked around. He answered my questions and showed me the kind of tracks the model trains run on. He also directed me to the model train at the Edmonds Historical Museum as an example. They even sell that mossy, grassy material you see in most model train setups but weren’t sure where to find something like that. In addition to model trains and accessories, they sell model sets of Star Wars and Star Trek ships, among lots of other boxes filled with buildable models. In looking up their phone number, 425-774-7891, I was reminded that they also sell model rockets!

Next door to the Edmonds Hobby Shop is a beautiful turn-of-the-century-house-turned-store called Bountiful Home and Nursery, 122 4th Ave. S. It is worth a stop here just to experience the creaking of the floors. After remarking how happy those noises make me, the man running the shop let me take a trip up and down the stairs to take a peek at the layout and experience the rustic noises of the beautifully built home. As a shop, Bountiful Home is filled with all kinds of holiday options from cards, to really fancy wrapping paper, to peppermint spoons and stirrers for hot chocolate. For more information on Bountiful Home and Nursery, call 425-775-3800.

The Holiday Trolley will run this Saturday, Dec. 23 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.. This free trolley picks up at each of the eight stops every half hour. We saw it run by two or three times during our meal at Chanterelle and it was varying degrees of full. With Saturday’s forecast being a mix of sun and clouds with a high of 39, the wait at the trolley stops should be dry! For more information and a full list of stops visit EdmondsHolidays.com.

— By Jennifer Marx

Jen Marx, an Edmonds mom of two young boys, is always looking for a fun place to take the kids that makes them tired enough to go to bed on time. You can find her on Twitter trying to make sense of begging kids to ”just eat the mac n cheese”

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