At Denver Metro Moms Blog, we’re passionate about connecting moms to each other and our community. This year, we want to encourage each of you to shop local, support small businesses, and show just how Colorado proud we are!
We are honored to be highlighting a few of the Denver Metro Area’s very own! And guess what? YOU have the chance to WIN many of the featured gifts highlighted in this guide. Make sure you are following us on Facebook because starting Tuesday, we will be announcing daily Flash Giveaways with many of the gifts featured in the guide!!!.
{Disclosure :: shopDENVER2015 is a paid advertising opportunity. That said, we sourced each and every gift included in this shopping guide and included only our very favorite local ideas, businesses and products. If it is in this guide, it is DMMB tested and approved.}
Now onto our favorite {local} holiday gifts this season!
Karen Jacot Photography
About : Authentic. Hilarious. Touching. Real. Karen tells stories about everyday life. She documents the beauty and humor in the daily ordinary. Her goal with your documentary photo session is to have you say, “Yes! This is so US!” when you see your images. Karen lives in Boulder and photographs everywhere. Nine years ago when she was pregnant with her son, she made a commitment to photograph him every day; that project still lives on at CuriousLyle.com. She is an optimist, and she love people. To see more of her work and get in touch, visit karenjacot.com.
Featured Gift : Give the gift of memories when you capture the beauty in your everyday life with Karen Jacot. Whether it’s baking together, making a snowman, a family hike, cooking dinner, or a park outing – a special one-hour mini-documentary session is a gift that will last a lifetime. The session includes 20 digital images, and additional images and products will be available for purchase.
Perfect for : Anyone! Karen’s photography is treasured by all families lucky enough to work with her!
website | instagram | facebook
PUSH Fitness
About : PUSH Fitness Colorado is a unique Denver fitness studio for high-intensity, functional training yoga, barre, kickboxing, indoor cycling, and an outpost for healthy living. Their communal space practices fitness diversity and nutrition, creating a lifestyle focused on wellness. PUSH Fitness offers something for everyone:: cycling class, yoga class, rebel workout, kickboxing, barre, personal training, youth training, and specialized coaching for prenatal and postnatal mamas! Their prenatal and postnatal programs target specific lifestyle practices based on you during each trimester. They offer specialized a small group training class, and optional workshops, with their most experienced trainers. Guidance from an in-house nutrition specialist is included, guiding women in healthy eating for a healthy, happy pregnancy!
Featured Gift : One month of unlimited classes at PUSH Fitness. Send your holiday honey for a month of wellness, training, and fun as they explore the variety of classes offered at PUSH Fitness! Yoga one day, barre the next, and a mid-week spin are sure to put a smile on this lucky gift recipient, as they work up a sweat, release endorphins, and keep their New Year’s resolution right alongside some of the DMMB team!
Perfect for : Dad, mom, anyone looking to work up a sweat and have a blast!
website | facebook | twitter | instagram
Fancy Flamingo
About : Jackie, the creator of Fancy Flamingo {and a DMMB contributor!}, creates unique, custom burlap banners for life’s special occasions. Weddings, baby showers, bridal showers, birthday parties, nurseries, kids’ rooms, photo props, and of course, the holidays! Her most popular banner among the mom community are the banners that are custom made, with the child’s name, to match their room, nursery or birthday party. Whatever the theme, Jackie can match it! They are also helpful for when they learn to spell their name. The banner is always right there in their room for them to see.
Featured Gift : Fancy Flamingo’s burlap banners are the BEST addition to any nursery, seasonal decor, birthday party decorations, baby milestones, or family photo op! Our current favorites in Jackie’s shop are the “Broncos” banner and “Be Merry!”
Perfect Gift for : Anyone! With all of the occasions, milestones, and holidays these banners can be customized for, how do you even pick where to start?!
etsy shop | facebook | instagram
Rikki’s Tropicals
About : Rikki’s Tropicals is a family owned business specializing in live plant art, located in Fort Collins, Colorado. Their live plant art is created to fit everyone’s needs and artistic taste. Their beautiful orchids and Bromeliads (air plants) are mounted on natural materials like shells and driftwood, or in hand-blown glass orbs and hanging lanterns. They also have wreaths, bouquets, branches made to look as if they are growing from your walls.
