Say hi to your mother.

Finally, a calendar you can bring home to ma! The Nice Jewish Guys 2012 Calendar is for the yenta who dreams of a man who knows from good tzimmes, consults Consumer Reports for major home electronics purchases and doesn’t call matzos “crackers.” You get to look at and read about a different nice Jewish guy every month and picture your Christmas Day date at the local Chinese eatery. For the shikshas out there, you’ll never embarrass yourself again by inviting your Jewish crush to a rager on Yom Kippur or forgetting Sukkot! Bonus: some delightfully stereotypical Jewish girls to start off 2013.
$16, Fred Flare.

Missed Connections fascinate because they say something about the nature of urban love, optimism and the need to believe the person who happens to be reading the same book across the train is your soul mate. Brooklyn artist Sophie Blackall has turned those finely crafted 21st century messages in a bottle into cute illustrations in Missed Connections: Love, Lost and Found, which was released in September. The heartwarming book about “the mystery, the yearning, [and] at times the cosmic humor behind the ‘what if?’” includes stories about a hairy bearded swimmer, a shared bear suit, and a Hasidic woman on a ferry. Pick up a copy at your local independent bookstore before you trawl Craigslist this holiday season.

$13.95, Word and other local bookstores.

The Brooklyn Lyceum holiday market/Photo by Flickr's groundsel

As if Amazon’s anti-small-business tactics weren’t enough to convince you, here are more than a dozen reasons to ignore e-tailer spam and shop locally in Brooklyn. This year, holiday markets are popping up around Brooklyn like Swedish espresso shops, with added inducements like concerts, performances and booze. At Dekalb market, Santa’s even posing for photos in a shipping container. Beat that, internetz. Markets are free unless otherwise noted. (more…)

Happy Brokesmas! Welcome to our annual 25 under $25 guide of great Brooklyn holiday gifts. We’ll be posting one every day throughout the month so check back often!

Nothing says Brooklyn like indie experimental synth folk rock guitarists/baristas. So what’s the perfect gift for your musically talented loved ones? Harmonicas of course! This Hohner Piedmont Blues seven-harmonica set is a bargain and great for parties. The case alone would be worth the price, but once you add seven brass reed harmonicas that play in seven different keys, it becomes an amazing package. Yank off the price sticker, and they’ll think you’re spoiling them. $24.99, at Guitar Center at Atlantic Terminal.

Get 15 percent off animal butt magnets at Future Perfect.

We’re not going to tell you how to shop this weekend. We’re going to tell you how not to shop. For the love of [insert deity here], does anyone  really need to:

1) Shop on Thanksgiving, when some retailers (Old Navy!) are forcing their employees to come to work?
2) Shop at midnight on Thursday, when Target, Best Buy, Kohls and Macy’s are forcing their employees to come to work?
3) Get up at 4 a.m. on Friday to stalk big-box stores for $10 DVDs?

Why not roll out of bed at a reasonable hour and head to the boutique down the block? Some of Brooklyn’s independent retailers are making it even easier this year by having holiday sales.

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Between the mothball-scented air freshener and the lead-dipped pacifiers, 99-cent stores do have their charms. (Foremost among them, the $1.99 pregnancy tests, and assorted other treasures here.) Not ones to let dubious manufacturing practices stand in the way of a bargain, we wondered: amid the off-gassing shower curtains and scratchy washcloths, could we find something mom would love at our local 99 cent store? (more…)

Congratulations! Your sister, a close friend or that distant cousin you rarely talk to is engaged and you’ve been asked to put on a dress of her choice, arrange brunches, walk down the aisle with a guy you hardly know, and raise a glass on the big day. In other words, you’re a bridesmaid! No matter how excited you are for the happy couple it’s no secret that being in a wedding requires a lot of time and cash. Even if your best bud is no “bridezilla” (and we have our fingers crossed that she’s not), some costs are unavoidable. (more…)

Most import stores are unfortunately unimaginative or expensive—or both. But when we stumbled into Home and Abroad (487 Atlantic Ave.), our skepticism went out the door. Behold, a Bollywood-worthy collar-and-earring-combo for $25! Why didn’t we find this place earlier? Other treasures include: art deco-ey clear plastic necklaces ($25), metal and beaded pieces ($15-25), funky-but-not-weird earrings ($4-12), even bedazzled business card holders ($14). The store’s open noon to 5 p.m. today, so grab this chance to check-off the rest of your glitz-loving list.