It’s hard to believe that this will be the tenth year of hosting Men’s Night at The Shoe Hive! What started as a conversation with Chris Campagna has turned into a tradition in our town. It’s a night for the men to shop for the holidays for the women in their lives, and we try to make it easy by having Wish Lists on hand for you all to fill out.

Here’s how it works if you aren’t familiar. You fill out a list, write on it who we should contact to invite to Men’s Night, and tell us how we should let them know we have some great ideas for them to purchase for you. Then, we take it from there.

Once the night of December 13 comes, here’s how it goes. We bring our grill down to the courtyard for the night and tap a keg of Port City beer. We have lots of bourbon and even light a few cigars. There’s a fire pit, and since men are genetically fascinated by flames, most of them never really make it inside. We bring them the list, they decide what to get, and then they have a cocktail while they wait for the gift to be wrapped.

We really think this is a win-win situation for everyone. They are happy to be out having a drink and checking something off their to-do list, and you get exactly what you want under the tree. And believe me, I know that’s important. My husband once bought the same exact unwanted gift for me two years in a row, and I returned it both times. If he’d stuck to a wish list option like we have for Men’s Night, we would both have been happy. It’s not just holiday shopping made easy - it’s a festivity! That is what we are all about.

I took it upon myself to fill out a list in case my husband or children read Alexandria Stylebook. I really have been eyeing the Adina Reyter hoops for months. So Brad, in case you are reading, I made your holiday shopping easy once again!