Featured Gift : Large air plant with grape wood inside of a beautiful large glass hanging terrarium is the item we want the most from Rikki’s Tropicals this holiday season! We busy moms love that air plants need very little care yet are beautiful and bloom! This terrarium would be a breath of fresh air in any kitchen, workspace, or family room!
Perfect gift for : Men, women, and kids! This gift is great for anyone who loves clean, modern, beautiful design and would like to bring a little bit of abundance and life into their home or office.
website | facebook
Pink’s Straight from LA
About : Pink’s Straight From LA is the original Denver boutique. They’ve been dressing and accessorizing the women and girls of Denver for almost a decade and are looking forward to at least a decade more! Under new ownership since February of this year, they are making some exciting aesthetic changes while keeping all the good stuff the same: the latest west coast fashions, affordable pricing, and excellent customer service!
Pink, besides a color, describes something in it’s prime, performing at its very best. Although it gets a lot more complicated, part of doing and feeling your best is first looking your best! That’s the mission at Pink’s. Be feminine, be bold, be passionate, be vibrant, be your best, be pink!
Featured Gift : Scarves have always been a fall and winter staple. They are just one of those things a girl seems to collect. You can never have too many! Throw one on as you walk out of the house to put an extra spring in your step when you start your day each morning. A colorful or patterned scarf can add to an otherwise monochromatic or muted ensemble while a plain or solid scarf can participate in color blocking or break up patterns of a more funky outfit. Plus, for the chillier Colorado weather they keep you cozy and warm. Add to or start (if for some unknowable reason you haven’t already!) your collection at Pink’s! Scarves truly are a girl’s best friend!
Perfect for : Mom, sister, grandma, best friends, any woman on your list who deserves something beautiful, stylish, and cozy this year!
website | instagram | facebook | twitter
Beautycounter
About : Our very own DMMB Contributor, Kelly S is a health-minded and entrepreneurial mama on a mission with Beautycounter to get SAFE skincare into the hands of everybody!
Beautycounter sets the standard in the skincare industry with our commitment to safety while still maintaining high performing products. To achieve this, Beautycounter maintains a list of 1500 ingredients on its “never ever” list. Beautycounter’s focus is on safety but also equally on performance. They offer Skin & Body Care, Kids Products, Sunscreen, and a Beauty collection that is completely safe and effective. The press is LOVING the line as it is modern, high performing, and free of any known toxic ingredients – there’s nothing else out there like it!
Featured Gifts :
Enrich Body Butter : A rich body butter for very dry skin (like what we ALL get in Colorado!) that absorbs easily without feeling greasy. Shea butter and mongongo oil hydrate and nourish skin, while organic sunflower oil, aloe, and chamomile soothe and smooth.
Citrus Mimosa Hand Cream : A lightweight moisturizing cream to revive dry hands. Shea butter and vitamin E, combined with organic sunflower oil, aloe, chamomile and calendula, hydrate and soften skin. Dries quickly with no stickiness, leaving a subtle, refreshing citrus scent.
Perfect for : These are perfect gifts for teachers, moms, dads, coworkers, friends, and family!
website | facebook
the mama’hood
About : the mama’hood opened their doors in February 2012 in Denver’s LoHi neighborhood to create a community for moms and young families to find support along their journey from preconception through early parenthood. They’ve now expanded to Boulder and offer expert breastfeeding support, prenatal yoga, postnatal yoga & kids/family yoga, childbirth education, parent education & support, yoga teacher trainings, birth doula trainings, boutique retail, and cloth diapers. The mama’hood promotes physical and mental health during motherhood empowerment through education about pregnancy, birth, postpartum and early family choices, and connection through classes, support groups and resources. The mama’hood also hasn’t forgotten about the dads out there, and offers a great group for dads to have real conversation about fatherhood, have a beer or some tea, and spend some time with their baby.
