Cheers to Shopping

Here’s to holiday shopping!

We’re making spirits bright in the Garden Shop with a festive salute to the season. Introducing Cheers to Shopping, a special evening of creative ideas for entertaining, decorating and gift giving to help jump start your holiday shopping. Join us on November 10th from 5 – 8 p.m. for Cheers to Shopping at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.

Here’s a sampling of what’s in store:

The Garden Shop is brimming with gifts for kids, gardeners, animal lovers, readers and fashionistas. There are presents for friends who love to entertain, family members with a taste for beautiful things, teachers, neighbors and even your spouse, all in a range of price points. Some of our favorites are pictured here.

The evening starts with a surprise. Pick a festive red box from the display at the door, open it on the spot and inside discover a discount coupon to be used at the event or a voucher for a special gift from the Garden Shop. Then let the holiday shopping begin!

A shimmering organza bag cinched with satin ribbon holds three skin-care products, all blended from natural ingredients. It’s a garden-themed gift set sure to soothe, moisturize and protect. Creamy Honey Blossom scented soap, triple milled with Shea butter and hand-wrapped in Italian paper is 3.5 oz. of pure luxury. Bee Bar melts into warm skin, nourishing dry, damaged hands and feet. Its 2 oz. tin tucks easily into a pocket or purse. A tube of peppermint Lip Butter drenches lips in the rejuvenating moisture of pomegranate oil and Shea butter. All three are made in USA. $22 for the set.

• Get inspired by a display of creative gift wrapping ideas like luxurious hand made papers from Nepal, rustic botanicals from your garden or how to trim a package with a pretty scarf or a necktie.
• Choose your favorite ribbon from an array of styles and colors and take home a custom-made bow to adorn your holiday wreath.
• Find the perfect gift for your favorite gardener or four legged friend on one of three themed trees decorated with gift ideas.

Pierce the landscape with dramatic spikes of pure color. The Coloriscape collection of hand-blown glass garden sculpture echoes the art of Dale Chihuly. Sold in sets of three, each hollow spire fits loosely over a metal ground stake, making it simple to install or relocate. Available in three styles – Bloom: Slender stems of translucent color topped with the swell of a bud; Color Spikes: Soft spires of bold solid pigment made deeper with a clear glass overlay; Water Grass (pictured):  Graceful blades of glass offset by stripes of transparent color. All are imported and easy to care for with ordinary glass cleaner. 23-32 inches-tall in a spectrum of colors. Set of three $120.

• Sample wines from Virginia vineyards and beers from local breweries at tasting stations located throughout the Garden Shop. Find something that strikes your fancy? Top off your holiday shopping with a bottle or two to enjoy with guests or to give to the locavore on your list.

A lighter-than-air hummingbird interpreted in cast steel to grace your garden. The custom designed bird hovers on a chain with a decorative hook, its stylized wings and tail spread in mid-flight. Imagine a nest in its hollow core, fledglings snug in their tiny metal roost.   9 x 8 x 14 inches (with chain) $28.

• Meet local food columnist Clare Osdene Schapiro who will be signing copies of her new book, Stories and Recipes from Clare’s Kitchen. Featuring her own tales of triumph and tragedy in the kitchen, the book is a collection of Shapiro’s favorite recipes from the pages of The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Take a shopping break and savor the dinner special that night in Garden Cafe’, one of Schapiro’s own recipes, prepared for you by the chefs at Meriwether Godsey.
• Admire festive clothing, holiday ornaments and jewelry in a rainbow of colors, our holiday shopping salute to this year’s Dominion Energy GardenFest of Lights theme: Living Color. Pick out a pretty scarf from a kaleidoscope of colors and learn lots of new ways to tie it.

And as the evening ends, pick-up a paperwhite bulb to take home our gift to you with best wishes from the Garden for a happy holiday season!

Behold: a collection of playful accessories presented in “Living Color.” Dominion GardenFest of Lights is a celebration of color this year, and so is this chunky cast-resin jewelry. Two necklaces and three bracelets in a spectrum of shapes and super saturated hues make perfect stocking stuffers for all of the fashionistas on your list.                                                                                                   beveled bangle $23; oval and tusk bracelet $35; necklace $28 (other styles and shapes available).

Free parking is available in all three of the Garden’s lots for convenient holiday shopping, this day and everyday.

Proceeds from sales in the Garden Shop, including Cheers to Shopping, support the Garden’s mission of education.