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Categories: Toy Stores, Cards & Stationery
Neighborhood: BallardJust in time for the chilly wet weather, we've got those great fingerless gloves you've been waiting for back in stock!
Announced 1 week agoMon-Thu. 11:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Fri-Sat. 11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Sun. 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
"Got to be the finest children's store I have visited. Run by a husband and wife team who are former teachers, I really liked all the…" read more »
This place is so cute. I happened to stumble upon it when I was out walking in Ballard with an out-of-towner. GIfted has lots of cool gifts and whatnots. Jewelry, stationary, cards and cute little kits like how to make your own sock monkey. Man, if I had any talent at all, I would have gotten that kit.. the sad part is it's actually for 7-10 year olds or something. They have to be at least somewhat advanced 7-10 year olds because I can only handle knitting scarves.
anyway, I'm digressing... this place is cute and cool and local and I like it. Check it out when you're wandering down Ballard Ave sometime.
What a fun novelty store!!! Everything is childish as hell, and absolutely useless - in other words, super fun! Tons of stupid/cute miniature figures, all sorts of funky fridge magnets, funny ice cube trays, japanese mini-stickers, jewelry, toys, bags...You can't go in there with a mindset above 12 years old. I was feeling a bit sad that day, but this store lifted my spirits!
Your couch cushions, Goodwill and white elephant gift exchanges would like to thank you for shopping at Gifted.
Miniature sushi? It's just begging to get lost under a couch cushion.
Star Wars cookbook? After one failed attempt at making Princess Leah's hot cross buns, the book will be headed for Goodwill, to make room on the bookshelf.
OrgasGUM? Tee hee, giggle giggle. Won't that embarrass Buffy at the company Xmas gift exchange. Chewed and tossed.
Basically, this store is full of the kind of junk you curse yourself for buying each time you're stuck packing boxes for a move. A lot of the store's merchandise might make you chuckle at first, but folks, it doesn't get any more funny when you bring it home. Spare me the clutter.
While waiting for a table at the restaurant up the street, I stopped into this little shop to browse. I literally only made it a few feet into this store and was stuck. I came across some of the cutest things that I have ever seen and had never seen before--little cereal boxes filled with surprises! Inside there were minature sets of random things--foods, dishes, furnishings, etc. They were too cute to pass up! (I am a miniature collector.) Our table was ready and I had to leave so we could get seated so I did not have nearly enough time to look through everything. However, the owner was extremely kind and looked up other places where I could find these magical little boxes.
Next time I am in Seattle I will have to set aside some time to go back to this little shop!
Don't hate the player, hate the game!
And boy is Gifted a player! Filled with stuff no one really needs but everyone wants. Gifted knows how to play the game and in this case the game is getting you to buy stuff you really don't need but really want. If you come here looking for that special something that you can't live without then your coming to the wrong place baby. However if your looking for a little "somet'n-somet'n" to keep you going then this is the place to shop. Gifted isn't about long term commitments, its about impulse.
Don't be a hater!
This store was the perfect place to stop by when we had some time to kill. Beautiful, funky, creative little trinkets are tucked into every corner. They also had an excellent selection of greeting cards that were much more interesting than any Hallmark card. I loved all of their accessories (I am coming back for some of those .75 colorful bracelet's). They also had quite a collection of Día de los Muertos items which puts a smile on my face.
Ballard is lucky to be "gifted" with this store- eh? eh? pretty good right? No? yeah...that's pretty bad.
This place is sooooo much fun. I have been in here a few times and I stopped in again last night during the Ballard Art Walk. I bought two "stuffed animals" that are GIANT MICROBES. I love scoring weird things for my friends' kids to play with and I scored big time in Gifted last night. Yup, two little munchkins in Wisconsin will each be receiving a stuffed GIANT MICROBE (about the size of a bean bag) this Christmas: Blue-green Algae and Scabies Mange. How awesome is that? Totally awesome!
Gifted truly has something fun for everyone. Jewelery, accessories, hats, gloves, stickers, cards, books, magnets, and toys galore. The best part about this place is that everyone is having a good time while they are shopping. How do I know this? B/c all you hear in that store is groups of people giggling and laughing as they cruise the place.
The owner always has her front window decked out for each holiday. I could spend 10 minutes just gawking at her fun and entertaining window displays. I will definitely be swinging into Gifted every time I am walking along Old Ballard, which is often.
