Cards & Gifts

Downtown’s gift boutiques make for diverting browsing during the wait for a restaurant table. On Main, Occasionally Gift Baskets & Balloons specializes in Wolverine State edibles, collectibles, and accessories; the M-Den and Main Street T-Shirts and Gifts stock U-M sportswear and T-shirts with snappy sayings; and fair-trade advocate Ten Thousand Villages sells folk art, jewelry, tableware, Oriental rugs, toys, games, and musical instruments made by artisans around the world.

On Liberty near State, 4 Seasons Perfume sells thousands of heady scents as well as beautiful lingerie. Wilkinson Luggage, on Zeeb Road, carries clever traveling accoutrements and buttery soft leather goods. Collectible gifts, including Hallmark items, can be found at Traver Village’s Crown House of Gifts; Georgetown Gifts, on Packard; and Happy House, in Westgate Shopping Center. Christian gifts, including books and music, are on display at Oak Valley Centre’s Christian Crossroads.

In Kerrytown Market & Shops, the elegant Found offers a witty inventory, with bracelets made from 35-millimeter film, wall art made from turn-of-the-century sheet music, and furniture made from reclaimed wood. Other shops have gifts for every taste and occasion: irreverent, occasionally X-rated novelty items at Gags & Gifts, on Carpenter; unusual greeting cards and handblown glass animals at the Caravan Shop, in Nickels Arcade; lovely custom-engraved stationery and writing utensils at Fourth Avenue’s Pen in Hand; Celtic-inspired jewelry and lacquered Russian boxes at Kerrytown’s Princess Designs; Asian ceramics, scarves, jewelry, and art at L’Oriental on South Main; and cards, jewelry, and retro home accents at Middle Earth, on South University.