12 Days of Christmas Shopping Left

THEATRE Given the state of the economy, seeing any theatre is a gift to local artists and organizations, but at Christmas, you have a special opportunity: you can give the gift of theatre to someone else. And for our money, there's no better way to do that than a set of passes to On the Boards. It's the sort of theatre adrenaline shot that surprises and entertains even the people who normally find the theatre boring. For $44 you can get someone a pair of tickets and a pair of drink passes, or even better, for $120, you can get a six-show subscription. Details here.

BOOKS The holiday classic! And books aren't just for gifts--what are you gonna be doing waiting 45 minutes for your flight after fighting through airport security with a carry-on full of wrapped presents come Dec. 23? So do the smart thing, avoid the airport newsstands and head over to your favorite local bookstore, whether it be Bailey Coy, Elliott Bay, Third Place, or the UW Bookstore (or Amazon.com; they may not be indie, but they are local) and check out some of the stock. We'd point to local writer Erica Bauermeister's first novel The School of Essential Ingredients (CORRECTION: This novel does not publish until Jan. 22) or poet Linda Bierds' new collection, Flight. That's the local selection for you, but our top choice--a book we can't recommend highly enough--comes from a dead Chilean who wrote it in Spain: If you haven't read Robert Bolano's 2666, out last month, go pick it up. It's a thousand pages long, consists of five seemingly unrelated stories, and takes place over the course of the entire 20th century, from Vlad Dracul's castle during the Second World War to the murder of hundreds of women in Ciudad Juarez along the Mexican-American border today. It's available in both hardcover and three-volume paperback.

MOVIES For the movie lover in your life, there's plenty of local options. Central Cinema offers gift certificates, SIFF is already selling passes and packages for next year's festival, and the Northwest Film Forum has a limited number of $69 passes (huh huh) for their 1969 film series taking place over all of next year. From where we're sitting, $69 for a year's worth of films is a damn good deal. And finally, Big Picture offers a set of different gift packages for their classy theater downtown: $50 for a pair of tickets, popcorn, and champagne, $45 for a set of six passes, or $40 for cocktails, popcorn, and a pair of passes.

COMIX Those comic book elitists over at Fantagraphics have compiled various gift guides recommending their own stuff, and there's a wider-ranging selection from critics and cartoonists in The Comics Journal's gift guide. But what you should do instead is just ignore all that and go check out the damaged and adult rooms in the back of the Georgetown store for some really weird shit--like for instance, Howie Dard's meticulously sick porn masterpiece Tart. Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like x-rated cartoon smut starring emaciated, anorexic-looking white chicks.

ODDITIES Archie McPhee's has never failed us during the holiday season and every year we pick up something quirky and kitschy for friends and family.

GIFT CARDS! Costco is a local business, and so are some of their gift card offerings, most complete with a discount. Almost anything worth $100 sells for $80, but a stand-out is the McCormick & Schmick's card worth up to $129 that you can get--special price!--for $79.99. Oh, Costco, you had us at cheap gas.

HANDMADE Head over to shop Etsy.com for handmade local crafts, jewelry, art, clothing, and accessories.

IT'S BETTER TO GIVE It's at time like these that maybe we need to think of others less fortunate than us, and take a few of those dollars we'd normally spend gorging ourselves in an orgy of consumerism and contribute a bit to making it a better world for others and ourselves, and you can even do it on someone else's behalf. If a donation is more your thing this time of year, we would first point you towards Northwest Harvest. This Christmas will be a meager one for even more people than usual, and while there's a probably a NW Harvest bin at everyone's work already, we just want to remind you that food banks are rarely over-supplied, and to encourage you not to forget that people are going hungry twelve months a year, not just at Christmas. Or, you could write a check to the Cascade People's Center...where your value is two-fold: (a) It helps keep CPC afloat and (b) it infuriates Paul Allen helps Paul Allen support a local charity. What more could you want from a gift? And finally, let's not forget the plight of California's gay couples, who were once married but now aren't, thanks to a snatch-job worthy of the Grinch himself. Do them a favor and support a gay rights organization trying to over-turn Prop. 8 in California or fighting for gay rights here in Seattle. We're sure they'll be happy to mail your "Someone made a donation in your name" from the fabulous organizations to the good people of Salt Lake City, Utah.

"Daytime Christmas Tree" by Jeff Carlson and "Macy's Christmas Star" by faeryboots both from the Seattlest Flickr pool.