With the economy getting scarier and people getting trampled or worse on Black Friday, there’s a lot of disillusionment floating around and a lot of talk of bypassing traditional shopping this holiday season. I’ll be joining the growing chorus of people like Smiling Mama who are skipping the big retail stores and doing all their gift-getting on Etsy (and at places like Craftland)—not because I work for Etsy and not just because of the brilliant, one-of-a-kind items you can find on there, but because I can’t help but feel that the way out of this larger economic dead-end lies less in government bailouts than in supporting small business and the people around you and around the world making things, and I get a lot out of the purchases I make on Etsy. It’s the most meaningful shopping experience I know of. If you want your gifts to be unique and have meaning, Etsy’s an ideal place to start.

But where to start on Etsy? The Gift Guides can be a good entryway. Here’s an Etsy Mini (widget) of the Gift Guide for Her:

Time Machine² and Pounce are good ways to get a broad overview of activity on Etsy and Shop Local is the way to find makers of items around you, but my current favorite way to shop is via this Tag Fractal (beta) by Jared Tarbell, one of many rewarding and elegant applications developed by Jared at his lab deep in the New Mexican desert. Combine and mix tags and scroll through an infinite gallery of associated items:

When you’re done there, you might be ready to pledge to buy handmade this year.