You guys are awesome, such a great time last weekend. I heard a lot of, “I got all my Xmas shopping done”… “Thank you for the awesome gift bag”… “The coffee and spiced cider, so good!”… “Who made that balloon?”. Thank you for coming out and supporting. The year isn’t over, there is more to come.

A huge thank you to all of our friends that made the event a success… Geronimo Balloons, Juniper Ridge, Baxter of California, Tattly, Capsule Parfumerie, Minor Thread’s Mulling Spiced Cider, and last but not least, Handsome Coffee.

Jihan of Geronimo Balloons brought by one of her signature balloons to make the festivities even greater. The window display behind her… it’s her creation for Poketo!

Michael Phillips of Handsome Coffee and CH of Poketo. The cider you had, that was from her own brand, Minor Thread

Hellen (!!) and Calvin…

We love our stripes at Poketo…

Little Doori here representing BinkyPop… it’s instagram meets tees for kids! Doori’s mom and pops, Molly and Mochi Park are long time Poketo friends.

We are super excited to host Creative Mornings Los Angeles here at the Poketo Store on December 14th. It will be a unique, first of its kind Creative Mornings series with two speakers, Sharon Montrose and Clare Vivier. These two successful business owners and brand visionaries will be speaking about how they got started and built their respective company and brand. As you may already know, we are a proud stockist of Clare Vivier bags and clutches!

At the store beginning at 8am, we’ll have our friends Handsome Coffee serving up their awesome brand of espresso and milk (in my humble opinion, the best in LA) and what has become a Creative Mornings Los Angeles tradition, ice cream will be served by Be Cool Cow Truck!

With the overwhelming response to this event, You must RSVP starting at 11am today. Be quick, tickets go fast. As always, the event is free… and inspiring.

For this holiday season, we are so smitten by our beautiful new wrapping paper that makes bundling up even the most simple of gifts feel extra special. Designed by Karolin Schnoor, a German freelance illustrator and designer based in London, it is dressed in a botanical pattern screen printed by hand with highly pigmented gold ink.

Karolin is also the designer behind the Garland Pullover, part of our new line of women’s pullovers. In our latest ‘Meet the Artist’ feature, we ask Karolin about her inspiration and in the spirit of the season, her Poketo picks for the holidays.

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the origin of the design for the wrapping paper?

I wanted to do something simple and clean and a floral pattern just didn’t seem right for Christmas (my usual go-to subject) so I decided on some berries and fir-tree branches, can’t go wrong with a seasonal classic!

2. How about the shirt design?

I was working on the shirt designs and wrapping paper at the same time and I actually find it quite helpful to work in that way. It’s good when you have a starting point and create a complimentary design to something you already made. So the shirt design is a bolder design, picking up on the shape of the berries in the wrapping paper pattern.

3. Please tell us about your favorite holiday memory?

I’m from Germany so Christmas there is pretty great. All my childhood holidays were snowy white which is all you really need when you’re a kid. We also celebrate on the night of the 24th which means you can spend all day in suspended anticipation. I think my favorite Holiday memory might be one I can’t recall but that my mother told me about. When we were very little, a neighbor would play Santa for my brother and me and one year it suddenly dawned on me what was happening. I consulted with my parents and we all decided I would keep quiet for the benefit of my younger brother who was still totally fooled. I felt very clever for figuring it out and was excited to be in on the secret.

4. Tell us about your plans for this upcoming Holiday?

I plan to eat lots of potato salad which is a German Christmas tradition and drink Glühwein on the Christmas market in my hometown of Potsdam. The wooden booths that make up the market have been the same since I was a kid and they have scenes of the Grimm Fairy tales painted on them (rather badly to be honest). It’s the best. I’m also keeping my fingers crossed for snow as we didn’t have any last year.

5. Would you tell us some of your favorite items on Poketo.com that you’d love to receive for the holiday?

I’m partial to these:

1. Handprinted Leather Clutch
2. Japanese Enamel Kettle
3. Forget Me Knot Ring
4. Agenda Planner

In our final gift guide, we hit the ground running with ideas for the fitness enthusiast, avid cyclist or anyone who loves the great outdoors. Highly functional as they are bright and stylish, these gifts will stand up to their activity-packed days and fast become part of their outdoor essentials.

1. Swedish Light Bike Set
2. Hand-Painted Bike Bells
3. Share the Road Tee
4. Tyvek Tote
5. Wild Harvested Bar Soap
6. Striped Fleece Backpack
7. Sun and Shore Eco Sweatshirt
8. Colorful Wide-Angle Camera
9. Tribal Ombre Scarf

We hope that you have enjoyed the gift guides that we have put together for you, and that that they have made your holiday shopping much easier. Coming up next week, we share with you our gift wrapping essentials, so you can bundle up your thoughtfully chosen presents in style while adding personalized touches to make them extra special.

Missed out on our earlier gift guides? See them all here.