Gifted, you are wonderful and dangerous. Like a shark! I work right across the street.... do you know how hard it is to not spend all of my tips for the day at your shop? Yes, I'd love a dish scrubber shaped like an octopus. Yes, I definitely need 80's video game character shaped ice cube trays. I definitely need ANOTHER Dia De Los Muertos necklace. Small boxes full of assorted miniature cooking sets with far too much Japanese writing on the outside for me to even understand what's going on? YES. I need them all. There's so much fun stuff to look at here, and it's easy to go nuts in this shop. I feel like this is a place that I'll be able to get some pretty rad bday gifts at, instead of doing the old standby gift card to whateveryournameischainrestaurant. On top of this place being magical and fun, the staff is sweet and helpful. So, hooray, Gifted. You're my new favorite shop.
If you're looking for TERRIFIED PICKLES, then look no further.
My son begged for a Terrified Pickle ($1) and played with that eraser-sized thing for hours. I like to think that before the pickle became terrified, it was a euphoric cucumber, but there's no way of verifying that. My son would retrieve it from his pocket, dance the toy around, laugh hysterically, and then put it away. The Terrified Pickle is like a modern-day babysitter; if you have children, I suggest you buy them in bulk.
We are toy collectors, and so I love this place. We tend to buy from the glass case up front, but there are really fun toys in the back, most notably the Food Chain Friends: "They're friends, they eat each other, it's complicated" is their stuffed animal advertising slogan.
I also love the cards they have in stock (I try to resist, but it's futile), and the Canadian monsters they got in this summer from the Monster Factory. I know you can get some of this stuff at Archie McPhee's, and maybe some at Fireworks--but at Archie's, EVERYTHING is cheap and cheaply-made (although invariably fun), and at Fireworks, everything is overpriced and shiny like the Eastside. If you're going to give your money to someone, give it to the small business who has a little bit of both.
The owner is also very nice, and has a great sense of humor.
I wish I had the courage to dress as trendy and fresh as the owner of this store does. With her colorful garments, green glasses and fiery red hair, she is love at first sight.
I love their selection of plastic collector's toys- but the romance is gone because I sort of liked thinking you could only get Labbits in NYC. Although my Labbit just lost his bubblegum accessory, so perhaps it's time to make another purchase...
The selection of cards and whimsical toys and gifts smacks of Fireworks, with about the same prices. This place is definitely where to go when you have cash burning in your pocket, which is exactly never for me. I always see the porcelain coffee cup, which looks like a disaposable cup, and for about two years now, I have said I want it and walked out of the store without its $19.95 goodness in my shopping bag. This is also what keeps me coming back.
Gifted makes the wait for a table at Thaiku, Volterra or La Carta de Oaxaca bearable.
Beware the quality of some of their smaller toys and baubles, you might be paying for more than they're worth.
What a fun little store! After reading Marika's review I *HAD* to take Mini-Me and The Little General for a day out with daddy to find the Terrified Pickles. I mentioned to the guy behind the counter as I followed in behind my two that I was looking for these - thinking he'd say, Oh, they're over here. Response? He simply smiled at me. Hmm. Well, there's much to explore, so I figure I'll find the little things.
I crack up over the "Tom & Jane" series magnets that are modernized, and then died laughing over some of the cards and books that are towards the back. In the meantime, the wee ones are getting their hands into EVERYTHING. Mini-Me is obsessed with these Japanimation looking "robots" which are just simple wind-up toys, while TLG is busy trying to get my attention so she can show me her light-up rubber ducky. Huh - still no pickles though.
I stroll back further, and the kids are LOSING IT over this little "finger drum" set - a miniature set of drums that you can literally tap on with your fingertips to make drum sounds. Headache central, here I come. We've now been in the store 10 minutes, and amazingly nothing is broken yet and there's not been a temper tantrum ("daddddeeee I want thiiiiiiisssss!"). My daddy-radar is telling me that time is a precious commodity though, so I'm herding the gang towards the front (after picking up some HILARIOUS stocking stuffers and Christmas goodies)...STILL no pickles. Finally I ask at the front for the darn things again, and he points me at the table behind me which I walked past when I came in. Oh. They are cute little things that look like they could be strung on a necklace...and they have these looks of absolute horror on their faces as if captured in their last moments in the briny solution. LoL Definitely worth the little field trip!
I love this store. Anytime I'm in downtown Ballard it's a must. It's the go to store when I want something for a fun friend that isn't a total P.O.S. and won't fall apart/lose it's appeal after it's been opened.
