22 California Gifts Ideas: The Best Local Businesses + Brands to Shop
As is probably no surprise coming from a person who started a website dedicated to California and all it’s unique and wonderful pockets, I love sharing California with friends and family with local gifts. I get genuinely excited to shop my favorite, local businesses throughout California to find fun items to send— both during the holiday season and throughout the year. It also lets me support some of my favorite small businesses. What’s not to love?
Whether you want to give someone a little slice of California this holiday season or just support a local small business, here are some of my favorites to shop—and yes, as a San Francisco local, this list is very Bay Area-heavy.
Ceramics: Heath Ceramics + MM Clay
Heath Ceramics is an iconic ceramics brand with a long legacy and studios in San Francisco and Sausalito. Yes, they’re pricey, but also yes, whoever gets this as a gift will be thrilled—whether it’s a set of stackable mugs (classic) or a fun and colorful bud vase. Pro tip: if you’re in the area, make the trek to Sausalito to shop their discounted “seconds,” which are slightly imperfect versions of their products.
MM Clay is another, more contemporary ceramicist with a shop in Hayes Valley, San Francisco. I’ve been slowly collecting their dishes over the years and absolutely love them. They’re also high quality, just a little bit of a different vibe.
Wine: Navarro + Bricoleur
If you’re looking for a local small business to support in California, it’s so easy to do so by gifting wine. Lately, I’ve been into Bricoleur Vineyards, especially since they have some fun food + wine gift boxes and donate proceeds from their Isla Rose Brut Rosé wine to breast cancer research. Navarro Vineyards, based in Anderson Valley, is another holiday favorite. They have some of the best Gewürztraminer and Rieslings in the area, two varietals that are both a little more uncommon and feel super festive to me.
Wine: Cuvasion Small Lot Tasting Kit
Another fun wine gift is from Carneros based winery, Cuvasion. Their small lot tasting kit ($65) is a collection of four small bottles, perfect for setting up your own wine tasting at home. It’s a great little sampler of their chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, and old vine pinot noirs, but you can also customize a set if your giftee isn’t into any of these particular varietals.
Pasta: Italifornia Pasta Night Bundle
If “California meets Italy” had a mascot, it would 100% be the Italifornia Pasta Night Bundle ($96). The kit includes sauce from women-owned, small business Ciao Pappy, pasta from San Franciscan classic, Flour + Water, and stylish linens from Atelier Saucier. It’s such a perfect collab and makes an excellent gift for chefs of all abilities. On a tighter budget? Their sauce trio ($36) also makes for a great gift—trust me, I received it once and had so much fun trying them all! And honestly, what better way to uplevel a “I don’t feel like cooking” dinner than with some excellently-made, pre-packaged goodies?
Bags + Home Goods: Gravel & Gold
Yes, the brand behind that boob pillow. Shop/maker Gravel & Gold is yet another favorite small business in San Francisco’s Mission district, full of a quirky collection of clothes, bags, and home goods—often with an obvious Californian theme (think: tote bags with Dungeness crabs, poppies, or “Catifornia” jokes).
Chocolate: Dandelion Chocolate
Dandelion Chocolate makes simple, high-quality chocolate—and it’s damn good. Around the holidays, they release a few festive, special-edition treats and collaborations (best sampled on site at one of their two Mission District locations). However, you can’t go wrong with year-round classics like their hot chocolate mixes (I love the hojicha) or their chocolate bars. Pro tip: if you plan to fly with the hot chocolate, keep it easy to reach in your bag or check it. I’ve gotten stopped by TSA for an extra screen every single time I’ve flown with a bag of their hot chocolate. 😂
Kits + Salts + Oysters: Hog Island
The Bay Area is home to some amazing oyster farms and Hog Island is perhaps the most well-known. Although oysters are what they do best, the brand has also expanded into some fun, oyster-and-ocean adjacent products that make for excellent gifts.
For gifts, I’m personally a big fan of their farm kitchen collection—which includes things like nori butter, sea salts and seasonings, bloody mary mix, and smoked oysters. They also ship oysters nationwide (including as part of some fun, giftable kits and boxes). Just, maybe don’t leave that one under the tree for too long. 😉
Cookbooks: Coastal + Seasons of Greens
There’s no shortage of great food and well-known chefs in California, meaning: lots of excellent cookbooks highlighting our state’s food. In 2025, there were two new cookbook releases that I’ve been especially loving ever since I got my hands on them: Coastal and Seasons of Greens.
Coastal, a collaboration from chef Scott Clark of Dad’s Luncheonette and photographer Cheyenne Ellis is a culinary road trip down California’s coast—the foodie/wanderlust mix is one of my favorite things about it. Seasons of Greens by Katie Reicher, chef of iconic San Franciscan vegetarian restaurant, Greens, for over a decade. Even as a non-vegetarian, I love her creative and vegetable-forward recipes that pay homage to the restaurant
My full list of California cookbooks to shop:
If you’re in San Francisco, Omnivore Books is a great place to shop for cookbooks. And if you’re not, but still anti-Amazon, most of these are available on bookshop.org, an indie bookstore website.
Book: An Atlas of San Francisco
Speaking of books, another California-centric find is Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas by Rebecca Solnit. She does an excellent job of highlighting the city’s diversity and history through maps. Even living here for 12+ years, I learned a lot.
Beauty Products + Olive Oil: McEvoy Ranch
Just north of San Francisco in Petaluma is one of my favorite new finds of the past year: an olive farm called McEvoy Ranch. The family-owned business makes for a great day trip to tour the farm, do an olive oil tasting, and shop their line of Oprah-approved beauty products.
Personally, I really love their verde body lotion, but you honestly can’t go wrong with any of their products. And, of course, they have giftable olive oil sets too—including some fun flavors like chili lime and chai spice.
Watch: Day Trip to McEvoy Ranch [Video]
Silk Goods: Kim + Ono
Kim + Ono, a shop in San Francisco’s Chinatown, is best known for their silk kimonos, but they also have a handful of other smaller products too. I’m a big fan of their silk eye mask.
Bike Gear: Mission Workshop
This is for all the bag, bike, and bag + bike nerds out there. Bay Area based bag and clothing maker, Mission Workshop, is a cult favorite, especially among the EDC crew. Their brick and mortar shop in San Francisco’s Mission District closed not too long ago, but you can still shop online.
Various: Needles & Pens
Okay, less a brand and more of a shop with a variety of local brands, Needles & Pens is one of my favorite gift shops in San Francisco, located on Valencia street in the Mission District. They have an especially great selection of earrings, jewelry, socks, cards, and plants.
Leather Bags+ Wallets: Ian James
Shop Ian James for unique, handmade leather goods. I especially love his home decor and bags—which you can shop at his Valencia street location or online.
This article was originally published in 2024 and is updated annually. It was most recently updated on December 3, 2025. Bookmark me + come back next year :)
