Online Holiday Shopping

 Before you lecture me, I agree. Shop local. 

If you can get it local, do that. Sometimes, you can't. Sometimes, you are supporting small business, just small business online. 

With that said, I'm going to talk about a few companies that I am familiar with online if you want to go that route. 

There are so many businesses popping up online nowadays that sometimes it's really hard to tell if they're legit. Even legit ones though can totally suck or just aren't real great at what they do.

Disclaimer: I do not work for or get anything (perks, free stuff, promos) from these companies. These are my own opinions based solely on my own experience. If they want to send me free shit, I would be super excited, but as for now, they do not.

The first business I'm going to tout is The Angry Minnow. This business is out of Minnesota and claims to "custom make and finish each piece" in their US facility. They've managed to wrangle some fun & impressive IPs for use as well as their own designs and use them on really quality hats, clothing & accessories. I, myself, have a Sleestak hat. I love it. Probably my favorite hat ever. 

If you know someone who loves trucker hats, baseball caps, etc. These guys are legit. They have anything from Sleestaks to Whitecastle to your fav sports team and did I mention quality. Seriously. It's a great hat. I don't own a flannel or other item from them, so I can't speak to the quality of those, but if it's anything like their hats, well...yeah. Quality. 

Pricing? Yeah, the stuff is a little expensive, competitive though, and again, quality. At least, the hats. 

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Next up is Merchoid.

I'm not going to lie. They have some sweet stuff over there. Especially if you like superheroes and ugly sweaters. Or pretty much pop culture home decor. However, quality is average & they are international (outside the US) and despite saying "no additional shipping costs" and making jokes about their workers being "enslaved wookies" (yikes!) I've been charged import shipping/tax by them. I have the receipt. I'll find it & post it if I do. Plus, they completely screwed up my order & it took forever to get here. Two years ago BEFORE the USPS was all screwy. I can't imagine the wait time now. You'd need to order holiday sweaters in May to get them before Turkey day. I love my Superman ugly holiday sweater, but it's acrylic, cheaply made & by the time everything was sorted, the holidays were over. Plus the import/customs/extra charge on my Credit Card. Oh, and they weren't real nice about the sweater mix up either. I did get to keep the extra sweater, but when it's not the item you want...is that really a positive thing? It made a great donate-able gift though.

Looking for holiday cards from a real old school printing press? Oh boy, do I have the place for you! Also coming to you from Minnesota, The Warrior Printress has what you need. If they don't, they can custom design them for you. Now, this isn't some cheap $10 box of 50 cards from Wal-Mart. These are hand designed cards made on a real letterpress. Check out the video below.

Pricey? Yes and no. More expensive than that cheap "Made in China" box of cards but priceless for the art you get. And that's the thing. It isn't some lifeless thing you are giving, it's something that was 100% made with love. And quality? Absolutely. Best quality you can get. Oh, and they do more than cards.

Lastly, I'm going to let you in on one of my favorite places to browse. The Goodwill Store. No, not the one downtown. The one online! They recently revamped their site & seriously, you never know what you'll find. They have everything. Wish you could buy your childhood back but hate EBAY? Try this? Want a cool pocket knife. This is the place. Old fishing lures. Yep. Bundles of cheap comics for the kids. Indeed. Lots of action figures at low prices? Absolutely. 

Now, shipping can get you sometimes, depending on weight, but they only charge you what it costs to ship. For real. And it goes to a pretty good cause. And seriously. There is nothing they don't have.

I mean, I just typed in the word Braille in the Goodwill store search engine and boom, a Brailler came up. I didn't even know they made those. I mean, of course they do, but see what I mean?