26 Gifts to Delight Any St. Louis Lover

Big River Running T-Shirt
$22 in store or online.
Whether you've got a runner in your life or just someone who likes to show off their St. Louis pride, a Big River Running (three locations including 606 North and South Road, University City; bigriverrunning.com) T-shirt with the confluence or city flag is the thing.

Imo's garb
Purchase at the Richmond Heights store or at seriessixcompany.com.
Is there anything more St. Louis than sporting an homage to our most beloved local pizza chain on your clothing? Pretty much no. And it's not just Imo's sweatshirts that you can rock. Thanks to a collaboration with Series Six (26 The Blvd Saint Louis, Richmond Heights), there's also T-shirts, hats and even a pizza box ornament. Series Six also has a host of other St. Louis-themed goodies.

St. Louis Skyline Menorah
Purchase for $49 in store or online
Hanukkah is over on December 15, but that's no reason to sleep on this sweet St. Louis skyline menorah from and by STL Style (3159 Cherokee Street). For one, it's limited edition so there's no guarantee you can pick this up next year. Also, it just looks cool to have the Arch behind your candles.

St. Louis Bread Co. BAGuette
$39.50 at online for $39.50
Ignore the "Paneras" embossed on this fancy sandwich purse that Bread Co. put out earlier this year. It's still the perfect size for a baguette, and you might even be able to fit a Gioia's hot salami in here as well.

A St. Louis-Scented Candle
$26 and available online
JD and Kate Dobson are quite likely the funniest couple in St. Louis, and their thriving candle-making business doesn’t just offer candles that smell like the War of 1812 or Nancy Fuckin’ Pelosi (the modifier is theirs) but also one that smells like St. Louis. How does that smell, you ask? We’ll give you a hint: There’s a synthetic toasted ravioli resting on the wax. Who wouldn’t want their house to smell like marinara sauce?

A City of St. Louis “Arnament”
Order for $11.95 online
This Christmas tree ornament — sorry, “arnament” — is a tribute to the city’s refuse trucks, and perhaps their current scarcity is one reason it was a huge hit for STL-Style; the retailer sold out within 24 hours of premiering them online last year. That makes this year the perfect time to obtain yours.

The Global Foods Market Cookbook
$20 and available at smallcirclerecipes.com/globalfoods
The Global Foods Market Cookbook, from Kirkwood's Global Foods Market in collaboration with the International Institute of St. Louis and Small Circle Recipe Books, features 23 recipes from both local chefs and also regular people, who submitted their family recipes in an open call situation earlier this year. Though the cookbook is technically in presale and won't drop until January, it's still a great for holiday gifting because anyone who buys one receives a digital download to tide them over for the hard copy. Profits benefit the International Institute and go toward new immigrant services.

CODES Blueberry Gooey Butter Cake Gummies
Purchase for $20 online or at CODES St. Louis (11420 Concord Village Avenue)
With recreational adult use cannabis legal and fully sunk in to our collective consciousness, it's inevitable that some weed will find its way under the Christmas tree. Why not make it super St. Louis style with these CODES Blueberry Gooey Butter Cake Gummies?

St. Louis Walk of Fame: 250 Years of Great St. Louisans
$29.95 at various Delmar Loop shops or at blueberryhill.com
The new St. Louis Walk of Fame: 250 Years of Great St. Louisans tells the history of 173 St. Louis luminaries including actor Jon Hamm, boxers Michael and Leon Spinks, TV host and producer Andy Cohen, football star Kurt Warner, Temptations vocalist Dennis Edwards, writer Jonathan Franzen and more. It's the brainchild of Delmar business mogul Joe Edwards, who says the goal of the book and the Walk of Fame is to draw attention to great St. Louisans. We can get behind that.

