Pear Preserves

Cape Cod Traveler

http://www.capecodtravelerfoods.com/store.php?crn=52&rn=214&action=show_detail

North Falmouth, MA

I hope you’re not rushing off Cape Cod to get back to work without having snacks in the car. That traffic backup can be bad.

Try grabbing something local before you go. I’d try Pear Preserves from Cape Cod Traveler on some crackers. It has just enough sugar to pick you up and it actually tastes pretty good with cheddar cheese — even to a 5-year-old stuck in the car.

Chocolate Mint Wafers

Anna's Swedish Delights

http://annasswedishdelights.com/Cookies.html

Strolling through the local farmers market this past weekend, a small hand started pulling me toward a pile of…

“Cookies!” my son shouted.

But these aren’t any cookies. These are gluten-free cookies made with stuff like brown rice flour and potato fibers.

Oh, and chocolate and mint. They are, after all, Chocolate Mint Wafers from Anna’s Swedish Delights. Anna, who I met, makes them in her own kitchen, and they are always gluten-free. For $6.50, you get 6-8 cookies a bag. Just don’t eat them all at once. They’re not that guilt-free. But you might walk off those calories if you check her out at the Wayland Farmers’ Market at Russell’s Garden Center in June.

LaLicious Travel Set

MiniLuxe

http://www.miniluxe.com/shop.html

Newton, MA

If you’re a lady on the go, you know you have the choice of night-before-your-flight measuring all your favorite soaps and scrubs, pouring them into 2 oz containers, or be left begging the hotel staff for extra tiny soaps. Either way, it’s most likely not how you pictured yourself climbing the corporate ladder.

Fear not, the LaLicious Travel Set is designed to help you sail through the airport, with everything in 2 ounce see-through containers.

Includes sugar soufflé scrub, body butter, Body Oil, Body Wash and it comes in coconut créme, passionfruit lime and island guava.

Toss these lovely scents in the suitcase instead and spend the time worrying about how to keep that silk blouse ironed-looking. That’s a lot of time gained for $36.

Tartan bag

Sourpuss

http://www.sourpussclothing.com/index.asp?cat=57&prod=4968&start=1

Gloucester City, NJ

If you’ve traded in your Doc Martens for a minivan, don’t despair — there’s still hip out there that’s acceptable at PTA meetings.

Take this Tartan Bag from Sourpuss Clothing. For $30 you get the bag the company bills as “smell like the Dropkick Murphys” that comes with a leather strap and quick-velcro front (so you can drive the minivan and still reach for tissues). It even has a small purse hanging off the front that’s just a little off kilt-er.

Just a word to the wise — the school cafetorium is not a mosh pit.

Mariposa Adirondak Chair Napkin Holders

The Flat of the Hill

http://store.flatofthehill.com/maradichanaphol.html

Boston, MA

You might be looking at the calendar wishing for the lazy days of summer, but I’m frantically looking for hostess gifts for your home. Something that says “I’m so happy you let us stay for free near a resort area” and could also say “I’m sorry for whatever it is we will spill on your carpet.”

You know, something that will travel well. Well, thank goodness I found Flat of the Hill in Boston. They have Mariposa Adirondak Chair Napkin Holders that look teribly fancy with those cocktail napkins by Caspari ($89) but in fact it’s made out of sandcast aluminum. It’s pretty big — 8 inches high — and I think it will look just lovely on the porch when we visit the Adirondaks.

Those staying at my house to be near Boston’s famed harbor can get me the “Touch of Ivy” Shoe Sachet sets in either chocolate/raspberry swirl or emerald calypso colors. I would never buy them for you and suggest your shoes are fragrant — but you can buy them for me to help my shoes keep their shape in the closet.

Pack Rats Backpacks

Davis Squared

http://www.davissquared.com/

Somerville, MA

Now that we’ve been moved from wait-list to enrolled for the preschool a short walk from our house, I’m desperately looking for backpacks for my little guy.

It needs to be able to fit a tiny blanket, his baby stuffed dog, and it has to be small enough for him to carry himself.

Here’s the thing. Most backbacks for children are actually hurting them, and its creating a problem.

So I was delighted to find Davis Squared in Somerville has toddler-sized Little Pack Rats backpacks — and they are very cool looking. I like the penguin with the 3-D wings. He’s vinyl, wipe-able, and $42 — pricey, unless you realize what we’re saving in physical therapy down the road. It is roomy for being 7 inches wide and 11 inches high — and it says it will fit a waterbottle and snacks.

Oh good. Maybe we’ll buy it a few months early and test drive it during those hot trips to the playground.

Turtles

Ye Olde Pepper Companie

http://www.yeoldepeppercandy.com/pages/turtles.html

Salem, MA

Since 1806, people have been marveling at the ingenuity of the folks at Ye Old Pepper Companie, America’s oldest candy company.

While some would love the fudge or blackjacks, I remember a splurge was a turtle

Chocolate, chewy just-made-that-day caramel, and surrounded with nuts. Sometimes it was almonds. Sometimes pecans or cashews. Sometimes I picked milk chocolate and sometimes it was dark. Either way, it always seemed like an inspiration in every bite.

If you can’t decide either, you should get their 1 pound Turtles box for $16.98.

And if you happen to be in the Salem area, stop by its store near the ocean. There’s a giant window out front where, on fabulous days, you can watch your candy being made right from the street.

Snaffle Bit Cuff Bracelet

SmartPak

http://www.smartpakequine.com/ProductClassDescription.aspx?productClassId=3135&cmPreserveSource=true&cmPreserveCategory=true

Plymouth, MA

The Plymouth-based SmartPak company was born out of a need to have easy ways to feed lots of horses their custom supplements, but they’ve branched out of the basics to provide everything a horsewoman needs.

They’ll sell you helmets and sturdy riding undergarments as well as custom packs for your horse.

But if you don’t own a horse farm but may have seen National Velvet more than once, this double snaffle bit cuff bracelet with hinge in the back ($109.95) is for you. It is 7.5 inches around, but that back hinge gives you a little wiggle room if you’re the type to have giant forearms due to holding the reins all day.

That’s an addition you’ll want in your stable.

Paint-it-yourself Matroyshka

Museum of Russian Icons

http://museumofrussianicons.org/store.php?itemid=22

Clinton, MA

My sister came home from St. Petersburg — not Florida — with a suitcase full of these stacking dolls and the ability to pronounce “matroyshka,” the name for these dolls, like she was born there. And now that it’s birthday season, I’m hunting around wondering where I can find the kind of cool toys she gave my kids.

Luckily, I found the Museum of Russian Icons and the Paint-it-yourself Matroyshka set. For $22 you get five dolls which fit inside each other, instructions and paints.

That’s a whole rainy afternoon right there.

The Great Escape Spa Basket

Pemberton Farms

http://www.pembertonfarms.com/product/163/Spa_Gift_Baskets

Cambridge, MA

While looking for a fruit basket from Pemberton Farms, I stumbled upon “The Great Escape” gift basket that has no fruit, no wine, no nuts, and is exactly what I’m looking for.

It contains, and I’m going to try to read all of this in one breath: soaps, bath salts, bath tea, bath sponge, two pillar candles, Cru De Provence body lotion, a nice scrub, bubble bath, linen water and shower gel.

It also has the little details other folks seem to forget about: foot soak, and wood foot brush. It also has a back strap and bath mitt.

Gotta have the bath mitt if you’re doing the bubble bath. Then you get into a robe scented with linen water. It’s almost like having a European spa delivered right to your own tub.