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Boston's Best Places For Unique Valentine's Day Gifts

While everyone you know is rushing out to buy the same dozen roses or box of chocolates, think outside the heart-shaped box and get your Valentine a truly unique gift. Show you care with an offbeat gift or a new take on an old classic. These specialty shops offer the best in local shopping in Boston for a truly unique Valentine's Day gift.
olives
(Photo credit: Olives & Grace/Facebook)

Olives & Grace
81 Pembroke St.
Boston, MA 02118
(617) 236-4536
www.olivesandgrace.com

If your loved one is a foodie or chef, Olives & Grace will quickly become his or her favorite shop. The store features foodstuffs made lovingly in small batches from the absolute finest ingredients imaginable. And, just in time for Valentine's Day, Olives & Grace offer two different boxed set options for gift giving. At Olives & Grace you can easily curate your own gift box. Simply pick out a few items from their shelves and leave the rest up to them. The staff members will carefully gift wrap your purchases in an eco-friendly little black box with a letterpress card explaining the origin of each item. If you're lost among all of the offerings, never fear; Olives & Grace also offers ready-made gift boxes that change each month, so you get the perfect combinations of seasonally appropriate items.

Related: The Boston Area's Best Cooking Classes

Project Repat
(Photo Credit: Project Repat)

Project Repat
100 Warren St. Suite A
Roxbury, MA 02119
www.projectrepat.com

If your guy's collection of old concert t-shirts and hoodies left over from his college days have become a sticking point, Project Repat offers a way to remove the problem while simultaneously looking like the world's best girlfriend in the process. Simply contact Project Repat and the company will send you one of its blanket boxes. Fill the box with all those old t-shirts you've been begging him to throw away and a short time later, Project Repat will send them back as a t-shirt quilt or man's tie. It's a great way to preserve T-shirts that might hold great memories for your guy, but that you'd never let him wear out of the house.

felicity sweets via facebook
Photo Credit: Felicity Sweets via Facebook

Felicity Sweets
579 Tremont St.
Boston, MA 02118
(617) 262-0707
www.felicitysweets.com

If your sweetheart has a sweet tooth, look no further than this great little candy shop. Felicity Sweets carries a wide variety of candies and chocolates, many of them from New England craft candy makers. And if you're worried that candy alone just isn't enough of a gift, Felicity Sweets can still be a great one stop shopping experience. This gem of a boutique also offers a nice selection of various gift items to go along with your sweet treat, including plush stuffed animals, fragrances, candles, soaps and lotions and leather handbags and wallets.

Related: A Chocolate Lovers Guide To Boston

black-ink
(Photo Credit: Black Ink)

Black Ink
101 Charles St.
Boston, MA 02114
(617) 723-3883
www.blackinkboston.com

Black Ink is the place to go when you're looking for that unique little something, but you just don't know what that special little something might be. It is definitely the spot for shopping for that offbeat Valentine's Day gift. Come ready to browse and to be blown away by all the clever little things you'd never even dreamed of before, but suddenly can't live without. Victorian letterpress style notecards, sea salt soap, sock monkeys, cactus candles, freeze-dried ice cream––you name it, and its somewhere on the shelves of Black Ink. Even better than the selection are the prices, which will please any Valentine's Day budget.

firefly
(Photo Credit: Firefly/Facebook)

Firefly Jewelry & Gifts
270 Newbury St.
Boston, MA 02116
(617) 375-5885
www.fireflyboston.com

While jewelry may seem like a pretty basic Valentine's Day staple, there's nothing boring about the way Firefly Jewelry & Gifts does it. Forget about overpriced mall jewelry stores that offer the same heart-shaped pendants year after year. Firefly Jewelry & Gifts offers unique pieces of wearable art created by the very best artisans in and around Boston. The shop features items in a wide range of prices, so you can get something unique and even one-of-a-kind without breaking the bank. And along with the store's jewelry offerings, you'll also find a nice selection of other great gift items - clocks, vases, jewelry organizers and much more.

Renee Mallett is the author of several books about art, culture, and New England. She was the owner and director of an art gallery and has written about arts and entertainment on a national level for several print and online journals. Her work can be found at Examiner.com.

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