225BatonRouge.com

Finding that perfect, one-of-a-kind holiday gift needn’t mean long lines and crowded department stores.

Downtown is home to a clutch of museums whose gift shops sell everything from books by local authors to jewelry by local designers. The gift you buy will help a local artisan and the museum. Three perks are better than one.

LSU Museum of Art

100 Lafayette St.

389-7200

The LSU Museum of Art is downtown’s premier museum with a permanent collection focusing on American, British and Louisiana art. In that vein, the LSU Museum of Art is just like stepping into a trendy boutique. Store Manager LeAnn Russo says she likes to carry a good mix of local designers and artists as well as regional art that suits her fancy. The first-floor store in the Shaw Center carries Urban Kitty purses by local designer Sherry Brown, as well as Claire Sanchez designs. There’s also hand-strung jewelry by Clara Dartez, wire and glass jewelry by Laura Teague and free-form clay designs by New Orleans native Casey Savant. The LSU MOA also offers a wide selection of boxed Christmas cards, as well as any occasion cards and hand-stamped designs by Lafayette artist Kathryn Hunter of Blackbird Letterpress. Plus there are children’s toys, poster prints, art books and tons of stuff for that LSU fan in your life. lsumoa.com

USS Kidd Veterans Memorial

305 South River Rd.

342-1942

With such a storied past, it’s no wonder this warship museum and veterans memorial is one of the most distinctive tourist attractions in Baton Rouge and the No. 1 destination in the historic fleet. With everything from vintage wartime postcards and prints to toy battleships, there’s something for the young and those with a penchant for American history. There are books about historical WWII battles, stuffed bald eagles and the adorable servicemen teddy bears are just too cute for words, wearing their Navy, Marine, Army and Coast Guard uniforms proudly. usskidd.com

Old Louisiana State Capitol

100 North Blvd.

342-0500

In 1861, the Louisiana Legislature convened at the Old State Capitol, voting to secede from the Union. A year later that grand structure Mark Twain once dubbed the ugliest building along the Mississippi River was seized by Union soldiers during the war and accidentally burned. An often forgotten treasure trove, the gift shop has everything from signed Blue Dog prints to books like River Road Recipes and James Carville’s children’s book, Lu and the Swamp Ghost. It’s even a great place to get stocking stuffers, including satirical political buttons proclaiming everything from “Friends don’t let friends vote republican” to “Every man a king.”

Louisiana Art & Science Museum

100 South River Rd.

344-5272

On the banks of the Mississippi River in the old Baton Rouge railroad depot, the Louisiana Art & Science Museum is a state-of-the-art natural history and fine art museum housing the ancient Egypt gallery, Planetarium and Space Theater. In keeping with the artistic and educational nature of the museum’s mission, it carries a broad range of merchandise, everything from handbags and jewelry to freeze-dried ice cream and telescopes. Store Manager Paula Taylor says she supports companies that are committed to fair trade. She sells purses and scarves by Creative Women, a Vermont-based company that works with three textile design studios in Africa, as well as a collection of greeting cards made out of banana fibers from a woman’s cooperative in Ethiopia. Taylor also supports the recycling efforts of artisans and sells a collection of birch bark jewelry created by a Minnesota woman who reclaims the unused bark from the local logging industry. And if they aren’t busy, they’ll even wrap your gift for you. lasm.org