Looking for a Las Vegas gift idea? These entrepreneurs have some suggestions

It’s the holiday season, and locals may be looking for gifts that highlight what makes Las Vegas unique.

Small-business owners in the area have their own insight. Here are five Nevada entrepreneurs and makers — and their suggestions on what makes a good, locally made gift.

Vegas-specific wearable art from Battle Born Pins

Iconic Las Vegas signs may have been most famous when they were dozens of feet tall, but one locally born artist keeps the vintage icons alive through very, very small versions.

Holly Vaughn runs Battle Born Pins with a mission to commemorate the midcentury modern designs and style that once loomed over Las Vegas streets.

“So many things in Vegas are very fleeting, very ephemeral,” she said. “I wanted to have something that I knew I could keep, that would last forever.”

It turns out others did, too. Since then, Vaughn has developed more than 100 designs of different signs, landmarks or iconography related to Las Vegas and Nevada. She said many people connect to the small items for what they represent of businesses that have long since been demolished or otherwise changed.

“People tell me the most amazing stories,” she said. “They’ll message me on Instagram or email me and just thank me profusely — ‘Thank you for making this pin of the Stardust. My grandpa worked there, and we have nothing to remember that time by.’ That’s my favorite part, hearing great stories from the people who really built this city and make it what it is.”

Vaughn’s pins are primarily sold online at LasVegasPins.com but can also be found in retailers around the Vegas valley. Her largest collection is sold at the Antique Alley Mall in the Arts District.

Vaughn said she has a special gift package targeted for couples married in Vegas: a $32 “elopement box” with pins, a notepad, key chain and stickers.

For other Vegas lovers, gift-givers can pick from several iconic signs — Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas, Vegas Vic and Vickie to name a few — or purchase one that’s dear to their loved one. Pins range from $10 to $12.

T-shirts and trinkets at Tofu Tees

Plenty of customers at Tofu Tees don’t believe 16-year-old Kumei Norwood when she tells them it’s her business.

“Some people will be like, ‘Oh, do your parents own this and you’re working for them?’ No, it’s all my designs and everything,” Norwood said. “It’s a lot of different reactions — in person it’s a lot of positive reactions. Online it’s a little mixed.”

Not only is she running the show — she has been doing it for eight years. Norwood’s apparel business started with a T-shirt screen printed with an old note of hers, complete with the kid-like scrawl: “Why Are Peepl So Sensitiv?”

Her designs focus on social issues, like T-shirts and stickers that declare “racism is trash” and “social issues are not trends.” Norwood said she also uses the store as a way to give back to the community. For instance, a donation box set outside the store will accept gifts to be distributed at The Solidarity Fridge, a mutual aid group in east Las Vegas, on Christmas Eve.

Norwood’s business moved into Fergusons Downtown in 2021. Norwood is a Las Vegas Academy student during part of the business’s open hours, and her mother runs the shop while she’s in school. Or, other entrepreneurs will host pop-up business hours, selling their products alongside Norwood’s.

“I’ve always been surrounded by entrepreneurs ever since I was little,” she said. “We lived out in L.A. when I was 4 or 5-ish, and my mom always made jewelry for photoshoots and sets and stuff, so I was always surrounded by people who are making stuff. That really influenced me from a young age.”

Norwood recommends that shoppers look for several small items to make up a larger gift. Tofu Tees is selling three different gift boxes made up of trinkets and other items: the “self-love” box for $18, the “Sensitiv” box for $20 and the “reproductive rights” box for $25.

More than a six-pack at Mojave Brewing

It’s easy to get a beer lover a six-pack and put it under the tree. But a growler and a gift certificate to their favorite brewery is a great way to get more out of a thoughtful present, according to advice from the owner of Henderson’s Mojave Brewing.

John “Griff” Griffith said his business on Water Street is also brewing “Holiday Havoc,” a 5 percent alcohol by volume pastry stout, and the Wu Tang Clan-inspired “Ain’t Nothing To F—- With” imperial stout (with at 17 percent A.B.V. to match the name), both of which could pique the interest of hopheads.

