December 9-16, 2004

mixpicks

Moving Sale

craft sale

There's an elegant paradox at work in the slowly emptying shopping malls these days: The more we are under pressure to buy highly unique gifts for everyone on our lists, the more we're refusing to splash out for something at Circuit City—especially if everyone else is buying 'em. Instead, once again this year, the Traveling Wares mini-tour offers a convenient, if curious, shortcut to finding one-off gifts for your tricky hipster friends. Dominated by local artists, this year's show will include unique journals, handblown glass and hangable artwork. Of course, its reputation as the one-stop shop for good gifts is solidified by the way it stops for you. Indeed, Traveling Wares will seek you out in a couple of your favorite local bars this weekend.

And if you're an artist looking to cash in on next year's shopping rush, free craft demonstrations—of a more colonial kind—will be part of the lighting and decorating ceremony at Elfreth's Alley Friday.

Traveling Wares, Sat., Dec. 11, 1-6 p.m., Sugar Mom's, 225 Church St., 215-925-8219, and Sun., Dec. 12, 2-7 p.m. Dirty Frank's Bar, 13th and Pine sts., 215-732-5010. Deck the Alley, Fri., Dec. 10, 6-9 p.m., $8-$15 (for house tours), Elfreth's Alley, off Second between Race and Arch sts., 215-574-0560.

—Juliet Fletcher