Getting My Shop On at the Carlton Hotel

Remember that Made in the USA trunk show I told you about a while back. Well, it was the other night, and I went! It was honestly one of the better shopping events I've been to in a long time. To start, there's nothing better than a holiday event when it's [pretty] snowing outside and you get to gawk at a beautifully decorated tree in the lobby of a classy NYC hotel.

The entrance of The Carlton from the front door

Their tree

The event featured shops and designers hawking beautifully made goods, all crafted in the good ole' US of A. I fell in love with all of the bags at catrinka (ALL OF THE BAGS), which works with women all over the world to design totes, clutches, and satchels with textiles native to their region. What a great mission. I also checked out papabubble who were sampling their holiday assortments of custom candy. Check out the watermelon, salt, chili if you get the chance!

catrinka's table (sorry for the blurry photo!)

But by far my favorite table was the Pennsylvania-based shop basin and main, who had a long table of knit and crochet wear (socks, hats, sweaters, hand warmers, etc), handmade ornaments, vintage candle holders, and jewelry. To say that I was obsessed with everything at this table is an understatement. If I hadn't already done most of my holiday shopping, I could have bought items for almost everyone on my list there. But that didn't stop me from buying a super cute crocheted hat by mimi's hooks ($25) for myself :)

basin and main had the table with the lights

My new hat!

While we were shopping, singer Lisa Puccio Kobin and keyboardist Clare Cooper serenaded us with holiday music.

This even was a brand marketers dream. There were endless sponsors, which I of course loved because...freebies! The holiday flavored tic tacs were a big hit, as was the Elderflower Lemonade by Belvoir. I was also a big fan of the peppermint SO Delicious bar.

Before I left, I had to go upstairs and check out the Caravan Stylist Studio as I have an appointment to go back next week for "glam services" including hair, make-up and nail art. Will keep you posted!

While there I also got an amazing gift bag filled with samples from Simple Skincare, Tic Tacs, Cottonelle, Bullet, Zoya, bigsexyhair, and nextissue.

All of the shops I mentioned have online stores so be sure to check them out if you are still on the look out for gifts. Happy shopping!