12 ideas to jump-start your holiday shopping

If you shop now, maybe it will make 2020 go away quicker

In a typical year, we grumble over Santa sightings in November. We “bah humbug!” at department stores that tinsel up too early. And premature holiday carols? Don’t get us started.

But this year is different. Perhaps we’re just trying to hasten the end of 2020. Or we crave the deep comfort of twinkle lights and snowmen.

So if you’re thinking about getting a start on your holiday giftshopping now, we’ve got 12 merry ideas for the foodies, drink lovers and adventurers in your life — or to keep for yourself.

Pizza party

Got a young foodie on your list? Trust Lopez-Alt, the South Bay restaurateur, Serious Eats guru and dad, to pen a children’s picture book about everyone’s favorite food. “Every Night is Pizza Night” (Norton Young Readers, $18) for pizza-loving Pipo, until she and her friends go on a neighborhood quest to prove that — scientifically speaking — pizza is the best thing ever.

Heaven bacon

For the last decade, chef Tony Baker has made British-style bacon for swanky restaurants around the country, curing and smoking sustainably raised heritage breed pork at his smokehouse. Now regular people can get it, too, by ordering the Baker’s Bacon gift box ($42) or, for die-hard fans, a bacon subscription ($95). The gift box includes two packages of thick-sliced double-smoked bacon and one of uncured back bacon. The subscription box goes even bigger, with six pounds of porky splendor; https://bakersbacon.com.

A cook’s book

Entrepreneur. Restaurateur. Television host. Being Ayesha Curry takes all day. So how does the mother of three find time to cook? By using the tips and tricks in “The Full Plate: FlavorFilled, Easy Recipes for Families with No Time and a Lot to Do” (Little, Brown, $30). Available through independent bookstores.

Alfajores for all

Oakland’sWooden Table Baking Co. is the East Bay expert on alfajores, the decadent Argentine shortbread cookies filled with dulce de leche. If your giftee has a sweet tooth, one of the company’s 16-cookie samplers will certainly make them swoon.

The Basic Sampler includes traditional alfajores, along with Chocolate, Meringue and Snickerdoodle, while the Flavor Fusion is a medley of ArgentineAmerican flavors, like Lemon Ginger, Snickerdoodle, Espresso Chocolate and Mint Chocolate. There’s also a Chocolicious Sampler. $26; https://woodentablebaking.com.

Cocktail by mail

Griffo Distillery offers so many cocktail kits, you could try a different one every month of the year and still have more to sip. The 13 kits run the gamut, from the trendy Hibiscus Whiskey Ginger Cocktail Kit to classics, like the Ultimate Old Fashioned Cocktail Kit, which makes a whopping 24 cocktails. Best part? They’re adding new kits for the holidays. Each gift box contains a recipe card and ships in a sleek black box. $50-$180, plus shipping (California only); https://griffodistillery.com.

Virtual party, real wine

Virtual wine-tastings have popped up at wineries across California over the last six months, but this holiday package from Napa Valley’s historic Inglenook adds a festive party element to its virtual offerings. Send your favorite wine lovers a trio of 100-milliliter bottles of wine to taste during a private Zoom session with a wine educator, and make it a party by adding on a vineyard tour, chef demo or wine trivia game. Starts at $45; reservations@inglenook.com, http://bayareane.ws/ Inglenook.

Wearable wine

Napa-based Olive and Poppy designs modern and affordable pieces of jewelry ($30-$68) out of reclaimed oak wood barrels. Barely there wine stains add originality to each piece, reminding your stylish wine lover that these accessories started in the cellar. The hexagonal rings, earrings, necklaces and stackable bracelets — with pops of red, turquoise or pink lucite — are edgy yet everyday, like the red wine from which they came; https://oliveandpoppy.com.

Totes adorbs

Your favorite picnicker needs one of Olive and Poppy’s chic, leather-handled canvas tote bags. Available in Sonoma County, Napa Valley or the all-encompassing CA Wine Country riff, the heavyweight cotton totes, with copper rivets for strength and style, have an interior wine sleeve that keeps a bottle of wine upright and a zippered pocket for cheese knives. $64 or $72 with monogramming; https://oliveandpoppy.com.

Park puzzles

One thing’s sure about this pandemic: It has reignited our love of puzzles and the great outdoors. The two come together beautifully in artist Eric Dowdle’s colorful jigsaw puzzles of the country’s National Parks. $25. Available through Amazon and https://dowdlefolkart.com.

Travel mug

You’re out in the great outdoors, sipping coffee in a wildflower-dappled meadow as birdies sing in the trees. Shouldn’t your favorite camper’s mug be just as sweet? Forget the speckled blue cups of yore. We’re going for Oregon artist Katie Daisy’s whimsical white enamel mugs ($23) and cheery ceramic mugs ($18) with their depictions of tents, trees, cozy red socks, butterflies, bees and more.

Paint the town

Know someone in need of a creative outlet? Portland illustrator Rachel Austen’s kits may be the perfect gift. Austen is the designer behind a line of artist quality paint-by-numbers sets in themes ranging from botanicals to female heroes. She offers three nostalgic San Francisco-themed kits: Parrot at Coit Tower, Cable Car in Chinatown and Conservatory of Flowers. Each kit includes an 8-by-10-inch canvas, reusable synthetic sable hair paintbrushes and hand-mixed acrylic paints in eight custom colors. $35; www.elle-cree.com.

Advent event

Disney and San-Francisco based Insight Editions have created a spooky countdown to Christmas with this Advent calendar and pop-up tree ($40) inspired by Tim Burton’s film, “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Follow Jack Skellington’s adventures with 25 removable and displayable ornaments — from a skeletal reindeer to a man-eating wreath — to hang on the tree as you get closer to Dec. 25. Bonus: It comes with a 28-page guidebook containing fascinating facts about Halloweentown and its residents. Available via Amazon.

COURTESY RACHEL AUSTEN Illustrator Rachel Austen designs artist-quality paint-by-numbers kits of San Francisco landmarks, like Coit Tower.

COURTESY INSIGHT EDITIONS Tim Burton's iconic film comes to life in ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ pop-up Advent calendar.

COURTESY WOODEN TABLE BAKING CO. Wooden Table Baking Co's alfajores sampler is the perfect gift for your foodie’s sweet tooth.

COURTESY GRIFFO DISTILLERY Griffo Distillery has a variety of cocktail kits to keep you sipping all winter.

COURTESY OLIVE AND POPPY Olive and Poppy's totes will inspire wine and cheese picnics yearround.

COURTESY ODYSEA Odysea’s whimsical enamel mugs are perfect for holding cocoa — or beer.

COURTESY LITTLE BROWN Ayesha Curry's new cookbook is geared toward getting the whole family into the kitchen.

COURTESY DOWDLE Spend the holidays putting together a jigsaw puzzle of the national parks.

COURTESY OLIVE AND POPPY Olive and Poppy makes modern, affordable jewerly out of wine barrels.

COURTESY INGLENOOK Host a virtual wine-tasting party or gift a private tasting session with Inglenook’s gift pack.

COURTESY BAKER’S BACON You can order a bacon subscription or gift box of porky splendor.

COURTESY NORTON YOUNG READERS ‘Every Night is Pizza Night’ by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt