Eugene Weekly’s Gift Guide 2010:

Reduce, Reconnect,  Rejoice! More ideas than just “coupon good for one massage” 

Organic on Your Skin Soaps made with love and garden herbs 

Caffeine Up Get through the holidays with the rituals of tea and coffee

Birds of a Feather Art and fashion in Poppy & Moe

Between Children and Young Adults Gifts for tweens straddle the line

Wood from the Heart Bad economy leads to lovely toys

Life, Death and Water Soothing fountains arise from crises

Drool-Worthy and Local Start a new, natural tradition

Kiss the Cook Better yet, get the cook one of these great holiday gifts

Genius Gift: Make your own Fizzy Water

Genius Gift:
Make your own Fizzy Water

Cook’s Pots and Tabletops, Hartwick’s and Down To Earth all sell the Soda Stream, which, starting at $80 (prices and availability vary among stores), is by most accounts a stroke of genius. It’s simple — fill the bottle (BPA-free plastic on the FountainJet and Genesis models, glass on the $199 Penguin model) with our yummy-tasting Eugene tap water, add one of more than 30 soda flavors or fruit essences (available separately) if desired, and pump — a recyclable $14.95 CO2 cartridge (which can be exchanged at a discount) makes 60 liters of soda. There’s nothing to recycle or throw out, no salt, no corn syrup — just fizzy water. The Soda Stream website (www.sodastreamusa.com) claims it’s considered an “Active Green” product, “meaning that consumers are actively reducing their CO2 footprint every time they make soda or sparkling water at home instead of buying it from the store.”