Survive Utah's Holiday Shopping Season With the City Weekly Gift Guide
Our tips for finding atypical gifts, unique experiences and Salt Lake essentials to get you and yours through the long, dark winter.
By Mika Lee, Aimee L. Cook, Benjamin Wood @BjaminWood, Erin Moore @errrands_, Matt Pacenza, Scott Renshaw @scottrenshaw and Erin Moore @errrands_
December 2022 is here at last, and big, loud, festive gatherings are back! ... Yay?
If you're anything like us, it's been a couple years since we had a real holiday season, with 2020 forever marked by a COVID asterisk and 2021 a scaled-back, tentative step back into new-normalcy.
That ain't this year. This year we're out of excuses and back to full capacity—with germy nieces and nephews; mothers-in-law who insist we should be eating more, or less, or both; office white elephant pools; and fresh election results ready to be debated endlessly by your uncle who does his own "research" online (yes, Virginia, there are Democratic voters in Arizona).
Plus, literally everything is expensive this year, our air quality is entering its net-poison phase, and—you know—it's damned cold outside. But shake the dust off your tablecloths and polish the silver, for in 2022, there will be feasts and fights, parties and packages, carols and criticisms and a cacophony of noise, noise, noise!
If I sound a little Grinchy, I'll own it. I dislike shopping and loathe gift-giving. So, it was with some reluctance (and a little petty griping) that I took on the reins of the 2022 Salt Lake City Weekly Gift Guide, my first since joining this paper as its news editor, and this paper's first since 2019. Luckily, I had a lot of help.
Rather than an exhaustive list of local retail items, we asked our writers to ponder the gift-giving mood of 2022 and look for generous ways to help us get back out into a world we were compelled to retreat from. What's a good gift for friends we haven't seen IRL in years? What gifts help bring people together over a cozy drink or for a game (even if they root for the opposing team), or even a live performance? Which gifts might you treat yourself to and beef up your urban credentials?
We hope these suggestions can supplement, or even inspire, your own ideas. We wish our Utah retailers the best during this critical season and encourage all who read these pages to shop local to the degree you are able. And stay safe out there—these roads are no joke.
—Benjamin Wood
Benjamin Wood
Lifelong Utahn Benjamin Wood has worn the mantle of City Weekly's news editor since 2021. He studied journalism at Utah State University and previously wrote for The Salt Lake Tribune, the Deseret News and Entertainment Weekly
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