Caravan Beads offers two routes to shoppers: buy items to hand-make your gifts or shop here for the particularly crafty people on your list. This colorful shop is a beader's dream: bright tables of gold, silver and copper beads, Czech glass, Chinese redwood, bone and multicolored beads in all shapes and sizes. The store offers classes and workshops for beginners to experts, including holiday ornament making, wire working and stringing techniques.

Rachel Levy, store manager, recommends beadings kits for adults (basic to super-deluxe, $35-$90) or for "tweens" (everything you need for a necklace, earrings and bracelet, around $22) coupled with a gift certificate. For those who want a handmade item but have no artistic calling, the store offers pre-made jewelry featuring beadwork by local artists.

Centerstage Reviewer: Genevra Gallo