Also cute funky bags and wallets, plus actual jewelry (they also have the jokey kind too).
I don't like it better or worse than Archie's, I think they're different for me. I wouldn't shop at one instead of the other, each has it's own niche in my shopping repertoire.
They have a lot of great stuff, as do most "gifty" stores do. Weird bracelets? Yup! Rubber ducks? Sure! But because they have so many DIFFERENT items in a tiny store, there is not a lot of choices.
If you do find something you like, then your day is made. I purchased myself a wallet a for my birthday a while back, and I loved it till the day it fell apart.
Very cramped store, so only good to go when few people are in.
I LOVE it!!!
I went in here when I was pretty drunk around christmas to find some last minute gifts for some friends and myself. The staff was helpful and nice, even though I think they could tell I shouldnt be shopping at the time.
Here's what I remember seeing -
-blue Q products (yay!!) love their body sprays...
-a little stuffed owl tucked inside of a stuffed tree-trunk (why didn't I buy it?)
-super-cute t shirts with skulls on them
-little bins full of tiny plastic cracker-jack style toys (i bought a mini rubber chicken)
-and at the register i came across a rubber monkey that plays drums when you pump air into it from a pump thats connected to its back....bought it!!
I guess in conclusion this store is awesome but it's even more awesome after you've been bar hopping on ballard ave.
Three stars, just for the fact that I found a place to impulsively buy the shot-glass ice mold we've all read about on some blog dedicated to showcasing random cool stuff. Ok, maybe YOU haven't, but I appreciate clever / witty commercialism on the internet the way an older generation may have appreciated art in museums.
Amusingly, it was found in the "for father's day" section.
Which would be strange, except that out of everything else you'll find in the store, it makes some sense; when you're the clerk in charge of making a father's day section from an eclectic collection of cheap trendy things you've probably seen before on a website somewhere, the shot glass mold is probably the most utilitarian, practical thing in the store that you could try to convince Dad was a sincere gift. As in, sincerely not a gift that you've fancied for yourself but would never waste the money on, but could get some use out of if he owned one.
In any case, the store had exhausted my attention within 10-15 minutes, and I'd recommend shopping there only if you'd happened to have been enjoying the excellent happy hour cocktails next door and realized you'd forgotten to pick up a thoughtless gift for some event later that evening.
Or, of course, if you're in need of a mold to make shot glasses made of ice.
I went in here on one of those very, very hot days and I could not get the woman behind the counter to say two words to me. I just find it bizarre when people don't speak to you while you're in their store. Maybe it was the heat, I don't know.
It's an extremely small shop filled with lots of cheap-o toys. Remember those beaded necklaces your wore in the 80s where you'd take a bunch of them in different colors and twist them together? They have bins of those. Every thing I saw screamed junk to me. Sure, there were some cute erasers and tiny little Japanese toys, but there was nothing of any quality whatsoever.
I keep coming back to Gifted because I have found witty cards and anti George W stickers. They have a TON of little things to peruse. My personal favorites are the penis soap, which is a soap ring on a rope and the keychain of the pregnant lady which is made out of a clear plastic with a little baby floating around in the belly. They have a lot of the Accruements brand items (Archie McPhees brand). I compared their prices to Fuego (Alderwood and Northgate mall) and I noticed Gifted tends to charge a few dollars more. Cool stuff, lots of cheaply made toys mixed in. I have yet to see a staff member greet me or anyone else. I guess they just figure if you need help you will ask.
I work here now.
Score! We found parking in Ballard on a Friday night! Of course it's about 5 or so blocks away from… Read more »
I love this store! It has great jewelry and it also has the cutest random stuff, like orgasm gun and such. the rings are stunning. There's a huge selection of voodoo dolls that you can get for only $10 each, books, book bags, and even melt -a toys. It's like a ballard version of magic mouse toys. a great place to bring a friend to.
The display of beautiful Asian dishware in the window drew me in, but it was downhill after that. Reminds me of a cheap Japanese toy store, lots of plastic and gags and paper umbrellas. Kids love the place. I'd rather go to Archie McPhee's.
This place has a lot of fun cards and Asian imports, but I agree with Maria C. Archie's has weirder stuff at better prices.
quirky shop, staff can be hit or miss, but I love stopping in here during my holiday shopping excursion in Ballard every year. always something good for a white elephant exchange.
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