By Deborah Burstyn
SF BAWJ Staff Writer

And best, all proceeds go to supportexhibitions, programs, conservation and preservation efforts at the museums. How’s that for good tidings?

Asian Art Musuem Store

Asian Art Museum –  Asian-themed merchandise from around the world including graceful pottery and statuettes, paintings, jewelry, apparel, home décor, books, and music. Some handmade one-of-a-kind items plus special pieces available only at the museum for a limited time. You can find the musuem at 200 Larkin Street, San Francisco, or call (415) 581-3500, or visit their website! 

Museum of the African Diaspora –Hand-woven textiles, bead work and crafts from global artisans, all through Fair Trade companies and organizations. The museum is located  at 685 Mission Street, San Francisco or call (415) 358-7200 or visit their website!

SFMOMA Museum Store

SFMOMA –Caution: you are going to want everything in here for yourself. A stainless steel sleek Danish-designed cordless doorbell or a black graceful flyswatter that stands on its own twig-like base, the home design selection is thrilling.

The books, toys, jewelry and posters are nothing to sneeze at either. SFMOMA is located at 151 Third Street, San Francisco, or you can call (415) 357-4000, or visit their website.

The De Young Museum – The De Young’s gift shop takes up two levels and 4000 square feet of space filled with upscale objets d’art and the biggest selection of art books around.

Commissioned signature products include porcelain and linen tableware by Lotta Jansdotter, anodized copper votives by Octate, jewelry by Carol Webb and Cynthia Gale and stainless steel bookmarks by Mirage Switzerland.  Personally, we’ll take the toile-print matching umbrella and tote bag!  

The museum is located at  50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco, or call  (415) 750-3600 or visit online.

CA Academy of Sciences

California Academy of Sciences – A boxed shark tooth fossil or a clip-on Pocket Plasma Disk that moves to your music  plus many, many more science and nature toys, apparel plus lots of dinosaur and penguin items.

And one can never have too many penguin items! 

You’ll find the museum at 875 Howard Street, San Francisco, or call (415)321–8000 or visit them online.

Photos by Kathi O’Leary, SF BAWJ Staff Photographer!

If you enjoyed this article please help us spread the word!  You can e-mail, Tweet or Bookmark it by clicking the Share/Save button!

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By Deborah Burstyn
SF BAWJ Staff Writer

If you’re looking for some great Green gift ideas…read on. We’ve scoured the San Francisco Bay Area and following are our 5 favorites!

1. For the Gourmet or Grocery Shopping-Challenged

Show them you care with a box of fresh, locally grown, organic produce delivered to their door. Every week for a year, if they’ve really been good!

Planet Organics will customize your box to include only fruits, veggies, salad greens or a mix of all of the above. And there’s always the “surprise” box option, plus cheeses, crackers, chips, dips and other organic grocery items and gift baskets. Contact award-winning Planet Organics about home delivery or gift certificates.

2. For Techies and Teens

With U.S. headquarters right in Berkeley, Solio will help the techies and teens on your list power up that mobile phone or MP3 on the go using only sunshine! But if the fog’s in, Solio, the universal hybrid solar charger, also plugs into a wall socket.

Light weight and portable, Solio can juice their digital camera or Bluetooth whether on the beach or on the slopes. Also compatible with GPS systems and handheld games.

3. For Tree-Huggers and “I Don’t Need Anything” Folks

We think that we shall never see a gift as lovely as a tree. And an even lovelier tree is one that is donated to a neighborhood that needs a tree.

San Francisco’s own Friends of the Urban Forest or FUF will plant a tree in honor of your gift recipient for $50, the basic cost of one of their trees. FUF calls them “Tree tributes, the gift that grows.” Your recipient gets a card on your behalf, you get a letter that the card was sent and the earth gets another tree. A win-win.

4. For the Young or Young At Heart

What kid needs another hunk of plastic – possibly lead-tainted at that? Or another plush toy animal to collect dust on the shelf? Instead give them a real life experience with real animals that actually helps the animals. A membership to the San Francisco Zoo supports the Zoo and entitles the recipient to:

• Free admission to the Main Zoo and Children’s Zoo every day of the year
• Free admission to Night Tour
• Free Guest Passes to the Zoo
• Free Ride Passes
• Subscription to Zoo Views magazine
• 10% discount at all Zoo shops and cafes
• Invitations to Monthly Members’ Mornings
• Free or discounted admission to over 125 zoos and aquariums nationwide
• Free monthly e-newsletter filled with animal information, Zoo news and events

Contact the San Francisco Zoo to learn more.