St. Louis City SC Jersey
Purchase starting at $41 online or at the City Pavilion (2118 Market Street)
City SC's MLS debut was almost as good a season as anyone could have hoped for, and that rocketed the new soccer team straight to the center of every St. Louisan's heart. So a jersey to rock that new pride is the thing for pretty much anyone.

A Red Hot Riplets shower curtain
Purchase for $60 online
Anybody can use a few bags of St. Louis’ favorite snack chip as a stocking stuffer, but it takes a giver both generous and genial to get their friends a Red Hot Riplets shower curtain. You know you want to be that friend. This is your year to shine. (You can also buy a Red Hot Riplets flag if you prefer to let your taste in snack chips fly.)

A Ted Drewes “Drewzie”
Order for $3.99online or pick up at the Ted Drewes Gift Shop (6708 Chippewa)
You don’t need a koozie when you could have a Drewzie from Ted Drewes! Everyone’s favorite frozen custard shop also offers themed shot glasses, mugs and more. For last-minute shoppers, there's a whole separate gift shop down on Chippewa these days.

Humans of St. Louis Book
Purchase for $45 at humansofstl.org
Popular Instagram account Humans of St. Louis outgrew the bounds of the internet last year, going old school with a beautiful hardcover book — and sold out before it had even been printed. Thankfully, it's back in stock in time for the holidays and perfect for any lover of the real St. Louis and its people.

Katie’s Frozen Pizza
Available for $16.99 online
Iconic local pizza chain Katie's Pizza offers something unique in the world of frozen 'za: Frozen pies made with the same artisanal care as those fired up in the restaurants. Orders ship locally or nationally.

Mound City Chronicle photo book
Purchase for $40 online
Photographer Jason Gray made his name by dreaming up Photo Flood St. Louis, which over the course of nine years photo-blitzed each and every one of St. Louis’ 79 neighborhoods, with photographers showing up to capture whatever caught their fancy within each one on a designated day. Last year, Gray released his first monograph photobook, Mound City Chronicle, and you can see an example of his eye-catching work above. This is a perfect gift for anyone who loves gazing at St. Louis in all its moods — good, bad and everything in between. (We would never say “ugly”!)

New shirt from STL-Style
Purchase for $14.96 online
Dreams come true in St. Louis? They do! STL-Style owners Randy and Jeff Vines report that this T-shirt was inspired by a 1970s marketing campaign, which, based on the city’s population loss in the 1980s, was maybe not so successful. Even so, we love the retro look — and can always count on STL-Style to make us feel good about living here. Order online, or better yet visit the STL-Stylehouse on Cherokee Street to browse more selections.

Eckert's Hard Cider
Purchase at the Belleville location's Country Store (951 South Green Mtountain Road, Belleville, Illinois)
You can enjoy Eckert's relatively new hard cider line in flavors of blackberry, apple, strawberry, peach at the Cider Shed at its Belleville farm, or pick some up in cans at the Country Store. We know, yes, that's in Illinois, but St. Louis claims Eckert's, for sure.

Cornfed
Purchase for $89 online.
Missouri photographer and frequent RFT contributor Reuben Hemmer's book of is a collection of images shot in Missouri and neighboring states from 2019 to 2023. Like all of Hemmer's work, it shows the real side of living in this state, whether it's beautiful, grotesque, hilarious or downright bawdy.

A Steve’s Hot Dog T-shirt
Order for $30 and up atonline
Everyone loves a good hot dog, and everyone loves Steve Ewing, and that makes these T-shirts from Ewing’s beloved South Grand eatery a no-brainer. Get a Dookie-inspired version or a Pride-inspired version; either way you’ll be the toasted bun of the town.

ChiChi Chickpea Oatmeal
Purchase at select Straub's, Dierbergs and Fresh Thyme locations and online Washington University students Chiara Munzi and Izzy Gorton dreamed up a higher protein version of oatmeal made from chickpeas in an entrepreneurship class and ran with it, launching their company ChiChi with three flavors earlier this year. It's perfect for the health nut in your life.