Need a tree? A cool handmade gift? Want to gawk at some lights? Here are eight local ways to indulge your holiday spirit.
While their annual Pumpkin Patch Festival is hugely popular, you can also haul a Virginia Pine or Leyland Cypress tree from this 20+ year-old farm, where trees are grown on site. After you pick your tree, there's a pinecone painting area for kids, and a concession stand selling Elgin's signature sausage.
Cookies in Bloom is exactly what it sounds like: "Cookie arrangements" for your sweetie with a sweet tooth. Intricate Santas, snowmen, poinsettias, and Christmas trees are all available for special order in holiday cookie form.
Doesn't this picture say it all? For one magical week in December (December 16-23 this year, 2012), Zilker Park turns into the Trail of Lights, a display of colored bulb glory and wonder in the middle of 78704. And the best part? It's free!
If only we could all be Marthas. The kind that hand-paint our own candy canes, fashion our gingerbread houses with moveable doors and real blinking lights, and bake our own glistening holiday ham. Unfortunately, we're not, and all that work frankly makes some of us break out in hives. To the rescue: Word of Mouth, whose gigantic staff of cooking elves will breeze in with everything you need to make your holiday soiree the toast of the town.
Chances are you've seen the Papa Noel Christmas Tree stations around town -- there are six total in Austin. But did you know there's a Papa Noel Tree in the White House this year, too? As the winner of the 2012 National Christmas Tree Association’s Grand Champion Christmas Tree Competition, Papa Noel presented a tree to Mrs. Obama herself. So if you buy one, you'll be in excellent tree company with the first lady.
Want to transform your cubicle jungle into a winter wonderland? These ladies will deck your office halls and trim your company tree with enough tinsel, wreaths, holly and twinkly lights to leave you singing "O Hallelujah."
A monthlong pop-up mall of local craft-makers and artisans, the Blue Genie Art Bazaar is the motherlode of totally rad, totally Austin gift options. Open seven days a week -- and up until the very day before Christmas! -- it features work by over 100 artists, including jewelry designers, potters, metalworkers, and everyone in between.
To have the biggest, baddest holiday light yard display in town, Christmas Decor is your go-to. A professional holiday light installation company, they'll make sure you don't pull a Chevy-Chase-on-the-roof-in-Christmas-Vacation, and accidentally electrocute yourself on the roof.