5. For the Fabulously Feminine

Girls just want to have fun. And that often means playing with make-up. Here’s a brand that not only uses no phthalates or other toxins but also helps women!

PeaceKeeper Cause-Metics is the first cosmetic line to give all of its after tax, distributable profits to women’s health advocacy and human rights issues. $7.98 buys a bottle of Peacekeeper Natural Nail Polish and $30.00 buys the Visionary Care Package which includes Natural Lip Paint, Nail Polish and Lip Gloss. Contact PeaceKeeper Cause-Metics or buy locally at Whole Foods, the Other Avenue Coop, Rainbow General Store or Elephant Pharmacies.

If you enjoyed this article please help us spread the word about the SF Bay Area Women’s Journal!  You can e-mail, Tweet or Bookmark it by clicking the Share/Save button!

Related posts:

1. 5 Museum Gift Shops For Great Holiday Gifts!

by Deborah Burstyn
SF BAWJ Staff Writer

Are you looking for some great ways to stretch your holiday gift budget?  Then consider shopping at some of the fabulous outlet stores in the SF Bay Area. 

These hidden gems are often just that…hidden.  But we’ve done the leg work for you and here are some of our favorites SF Bay Area Outlet Stores:

Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory
1111 139^th Avenue (at Rose Drive)
San Leandro, CA 94578
(510) 346-3146

Here you can have it all – quality chocolate in quantity at bargain prices

At 25% to 75% off retail price, you can buy gifts galore…flavored chocolate squares, gift tins, hot cocoa powder, baking supplies, sundae sauces plus Ghirardelli signature cookbooks, aprons and mitts. No “seconds” here, just the good stuff.

While you’re at it be sure and pick some up for yourself!  There’s nothing better than popping a Ghirardelli square into your mouth to get you through the stress of Holiday Shopping!

Crate and Barrel Outlet Store
1785 Fourth Street
Berkeley, CA 94710

This is Crate and Barrel’s only Northern California outlet store.  You’ll find overstocks, discontinued and out-of-season items.

There’s a little bit of everything and lots of bargain-priced glassware, cookware, kitchen gadgets, garden gear, candles, vases, flatware, bedding and fabric – fabulous fabric, some of it Marimekko.

Mycra Pac Designer Wear Outlet
535 Center Street
Moraga CA 94556
(925) 631-6878

Not only made in U.S.A. but made in Moraga. Who knew? Swooping through here you might find one of the company’s high end designer raincoats. These tend to be lightweight, reversible, water repellant, packable, washable, generously-sized and made from a rainbow of shimmering fabrics. Some are jacket or stadium length.

Regular retail..they cost hundreds of dollars.  But here discontinued styles, samples and seconds can be had for 20% to 60% lower than retail!

North Face Outlet
1238 Fifth Street (between Gilman and Harrison)
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 526-3530

Okay, how much difference is there really between last year’s backpack styles and this year’s? Last year’s parka and this year’s?  Right. Not much.

You’ll find all kinds of North Face goodies at 60% off retail!  One proviso, items purchased at the outlet store do not quality for North Face’s lifetime warranty.

Heath Ceramics Factory Store
400 Gate Five Road,
Sausalito, CA 94965
(415) 332-3732

Prestigious Heath Ceramics, revered in the highest echelons of modern design, was started in the 1940s by ceramics artist Edith Head in Sausalito. And in Sausalito it remains to this day.  Heath pieces are part of museum collections and retail at places like Barney’s New York and Gump’s.

So even at a 30% discount in the factory store, you’re still looking at a chunk of change to own a Heath. For example a chic little brown coffee cup lined in eggshell blue costs $19.25 instead of $27.50. A pumpkin orange serving bowl runs $84 instead of its original $120.

Jessica McClintock Outlet Store
25 15^th Street (between De Haro and Carolina Streets)
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 553-8390

San Francisco icon Jessica McClintock’s signature dressy dresses’ factories aren’t here but the company’s main offices are – and have been since the 70s when McClintock first made a name for herself with the Gunne Sax line of calico and lace “granny” dresses favored by Haight Ashbury hippies and later by prom queens and brides across the country.

One of only two outlet stores (the other’s near L.A.), this one features overstocks, past season merchandise, seconds, damaged goods and samples of prom, wedding, cocktail and children’s dresses.

If you enjoyed this article please help us spread the word about the SF Bay Area Women’s Journal!  You can e-mail, Tweet or Bookmark it by clicking the Share/Save button!

Related posts:

1. 5 San Francisco Jewelry Designers that…We Love!
2. 5 Museum Gift Shops For Great Holiday Gifts!
3. Celebrate Valentine’s Day with a Little Bling!