Give your best Galentine a Texas Hill Country-style gift, trip or li’l something to sip this February 14. (Spoiler: They’re perfect for your Valentine, too!)
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We looked high and low, near and far and, yes, even invited our beloved readers to weigh in, for our first-ever Galentine gift guide. So, we’re ready to help you indulge the people you love this February 14.
After all, gentle reader, isn’t your bestie (not to mention your kid, sibling, parent or sweetheart) worth a little extra consideration this Valentine’s Day?
That’s what we thought!
(Heck, this list is so dang good that you may find yourself referencing it for birthdays and other special occasions, too.)
Guide to the Gift Guide
There’s something on this list for every price point, spread over three categories: sweet (and personal) indulgences, art and design, and Galentine getaways.
Some of the businesses and organizations below you will have seen before at TheTexasWildflower.com. Others are new to our readers, and, of course, we’re always looking for new places and faces to mention. (A good way to connect with us is via Instagram.)
Sweet (and Personal) Indulgences
For the budget-savvy giver, this is the category with the widest selection.
And, for chocolate lovers, there’s a couple of fantastic options. We’re partial to Manna Reign (see our February 2020 story) and Chocollazo. (You could also go DIY with our recipe.)
All 4 Yogis of San Antonio makes gorgeous, hand-poured aromatherapeutic candles for home and travel that she sells at area markets. Luckily, she sells her candles via her website and she ships nationwide.
Looking for multiple items for multiple friends—and 100% dedicated to shopping super-local (yessss)? Pop into Boerne’s upstart Handmade on Main, where you can pick up From Scratch Farm’s famous lip balm and handmade Doubleside Toffee Co. candy, Bear and Roo Candle Co. candles.
Got a faraway Galentine that’s feeling homesick for Texas? Consider a classic: Lammes Candies, which has a number of sweet options that ship via Amazon Prime* alongside Kerbey Lane Cafe pancake mixes, New Canaan jams, and Kendra Scott jewelry.
Or perhaps you’ve got a pal who’s new to the area—but she loves it as much as we do. For her, grab one of our own signature Texan at Heart tees.*
Art and Design
For sophisticated tastes, it’s tough to beat art, design and culture-themed gifts.
Take for instance Comfort’s Hill Country Pottery, where you can pick up a beautiful handmade mug for your bestie. Better yet, maybe arrange to visit darling Comfort for an on-site pottery class?
Salado’s been catching our eye a lot lately, and we think something shiny from either Salado Glass Works or Benton’s Jewelry is a good bet. But we’re equally fond of the rugged pottery of Ro Shaw.
Our friends at Bird and Pear keep upping the ante with their work refashioning handmade textiles into stylish home decor pieces. Take for instance these heart-shaped pillows.
For 2020, our friend Catherine Massaro of Fredericksburg’s Studio Massaro is preparing to host a red-themed, one-woman show, “Encountering Red.” Her quirky, off-beat studio is always a great place to pick up nifty artistic pieces, typically at a range of price points. (She also has a whole line of coffees, if your Galentine is a coffee aficionado.)
Got a bookish pal? Then treat her (or him) to Eric Pohl’s artful Texas Hill Country: A Scenic Journey* or Kenneth Hafertepe’s Material Culture of German Texans*.
Galentine Getaways
Feeling like you and your favorite person need to un-wine-d? What about a trip to Comfort’s Bending Branch Winery? If you don’t have time to line up a trip—and you’ve got some spare change, you can give the gift or a wine club membership and then adopt individual plants or a row of grapevines via their website.
Got a friend who loves to garden? Then consider a gift certificate to the legendary Fredericksburg Herb Farm’s gift shop, where you’ll find all kinds of goodies including a few herbs. Make a girl’s weekend of it, if you’d like, and either stay onsite or just a couple of blocks away at The Baumgartner’s House.
Other options for a special weekend worth gifting include Aunt M’s Illustrated Inn (San Saba), Treehouse Utopia (Utopia), The Crossroads Inn (Johnson City), Camp Comfort (Comfort), Cypress Valley Canopy Tours (Spicewood), Hillside Boutique Hotel (Castroville), Blue Skies Retro Resort (Willow City), and the legendary Stagecoach Inn (Salado).
For the booklover or traveler who likes to plot her own getaways, consider Gary Clark’s Backroads of the Texas Hill Country*.
That’s our list for 2020, but, like we said, we’re always looking for new things to feature and stories to tell. Come say “hi” to us on Instagram!
*Note that this post contains a few Amazon Affiliate links, each identified with an asterisk. Although we prefer readers shop small businesses in the region, we know that not all of our readers live here in Texas. Also, when you make your purchase via the Amazon.com website using our link, we do receive modest compensation. And that helps us keep the website up and running. Thank you for your understanding—and support!
