There's so much to explore in the renovated PAM that you might need to take some breaks. Tired? Kick off your shoes and lie down to gaze up at Pipilotti Rist's video installation 4th Floor to Mildness, which runs through January. Hungry? Enjoy a Providore sandwich or seasonal specials at museum café Coquelico, and linger for a slice of color-paneled Rothko cake and French press café au lait. The restaurant opens right into the shop, where you can find plenty of items to brighten a desk or table—like this ripple vase (above, $360) from British Nigerian artist Yinka Ilori or bouncy Hoptimist toy ($28)—as well as hand-painted hair clips, Monet socks, sketchbooks and art supplies, “You are on Native land” baseball caps, Carrie Mae Weems photography tomes, and “random cut” mystery puzzles. 

It's hard to beat a misty, mossy winter day at the Portland Japanese Garden, which celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2027. Take one of the four daily tours; catch a concert, sake tasting, gallery show, or tea ceremony workshop; have a sandwich on fluffy shokupan bread in the Umami Café. Or just wander the steep hillside and take in the views. Then, for the gardener in your life, pick up a pair of hand-forged carbon steel Tobisho pruning shears ($150) from Yamagata, a region known for both samurai sword production and an abundance of fruit trees. Also find cute soup mugs ($15), ginkgo-print dish towels, history and art books, tea, and incense. (While the other gift shops mentioned here can be visited without buying a ticket, this one requires garden admission.)

Taking up a full block of Old Town, this transportive urban oasis is a riot of color even in winter, from the cold-weather blooms to the koi darting through the pond. Enjoy the tranquility, plus traditional tea service, cakes and cookies, egg tarts, congee, Chinese beers, BBQ pork buns, doughnuts, and snack plates from
the garden's Yun Shui Teahouse. Swing into the gift shop for leaf-window dangly earrings from Lil' Bug Studios, watercolor sets for the budding artists in your life, perfumes with the essence of some of the garden's plants, an array of candles (such as this little moon, $12.50), and tableware like this chopstick rest ($6.50.)

Lan Su isn't the only game in Old Town. The Portland Chinatown Museum, Japanese American Museum of Oregon, and Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education are all within a few blocks, and are small enough that their often history-focused exhibits can all be toured in the same afternoon. In the shops at JAMO and OJMCHE, find fun fake food like a sushi tack set ($10) or
banana menorah ($150) alongside locally made jewelry, art cards, and
kitchen items. Still can't decide what to get someone? These museums sell memberships that grant free admission for a year, and some come with
reciprocal benefits at dozens of other places, varying by month.

Visitors get to ooh and aah upon arrival, but when actual Portlanders go to the airport we're usually stressed and rushed. An unhurried trip to PDX can be a delight, especially if it falls during the limited hours of Aurora, the not-so-secret art deco speakeasy serving “seasonal elixirs”—from a Jimothy-themed summer cocktail menu to fall's banana bread old-fashioned. Add a stop at Ecovibe and Hello From Portland (also pre-security) to see what they're putting the airport carpet print on now (like this $10 tray at HFP), and load up on graphic novels and school supplies for any age (such as a rainbow of LePens, $3.99 each) at Piph, the airport outpost of Paper Epiphanies.

Do a loop on the Jay Trail before you pop into the ornithological society's Nature Store. Try on mushroom zip hoodies, ponder a poster of Northwest lakes at comparative scale (you really that small, Waldo?), browse books both serious and silly (we snagged this roundup of insult names, $12), get expert advice on binoculars for a new birder (like these Nocs Standard Issue, $111, with an Upcycled Adventure strap made from old climbing ropes, $36), hope the Banana Slug Fan Club hat from Canada's Owl & Bear Studio hasn't fallen victim to the trade war, and try to decide if your friend needs the “I poop on fascists” birdie enamel pin, iron-on patch, or both. 

At OHS's museum, right across the Park Blocks from PAM, wander new exhibits on immigration and displacement, the University of Oregon's sesquicentennial, and artists' views of Crater Lake. Or just visit the research library upstairs (check the hours and rules first) and look up your address in old city directories to see who used to live there. Then take a pass through the lobby gift shop, which stocks history books for all ages, Sasquatch Christmas ornaments, Oregon Trail–themed mugs showing a covered wagon and a pixelated request to “please be patient with me, I'm from the 1900s,” and artful pillows showing historical maps or a slightly rearranged Portland skyline (above, $150).