Utah Valley has successful tech businesses that make national headlines, but these holiday-related gifts are just as great and made right here in Utah County.
Linky Doodle Dandy
Christmas tree decorations just got sweeter with Linky Doodles, manufactured at Kencraft Candy Company in American Fork. Customers use these candy cane hooks, in cherry and peppermint, as tree garlands, ornament hooks and napkin rings for dinner parties. Each box has 28 pieces, and can make a garland 5.5 feet long. Linky Doodles are available for purchase online or at Peppermint Place, where customers can also watch the master candy creators make the garlands and other store sweets.
Silent But Sensory
Snap, crinkle, crackle, click, swish, zip — those are the sounds of modern interactive reads. But not for Wuka books. Alpine’s Matt Hein created MyWuka Learning Adventure Books to be sensory, interactive and completely silent. They teach color identification and shape recognition without the noise. “I saw my young kids becoming buried in smartphones and tablets, sliding their fingers across a flat, cold screen, and we knew that e-devices couldn’t be the best thing for our kids’ development,” Matt says.
Secret Santa
“The legend of Santa is all fun and games until hearts get broken,” says Chelsea Rippy, author of “There’s Certainly A Santa.” This Highland entrepreneur got the story idea as she prepared to tell her son about Santa. The truth? Santa is real, and everyone can be Santa. Each illustrated scene comes from real Santa experiences Chelsea has had with her kids. “I hope this book stops ‘bombs from being dropped,’” Chelsea says. “Our tradition of involving older kids has made Christmas so much more fun for everyone.”
Christmas By The Book
What’s your favorite part of Christmas? Chances are, the book “It’s All About Christmas” covers it. Scenes of the most wonderful time of the year are captured in this all-inclusive Christmas book, published by Covenant Communications. Recipes, carols, jokes, trivia and bedtime stories with festive illustrations are sprinkled throughout, with no right or wrong way to start or finish the book. Look for this hard-bound beauty in local stores and online.
Hallelujah!
On Thanksgiving day of 2014, BYUtv premiered an original production, “Handel’s Messiah,” which took viewers through Handel’s life leading up to the premier of his world-famous oratorio. Now, for the first time since the film’s debut, it’s available on DVD. The film revisits Handel’s early days, documentary-style, and includes interviews from worldwide music experts and period scenes from Handel’s life, portrayed by local actors.