Colorado Christmas gifts are the easiest kind to get right. The recipient has already told you what they love: the mountains, the team, the town they ski, the peak they finally summited, the aspens in October. This is our guide to the gifts in our store that say Colorado out loud. It is written for three kinds of shoppers: the local buying for family who moved away, the visitor who wants to take the trip home, and the Coloradan who simply wants the tree to look like the view.
Why a Colorado Gift Works
An ornament is the one present that comes back out every year, and a Colorado ornament comes back out with a story. For the college kid in another state, it is home on a branch. The family that visited in July gets the trip back. Someone who has lived here fifty years gets proof that you noticed. Our Colorado collection leans on local artists, state symbols and the things people actually do here, so the best Colorado Christmas gifts in it are also small enough to mail.
Ornaments by Colorado Artists
Julie Leidel’s Places
Julie Leidel is a Colorado artist who paints the places people here love. Her ornaments are the fastest way to give someone a specific memory. There is Pikes Peak, the view that gave Katharine Lee Bates the opening lines of America the Beautiful in 1893. There are the mountain towns: Breckenridge, Estes Park, Winter Park, Crested Butte, Durango, Grand Lake and Lake Dillon. There are Golden Gate Canyon State Park, Clear Creek in Golden and Denver itself. Then there is a Rocky Mountain National Park piece for anyone who has driven Trail Ridge Road, which the National Park Service describes better than we can. For graduates and fans there is a college series. It covers CU, CSU, DU, Colorado College, the School of Mines and the Air Force Academy.
Cindy DeWolfe’s Wildlife
Cindy DeWolfe is a Colorado artist who paints the state’s animals on round wooden ornaments about three and a half inches across. A brown bear holds a bunch of fresh-picked columbines with a lake and pines behind him. There are snow buddies, a moose and friends, and a night owl. They are warm, a little funny and unmistakably from here.
Gifts Built From the State Itself
A Real Aspen Leaf
The Gold Real Aspen Leaf ornament is exactly that: a hand-picked aspen leaf, preserved and finished in gold, with Colorado written across it. It comes in two sizes. Because each one is a real leaf, no two match. The people who came for the fall color tend to buy them in multiples.
The Columbine
The state flower gets two treatments on our shelves. The delicate one is a blown glass columbine in shades of blue or purple, which a local artisan makes one at a time. Julie Leidel’s painted columbine is the sturdy one. Either is the right gift for the gardener or the hiker who stops for wildflowers.
Painted Glass Colorado Scenes
An artist paints each of these three-inch glass ornaments by hand from the inside, and each arrives gift boxed. Together they cover the rest of Colorado life. There is the state flag, hummingbirds and wildflowers, a hot air balloon, a raft on the river and a mountain biker on the trail. They are the dependable stocking-sized gift when you need six for the office.
For the Climber
Our Colorado 14ers Geographical Benchmark ornaments are a St. Nick’s exclusive. Each one is a laser-cut reproduction of the summit benchmark for one of twenty popular fourteeners. We add the climber’s name and summit date to the back at no charge. People collect them one peak at a time, so this is the rare gift that comes with a built-in sequel.
For the Fan
For a fan, Colorado Christmas gifts are the easy ones. Broncos and Avalanche ornaments live in our Colorado teams section. There are the licensed logo ornaments, a Santa in team colors waving a foam finger, and a Broncos helmet and a Broncos fireplace that take a name. For the hockey player rather than the hockey fan, there is a hand-hammered stainless steel ornament that will outlast the career.
Big Names With a Colorado Accent
The national ornament makers know where their customers live. Old World Christmas makes a Rocky Mountain National Park ornament in mouth-blown glass. For a certain kind of uncle, it also makes glass ornaments shaped like the state’s best known beer bottles and a six-pack. Christopher Radko’s Rocky Mountain Majesty puts the wild landscape on a glass ornament for the skier or hiker who already collects the brand. And the Bearfoots bears by Jeff Fleming include Colorado Bart, a friendly black bear holding a welcome sign, as a small magnet.
Colorado Christmas Gifts by the Person
When the list is long, it helps to think in small sets. A few pairings our staff reach for:
The Newcomer
Someone who just moved here gets the state flag in painted glass, a columbine, and Julie Leidel’s Denver. Three ornaments, one message: you live here now.
The Student Away
The college series piece for their school plus a gold aspen leaf. One says where they are, the other says what they miss, and both fit in a padded envelope.
The Hiker
A 14ers benchmark for the peak they finished this summer, with the date on the back. Add the Rocky Mountain National Park ornament for the trips that did not involve suffering. Next year, the next peak.
The Fan
The Broncos Santa with the foam finger for the tree. The personalized Broncos fireplace, with every name in the house, for the mantel. The Avalanche logo ornament covers the family that argues about which season matters.
The Host
For the people whose house you are visiting, Cindy DeWolfe’s bear with his columbines or a Colorado Bart magnet. Both are warm, local and small enough to hand over at the door without ceremony.
Make It Theirs
Personalization turns good Colorado Christmas gifts into the ones that get unwrapped first. Many of the pieces above take a name and a year, and our personalized ornaments section has hundreds more. Our staff letter them by hand in the store. Our personalization page explains how it works. The short version: it is free on the ornaments that offer it, and earlier in the season is kinder to everyone’s nerves.
Sending Colorado Somewhere Else
Most Colorado Christmas gifts on this page are small, light and boxed, which is to say built for mailing. If the recipient is out of state, order online and ship it straight to them. Our shipping information page has the details and the holiday timing. If you would rather carry it yourself, we will wrap it so it survives the overhead bin.
The Gift Is Also the Trip
For visitors, part of the present is where it came from. St. Nick’s has been in Littleton since 1976. It is a family-run Christmas store with twenty-two rooms and more than ninety theme trees, celebrating fifty years in business this season. We are just off Santa Fe Drive near Belleview, with parking in back. The directions page gets you here from either direction. Come for the ornament, stay for the rooms. If you want ideas beyond the state line, our gift ideas guide covers everyone else on the list.
The Short Version
The best Colorado Christmas gifts are specific: the artist’s painting of their town, the peak they climbed, the leaf from the drive they took, the team they suffer for. Pick the one that matches the person. Add a name if the piece allows it, then mail it or carry it home. Everything above is in our Colorado collection, in the store and online.
Frequently Asked Questions
Find It at St. Nick's
Shop the state: Colorado ornaments and gifts, Colorado teams, and personalized ornaments lettered by hand in the store.
St. Nick’s Christmas and Collectibles has been Littleton, Colorado’s Christmas store since 1976. Shop online, visit us in person, or call 1-800-875-8865 with any questions.
