Downtown Gift Guide: 11 Ways To Use Your Holiday Gift Cards & Store Credits

by | Jan 9, 2017 | Holiday Gift Guide, Uncategorized

The holiday season is now behind us, and 2017 is here. Of those fortunate enough to get some gifts this past holiday season, many of us wound up with gift cards and store credit. In turn, here are 11 ways to use that virtual currency:

1) Tocca “Uptown Girls” Set

Housed in a beautifully-decorated gift box, this limited-edition set from Tocca contains four 7 ml miniature fine fragrance sprays. The set is intended for “girliest” of Tocca fans, as made clear by its product names: Cleopatra, Stella, Florence and Giulietta. Sold exclusively at Sephora.

2) Wall Midnight & Peach Flip Top Mittens from Accompany

These Wall Flip Top Mittens were made by Emilime, a brand known for its direct support of female entrepreneurs in Peru. The mittens are cozy and warm, perfect for the early fall and through the dead of winter alike, as made of alpaca. One size fits all.

3) Blue Cedar V76 by Vaughn

V76 is known for its American-made products for the well-groomed man — hair, shaving, body, and fragrances all covered. Its founder, Vaughn Acord, has styled for Al Pacino, Bruce Springsteen and President Bill Clinton, to name only a few notables. Blue Cedar by V76 by Vaughn is a woody fragrance for men, as launched last year. The fragrance includes coconut milk, violet, cedar and leather.

4) Disaronno Wear ETRO bottle

DISARONNO is known as the world’s favorite Italian liqueur. The brand recently partnered with renowned fashion house ETRO for a limited-edition bottle. In turn, DISARONNO is dressed up ETRO-style, with inspiration from the fashion house’s Autumn/Winter 2016 collection. The collaboration also includes two different sets of three mini bottles dressed in coordinated looks.

5) Truly Spiked & Sparkling

Truly Spiked & Sparkling is a “spiked” sparkling water with only one gram of sugar and 100 calories; not bad for a drink that is 5% ABV. Truly comes in four flavors: Colima Lime, Pomegranate, Grapefruit & Pomelo, and its latest flavor Sicilian Blood Orange — all four styles are made from fermented cane sugar. As an added bonus, all Truly Spiked varieties are gluten-free.

6) Boden Cashmere Scarf

Boden is a British clothing retailer that deems itself “New British,” combining ethical and green policies with quality and fashionability. Its Cashmere Scarf, as woven in Scotland, stands out from the pack in being 100% cashmere yet under $100. Warm, comfortable and free of itch. Boden also sells jeans, coats and tops for men, women and children alike, offering free standard shipping on all orders over $49; it also has a 365-day returns guarantee.

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7) Vinci Headphones

Imagine having wireless headphones which have both voice-controlled and touch-base options, which sync with your online (e.g. Spotify, Amazon, Soundcloud) and offline (e.g. MP3s on a USB) music collections, and offer 3D audio. All of that is possible via the Vinci 1.5 headphones — which were featured on Kickstarter — and more. Vinci can track your heart-rate, has a proximity sensor that stops music when you take the headphones off, and can make phone calls, although it does not require a connection to your mobile phone to work. The future is here.

8) Cords For Music Bracelet

As featured previously on the Downtown website, Cords For Music was founded in 2013 by Nicholas Coblence, based on the idea that almost everyone feels an emotional connection to music. In turn, Cords For Music designs musically-themed jewelry and some of its proceeds go towards funding music education. Check out its necklaces, stud and bracelets.

9) Dobell Suits

Based in California, Dobell makes suits that take you through all of life’s most important moments — from meetings and job interviews, to celebrations and weddings. But Dobell also stands out from similar websites in also offering novelty suits and all suit-related accessories that one would need (e.g. top hats, suspenders, cufflinks, dress canes, sock suspenders). I will likely be wearing a Dobell suit to my wedding in March.

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10) New Barbarians: Outlaws, Gunslingers, and Guitars by Rob Chapman

Everyone knows The Rolling Stones, but most Stones fans are likely not aware of The New Barbarians. The New Barbarians was a short-lived group — lasting from 1979 to 1980 — featuring the Stones’ Ron Wood and Keith Richards, legendary jazz bassist Stanley Clarke, Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan, Stones sideman Bobby Keys, and The Meters’ drummer Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste. Chapman’s book not only looks at the band’s run in-depth, featuring never-before-published photography from Bruce Silberman, but also includes 10 previously-unreleased tracks from the 1979 U.S. tour on an accompanying CD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj3VoQ4DV2A

11) CoinOpStore’s Classic Arcade Games

A major staple of my childhood was trips to a video arcade. While video game consoles keep getting more advanced, letting users browse the Internet, stream television and movies, and so forth, sometimes there is a craving for the old-school, upright sort of video game. CoinOpStore builds arcade game cabinets, which can be customized to include thousands of games. So whether you are a Pacman fanatic, an Atari diehard, or more interested in the battle games of the 1990s, there will be plenty of fun ahead for you.

Downtown Magazine