Featured Gifts :
Classes : The mama ‘hood offers programming to meet the needs and interests of parents and children from birth through early childhood. The amazing selection of classes include selections for expectant parents and families, new parents, breastfeeding mamas, and little ones! Their play groups, classes and workshops are rooted in the belief that you know your child better than anyone, but community support and a little expert advice can be pretty great. Our favorite picks are: Starting Solids (because this can be SO tricky!), Cloth Diapers: Getting Started, Breastfeeding and Back to Work (AMEN from all the working mamas!), and Parenting With Joy: The Gentle Discipline Series
Gear : the mama’hood carries lots of great gear for parents and littles! Our favorite picks are: All Things Bean bibs, Sili Squeeze Pouches, and Pura Vida bottles
Perfect for : Moms, dads, and expectant parents!
website | facebook | instagram
August Ink
About : August Ink is a lifestyle brand focused on creating a fun, positive and inspiring life! Their products are all hand printed in their studio at the base of the Rocky Mountains, in Fort Collins, Colorado. They find their inspiration from the people that make up our communities, and love hearing stories about people chasing their dreams… whatever they may be! And it’s even more fun when they see you wearing one of their t-shirts while doing it!
Featured Gifts :
The Mountains are Calling Women’s Sweatshirt : Printed on a super soft fleece this dreamy soft grey or oatmeal-colored sweatshirt features a pocket in the front to keep your hands warm, and our favorite John Muir quote. The raw edge on the wide neckline and raglan sleeves gives this sweatshirt a fun vintage vibe.
Drink Sleeves : These drink sleeves come in more designs than you can throw your holiday glitter at, and we love all of them! So, give “cin cin y’all” to your best friend, “DNVR” to your man in a show of Denver pride, and “Summer Lovin'” to your office secret santa who is seriously struggling with the current sweater weather!
Kids’ Tees : Stumped on what to gift the mini-fashionista or stylin’ little dude in your life? August Ink has the cutest printed tees! We’re totally dying over “Little Canoe”, “Moose”, and “Boom Chicka Boom”!
Perfectf or : hostess gift, mothers, fathers, teens, or anyone. Which makes it a beautiful and easy gift this holiday season.
website | facebook | instagram | twitter
Alison VB Health + Fitness
About : Alison, founder of Alison VB Health + Fitness is a wife, soon to be mama (and already puppy mama), health coach, fitness enthusiast and lover of travel and adventure! Her passion in life is to help you reach your health and fitness goals through leading by example and living a healthy lifestyle + providing you with daily motivation, workouts, recipes, and more!
Featured Gift : Moms Get Fit Accountability Group by Alison VB Health + Fitness : Give yourself or a loved one the gift of health this holiday season! This 30 day accountability group will teach you how to look at portions, workouts, and clean eating to create a healthier lifestyle that is maintainable for a busy mama like you! This group is all about support, eating well, 30-minute [at home] workouts, easy meal plans for the whole family, and a 24/7 online accountability group! You will focus on balance and moderation and most IMPORTANTLY YOU! Are you ready to commit? No goal is too big or too small.
Find balance with Alison VB Health + Fitness! Email Alison and start the conversation to better health and wellness in 2016!
Perfect for : Yourself, your best friend, your sister, your mom, anyone looking to get fit and transition to a healthier lifestyle!
DMMB Reader Discount : $30 discount for all DMMB readers! Just mention DMMB when you sign up!
facebook | instagram | website
Gymboree Play & Music
About : Gymboree Play & Music has been fostering creativity and confidence in children ages 0-5 for over 30 years. Today there are over 550 locations in 30 countries, making them the global leader in early childhood development programs. Designed by experts, their age-appropriate activities help develop the cognitive, physical and social skills of children as they play. Their programs are also great fun for mom and dad, as they get to participate in and learn more about their child’s development!
Gymboree Play & Music Denver recently moved to a new location, and two of our DMMB Contributor Team moms have been checking out the classes. Needless to say, the results are in and DMMB loves Gymboree Play & Learn! These moms are signing up for the fun!
Featured Gift : Happy kiddos make happy moms, so let’s all get merry with a membership to Gymboree Play & Learn! The lucky recipient of this great gift will be able to choose from classes like: Play & Learn, Music, Art, Sports Basics, Open Play Gym, and School Skills! With classes for little ones from birth – age 5, there really is something for everyone, and your little ones will be learning from experts in early childhood development!
Perfect for: Yourself or your spouse and your little ones, your best friend for her little ones too!