A growler costs $10 and the pour to fill it is $20, Griffith said. He also suggested gift cards — or gift poker chips at Mojave — as an alternative to gifting a six-pack.

“They’re going on a little afternoon vacation or adventure, if you will, to find where that beer was made and what the place is like,” he said. “And there are so many cool, great breweries in the Las Vegas and Henderson areas.”

The teacher-turned-brewer opened the tasting room in Water Street’s old Bank of America building in February 2020, and weeks later, pandemic shutdowns rattled his business.

He attributed continued success to city leaders encouraging him to stay open to serve to-go beer and community members who turned the business’ parking lot into a social distanced “tailgate party” by enjoying their drinks in lawn chairs with friends.

“People would come to the wall and yell at us what they wanted, and we’d fill a can or we’d fill a growler,” Griffith said. “The locals basically kept us open from that point forward.”

A ‘blind date’ with Buttercup Books

Bibliophile Kate Stowell has long participated in “blind date with a book” exchanges in her book club, and her new pop-up business takes the viral idea to one-day markets in Las Vegas.

Stowell’s Buttercup Books sells pre-wrapped books — no title or author shown — with clues on the story and additional book-related items. She sells the books at Market in the Alley in the Arts District.

“It takes some of that decision-making out of it,” she said. “It’s also kind of fun when you get a lot of goodies wrapped in with your book.”

Stowell’s business name is inspired by her late daughter, Frances Buttercup. Nearly two years ago, Stowell went into pre-term labor, and her daughter lived 12 days. Stowell said launching her book-reselling business has been a way to her to “put a piece of her out there.” A portion of sales is donated to March of Dimes, a nonprofit focused on ending preventable maternal health risks and death and preterm birth.

Hardcover books are $25, and paperbacks are $20. Most are fiction, and Stowell collects books to wrap and sell through online sources and offering discounts on future purchases for customers who donate a book.

Additional tchotchkes sold with the books could include highlighters, annotation tabs, bookmarks, dried flowers, teabags and other items.

For gift-givers who want more control in their present, Stowell recommended giving bookworms personalized reading accessories like a reading log or monogrammed bookmark. Or, give a book by a beloved author and introduce the recipient to something you love.

If in doubt, the mystery book gift can also be a bonding experience, she said.

“There’s a lot of freedom in the idea that, ‘I didn’t really pick this book either,’” Stowell said with a laugh.

Eclectic styles at Akin Cooperative

Jen Taler started Market in the Alley in 2017 while developing the Fergusons Downtown space. She said it started with fewer than 20 vendors and about 200 shoppers and has since grown to as many as 900 vendors in the database and crowds as large as 4,000. The markets are now held in four locations on select weekend dates: UnCommons in southwest Las Vegas, The Village at Centennial Springs, the Arts District and The Green at The District at Green Valley Ranch.

Also, her retail shop Akin Cooperative in the Arts District is like a stationary Market in the Alley, where some makers also sell their wares.

A self-described “maker of spaces” and a former Zappos buyer, Taler said her desire to create unique retail experiences comes from previous work experience in boutiques, working overseas in Australia and her family background.

“I think that collaborative and people-person (focus), being in a diverse family unit spilled over to who I am in my day-to-day,” she said.

Holiday shopping at Akin Cooperative or a Market in the Alley could give customers a wide selection of gift options, including some traditional ideas like handmade candles, jewelry and home goods. One unique option at the shop on Commerce Street is the KGB personal fire pit for $55.

“You can have this beautiful flame if you want to keep warm,” Taler said. “But I have a 4-and-a-half-year-old, so we were making s’mores last night off of it.”

Taler said her years in retail have given her the guiding questions for gift-giving. First and foremost, consider that person’s style and interests.

“My curation is very eclectic in the style of stuff, and our city is very eclectic on what we make,” she said. “I think we can hit a lot of different styles with what’s in the store.”

Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.