Melanie, does anybody on St John carry your seasonings, like St John spice or Dolphin Market?

Mitch Gibbs does a great job of capturing the feel of the tropics with his painting of St.Thomas and St. John.
Prints sell for a round $25 - $30 either downtown in Palm Passage or the Marriott.
Locals buy them to send to relatives because they give the true colors of the tropics and are easy to ship

Water Island, USVI artist Paul Borghi made the T-shirts with the iguanas on them, and they are definitely for sale at Tickles Restaurant and Bar in Crown Bay. They are excellent. I gave them to people, and they thought they were very cute.

Here is another gift idea for children. The book is not about the Caribbean, but the author lives in St. Thomas and the beautiful picture of the rainbow over the ocean was taken in St. Thomas. (It's kind of fun to guess which islands you can see in the picture.)

The book can be found at http://www.lulu.com/content/320465

Basically the book has a bunch of good deeds that kids do, and they keep a cute little record of what they did and then pass it on to a friend. The kids I gave it to really liked it.

Here is the description of the content of the book from the website:
The Secret Happiness Book is a creative and inviting piece that appeals directly to children and to adults who wish to purchase it for young people as gifts. Created by an educator to entertain young people and to provide character education, The Secret Happiness Book has the goodwill spirit of the movie "Pay It Forward" and of the theme “Commit Random Acts of Kindness and Senseless Beauty”. It has the allure of a secret club and the addictive magnetism of the intrinsic rewards of doing good things. Children will just 'have to have it'. "The Secret Happiness Book" will appeal to educators and religious organizations. A kind of scavenger hunt for the soul, it promotes self-esteem, compassion, and love, with a small dose of responsible, spirited mischief. The author's goal in writing it was to better society as much as it was to entertain her readers.

MS411 I have not gotten a chance to go over to st. john as yet but hoepfully i will by the end of this month, i've heard about the spice store over there. i really don't know st. john that well, do you have any other places over there i can go to.

I love the candles that were poured inside of the shells. They used to make them and sell them at the candle art studio in Jim Tillett's - not sure if they still do. I have seen them being sold in small gift store on a side street off of Main Street. Tillett's had larger ones....and also had some that were poured into sand molds - VERY nice.

The store on the immediate left when you enter the shops at mountain top sells these beachy wall hangings that are very fun, colorful and inexpensive ($6 to $10), yet well made.

Dolphin Dreams has great gifts. For a special occasion where you'd spend more, look at the glass ceiling fan pulls. They also have wall art, soaps, lotions, tree ornaments, etc...

Everybody I know loves the calendars.

I'm not fond of the 3forwhatever T shirts. If a shirt isn't a good quality T, I'd rather not have one at all.

Blu: The candle maker is Jason Budsan. He is in Tillett and his candles are all around. A very nice guy, too. And my sentiments about the soon-to-be dishrag ($3/10) t-shirts! 😉

Thank you, EE. I have always loved those candles, especially the larger ones with multiple wicks. I have young childhood memories of them and loving how they looked - I think I recall them hanging in some kind of suspension. Will try to get some next time I'm there.

I don't dare try to have them shipped. I shipped $100 worth of Yankee candles to a friend on STT (Yankee ships to STT at no extra cost) and by STT postman held them in he back of his mail truck for 2 weeks before my friend found them. Needless to say, liquid wax is not a good gift!

Oh, I just got a new GREAT new one! One of our very own from St. Thomas, even 'born here'. Oh my gosh, young female writer, Tiphanie Yanique (aka Tiphanie Galiber-Gundel) has always been amazing, but now she has a short story, or "chapbook" as they call it, that has been published by Kore Press. This is a GREAT purchase and great gift. Our Tiphanie is in good company with their short list of published writers, including Gertrude Stein and Ani Difranco and now, Tiphanie Yanique - WOW! 🙂 I just got my copy of it, and I've already ordered more for gifts.

You can get them at: http://www.korepress.org/bios/yanique.htm

Money.

I always love it when people give me money as a souvenir. It helps pay for our next vacation.

I just thought of another one: hibiscus earrings. They are available in silver, gold, gold-filled, etc. and of various sizes.

Local artists' CD's make great gifts too. You can usually order directly through them for a great price. Many will be appearing this Saturday at the Montessori School Music Fest! (on Saturday, Sept. 29)

On a similar post on another board I saw that local author Tiphanie Yanique also has a book for sale via www.korepress.org. It's called "The Saving Work". I just sent for a copy, so I haven't read it yet, but I heard it is very good.

Hi Karen,
I have been buying from Mary Mercer for years now, and had my last few emails returned. I called to learn that Mary died in September and the business is now closed. She was a lovely lady and made such nice products. As I see you have bought her items before, I wondered if you know of any comparable merchant. Just wondering.....
Reeping

I make various hot sauces, flavored oils and vinegar (garlic/basil, tarragon/lemon, etc.) for cooking and different chutney's or preserves for gifts. The chutneys/preserves I make earlier in year when fruit from my trees is available Island Calenders are great for gifts and if they like, they can frame the pics when the year is done and have some good recipes as well.

Then there's always wind chimes and bird feeders!