Blue Genie Art Bazaar has long been one of my favorite places to shop during the holidays. They moved into their current location off Airport Blvd, across from the ACC Highland campus a few years ago. Did you know over 400 artists apply to be a vendor each year? About 200 are chosen and all are local to Austin or regional.

What I love about Blue Genie Art Bazaar is shopping for many local artists in one place! I’ve discovered many of my favorite artists/companies and found a lot of great gifts at the bazaar. Where you spend your money makes a difference, so I encourage you to keep your money local.

Blue Genie Art Bazaar also has an online shop for those who don’t want to shop in person. You can have it shipped to you or pick it up in person.

Ok, I’m sure you’re curious about my top picks! I could easily find something at every booth, but here are 29 booths you might like.

For crafty fun:

• A Brighter Year – coloring books and things
• Mountains of Thread – embroidery kits

For fun things:

• Kathyphantastic – stickers, magnets, and cards
• Jollie Ollie – hair things, drink sleeves, and more
• Cake Shack – fake cake

For art and art goods:

• Felice House – Western and nature art
• Regone Studios – prints of your favorite Austin restaurants
• Tawa Threads Co – colorful art inspired by National Parks
• Victrola Designs – cool prints
• Live Oak Glassworks – stained glass
• Kimball Prints – funny dish towels
• Wanderlight – light up nature scenes

For gifts that are food or food-related:

• Madhu Chocolate sells chocolate and I love their chai tea
• Southern Concoctions makes cocktail kits
• KESSHO has Asian-inspired bean-to-bar chocolate

For wearables that aren’t jewelry:

• Espacio ATX leather goods and hats
• Popfizzcheers for hair accessories

For house decor:

• Horsemen Co is for plant lovers
• Authenticaa makes metal ornaments that come with cute cards
• Boyd’s Custom Fabrication for candle holders and woodwork
• The Gardener’s Wife has dried flowers
• StipplePOP has some very cute ornaments

For jewelry: 

• Rebekah Vinyard Jewelry – delicate statement pieces
• Mimi’s Origamis – folded origami
• Asa and Rae – pretty clay
• Aylsbury Street – clay jewelry
• Charity Ridpath – recycled plastic folders
• Indigo & Lily Co – pressed flowers

For things that smell good:

• Latika – soap and lotion

If you want more ideas, here’s the full list of exhibitors.

One last bonus: there is free parking available in the nearby parking lots! Hoorah!

I hope you shop locally this holiday season!

Need more gift ideas?

• See this previous Blue Genie Art Bazaar post for more vendors.
• Check out my BIG Holiday Gift Guide!

The post Local Holiday Shopping at Blue Genie Art Bazaar appeared first on Fearless Captivations.

It’s one of my favorite places to shop because they curate the vendors and showcase hundreds of local Austin and regional artists and artisans. May Market Fridays through Sundays through May 29, 2023, so put it on your schedule to stock up on gifts. It’s free to attend and they have lots of free parking.

I visited the first weekend the market opened and spotted some of my favorite vendors and some new favorites! I won’t share what I ended up purchasing because most are gifts I’ll soon give, but I know you’ll find plenty of options as I did.

Here are 18 artists/booths to check out when you go to May Market.

Espacio Handmade

This artist is focused on leather products, like keychains, luggage tags, and plant holders. I love the clever ways they incorporate leather.

Little Wonder Co

I love how this artist takes their illustrations and puts them on fun things like tote bags and pennant flags. I especially like their Austin Is Cool book for kids.

KathyPhantastic

Of course, I have to give a shout-out to my friend Kathy of KathyPhantastic. She watercolors designs and makes them into stickers, magnets, note cards, art prints, and tea towels. She always has something new! I love that many designs are Asian-related, like a bowl of ramen or an egg tart.

A Brighter Year

A twist on coloring books, A Brighter Year has coloring stickers and mini coloring books. It’s a great activity option for kids.

MGS Arts

I loved their wood ornaments that look like stained glass. It’s a cute decoration!

Danika Ostrowski

These natural landscapes are beautiful, but I also love that they’ve been made into puzzles.

Freeleaf

I was loving this artist focused on rope. The hanging woven decor pieces vary in size and the woven plant pot holders are a great decor piece.

Rebekah Vinyard

A Blue Genie regular, Rebekah Vinyard’s jewelry is minimalistic yet statement. I like her ear jackets.

Victrola Design

I love Victrola Design’s screenprinted designs. The art would look great hung up or notecards would be a nice surprise in the mail.

Landry McMeans

I’ve long admired these art prints. The triptych sets would be a great statement piece.

Nohemi Wood Designs

I love this wood art! It’s made with various colored layers pieced together.

A Real Peach

I loved these art prints of flora and fauna.

The Happy Hooker

Maybe one day I’ll learn to crochet, but until then, I’ll greatly admire The Happy Hooker’s collection of goods. How cute are the ice cream keychains or the flower earrings?

Que Rico

So many funny designs at Que Rico. You’ll find them on t-shirts, koozies, mugs, bandanas, and hats.

