Several local businesses in Chadds Ford Township are offering some special ideas on merchandise and events during the holiday season.
According to Jackie Tate, owner of The Right Tough Engravers, the shop will be offering a free personalized wooden ornament with a $50 purchase.
“We will create a custom wood ornament. For example, people will ask if we can put their logo on the ornament, or can make it the shape of a paw, or something like that. We’ll create one and give them a free setup. There’s normally a charge to set up the logo or create the custom shape,” Tate said.
The free setup is free if the customer orders 10 or more ornaments, she added.
Tate also said they will offer a sale this month on holiday-themed 500-piece puzzles. They are $20 each (discounted from $25) and 2 for $35.
Additionally, the Shops at the Chadds Ford Plaza, where Right Touch is located, the businesses in the center donated 260 pounds of food to the Kennett Food Bank.
Farther down Route 1 in the Barn Shops, Tess Wofford of Oso Sweet Bakery, and Caitin Michner of The Naked Lady have their own activities planned.
Wofford said her shop just “came off the biggest Thanksgiving ever. I never made so many pies in my life,” she said. “So, I’m really excited about Christmas.”
She spoke about her shop’s new annex, in the building behind Oso Sweet, which has been used just for additional seating, but there are many possible uses for the space.
One of the ideas is that Wofford will have a Christmas market in the space.
“It will run Friday, Saturday, and Sunday every weekend up until Christmas,” she said.
The market will be used to showcase some Oso Sweet’s branded items, such as bandanas and coasters, hats and beanies, plus T-shirts. There are also some Oso Sweet playing cards that have bears instead of jokers.
“My mom made them, and they’re very cute.”
But basically, Woffard said she’s easing into the holiday season with a few possible ideas for the season.
She’s also planning a 12 Days of Christmas special for Oso before Christmas.
“We’re going to do a different specialty every day, like a discount on an item for when we release a new product or a new specialty latte or something like that,” Wofford said.
The 12 days will run from Dec. 13 through Dec. 24. There will also be a gingerbread workshop on Dec. 13 from noon to 4 p.m.
“People of all ages can come in. We’ll have pre-built gingerbread houses, lots of candy and frosting, and things for decoration.”
Next door to Wofford’s annex is The Naked Lady, so named for a flower, the Naked Lady Lily, that owner Caitlin Michner saw while living in the Ozarks in Arkansas. She thought it was a gorgeous flower and decided to name her shop after it.
Michner describes her shop, which she opened two years ago, as a “gallery that focuses on promoting local handmade arts as opposed to reproductions.”
All the artwork and the clothing are made from natural, sustainable materials.
For the holiday season, Michner said there will be one large collective event on every second Saturday of the month, which will be Saturday, Dec. 13.
“I offer free vending space throughout the village, outside when the weather is good, and as much as we can cram inside when it’s not. I try to get the artists who have work in the shop already to come and do workshops and demos,” Michner said.
On Thursday and Friday, Dec. 11 and 12, and Sunday, Dec. 14 will be coming to do workshops. One artist will have a kids’ holiday craft make and take and another artist will be doing a real pressed flower Christmas ornament workshop, and another artist will be doing a Christmas-themed block-printing workshop at The Naked Lady.
After that will be a special holiday self-care workshop centered around crafting and artmaking “in a more therapeutic sense, as a way to self-soothe through the holidays,” she said.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