Kaleidobloom

This artist plants flowers in her garden and then makes them into art. You’ll find originals and prints here.

Studio Orch

This artist creates her art through printing. Love the cutesy designs like the VW vans and animal butts.

Frankie Jean

While Frankie Jean does have their own shop, you can shop the popular hats here! They also have more than hats – art prints, banners, and tote bags also.

Sweet Thyme Design

So many fun gifts at this booth. You’ll find embroidery kits, decorative spoons, colorful bandanas, earrings, and more.

Go visit to see all of the vendors! There are many more options for art, jewelry, and more.

Blue Genie Art Bazaar May Market
Friday-Sunday, April 28 – May 29, 2023
6100 Airport Blvd, Austin, TX 
https://bluegenieartbazaar.com/may-market/

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More and more, couples are turning to a “honeyfund” or requesting cash gifts for their honeymoon or a house payment rather than traditional household items. Proper etiquette followers will tell you asking for cash is a big no. They’ll argue that it’s almost like you’re begging for money! But times are changing and cash gifts are becoming a more common practice.

The majority of our registry requests cash, so here are three reasons why I think cash funds for wedding gifts (or any type of occasion) are not tacky.

1. Wedding traditions are changing.

Wedding gifts originated from the tradition of dowries, which were given to the bride’s family in exchange for the bride. This evolved to gifting the bride a few items she would need as a new wife. The modern wedding registry was created by a department store in 1924. #commercialization While some still include things like casserole dishes, others may add things like houseplants or a rug.

Gifting cash is already a part of Chinese tradition. Red envelopes are kept on hand so that when the occasion calls, they easily slip some cash in and voila, they have a gift! Red envelopes, which also symbolize luck, are a typical Chinese wedding gift. It’s my family’s go-to gift for birthdays and Christmas too.

2. We’re older and minimalist.

Wedding traditions are evolving because many couples are getting married later in life. If we were straight out of college, I could see us needing the basics to build our first home together. My fiancé and I are in our thirties, so we’ve had time and money to find the home furnishings and appliances we need and want. We’re also pretty minimalist, so we try to avoid extras of most things and not replace things unless it’s absolutely necessary.

A wedding cash fund allows couples to use the gift how they need, either by paying for their honeymoon, putting it towards a house payment, or saving for future kids. Gifting the opportunity to go on dates or save for a future luxury or emergency makes more sense than a kitchen appliance that will go unused.

If there are unique and personalized gifts, like an heirloom, I understand why gifting a physical item is meaningful. But if it’s a nice yet random thing you picked up on sale (see my mom’s gift closet) and you’re gifting it so that you’re not empty-handed, count me out! I would rather receive a $2 greeting card with a hand-written heartfelt message.

3. Websites are making it less awkward and more fun.

Since I knew our registry would be mostly a cash fund, I looked into companies that would allow this option and have the lowest fees to do so. Zola takes the lowest percentage (currently 2.5%) of the cash gifts guests give through the website. Zola also has over 50,000 items in their registry database (sort of like if you had an Amazon registry), so we added a few physical items too. The registry interface makes the cash fund items stand out less and gives us space to explain what they are and why we want them. Our registry is focused on funding our honeymoon to Indonesia (scuba diving, food tours, flights, etc.) and activities for when we’re back to normal life in Austin (massages, dates).

Conclusion

Some people might argue that cash is impersonal and I can understand how that feels because it is. But with gift-giving, my practical sense is strongest and I would rather gift something I absolutely know will be useful. Cash is still king and I think a guest’s presence at a wedding should be more meaningful than what gift they bring.

You’ll hear me say this a lot in my wedding posts: it’s YOUR wedding so do what you want. Choose your battles and do what feels right for you.

What do you think about cash funds for gifts? Are there any items from your registry you loved?

See all my wedding posts here.

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Gift giving is sometimes difficult for me. I have trouble picking gifts out on a deadline and think a lot about the usefulness of the gift (my minimalism tendencies!) and if the person will really want it. That’s why I like the following options. Not only will they wow the receiver because they’re cool products, but they also do good and provide for those in need. There’s a thoughtful gift for everyone on your list.

Buy One, Give One

One of the most popular ways to give back is by buying products that benefit others. Some companies, like TOMS, donates a product when you buy a product. Others donate a percentage of sales.

Here are a handful of organizations/businesses/shops to explore:

• TOMS
• Warby Parker
• RED
• Noonday
• The Little Market
  
• Sseko Designs
• Just Love Coffee Roasters
  
• Out of Print
  
• FEED
  
• Joyn
  
• Hand in Hand
• Bombas

I also recommend looking up your favorite non-profits and seeing if they have branded goods for sale. For example, Heifer is an organization where you can buy physical products like ornaments or gift items in honor of someone, like a goat for a family.

You could also donate to the gift recipient’s favorite charity and gift a meaningful letter or something small. Some of the businesses above also have gift cards if you can’t decide on a specific product.

If you’re buying gifts, why not make an impact on other people’s lives while you’re at it?

What is your favorite business that gives back through consumer purchases?

P.S. Looking for more gift ideas? I would recommend some of these ideas!

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