2026 Holiday Gift Guide

We’re sharing some of our favorite gifts from our online Folger Shop. If you’re in Washington, DC, visit in person to shop an even larger selection—and enjoy savings, gift wrapping, personalization, and more on one of our Special Shop Days!

Plus when you visit the Folger, you can enjoy the festive decorations, free activities including special fun for younger visitors, delicious holiday treats in the Quill & Crumb cafe, and more during our annual Frost Fair, beginning November 27.

All photos by Deb Lindsey, with thanks to the Chocolate Detective for the image of its bird eggs. 

Showing your love of Shakespeare

Show your love with a fun and wearable enamel Shakespeare pin designed by Collectible Cities. All that glisters is not gold! Also available as an Elizabeth I pin. Our embroidered Shakespeare key rings are a Folger exclusive, designed by Hellen van Berkel, featuring Shakespeare reading a book (also available as a patch). For your favorite chef, a “Shakespeare Boiled Down” Apron, inspired by an image in the Folger collection, in natural/stone, 100% cotton twill, with two roomy front pockets (also available as a tea towel). Custom Shakespeare Cookie Cutter takes its inspiration from Martin Droeshout’s portrait from the1623 First Folio and comes with a sugar cookie recipe. Add a Shakespeare ornament in a porcelain oval portrait or in a colorful felt figure.

Tea and chocolate

The Twelve Days of Christmas Sampler Tea Box—inspired by the classic “The Twelve Days of Christmas”—offers a dozen exceptional teas, one for each of the 12 gifts in the holiday song. Discover a new tea each day as you sip your way through this festive collection. For chocolate lovers: Bird Eggs with Chocolate Praline and Salted Caramel from The Chocolate Detective, one of Britain’s most celebrated chocolate experts. Inspired by the colors and markings of real bird eggs, each egg carton is filled with beautifully speckled chocolate eggs featuring rich praline and salted caramel centers.

Books and crafts about our four-legged friends

Fold your way to cuteness with origami kits: your pick of Origami Cats or Origami Dogs. Each kit features 50 sheets of paper and an easy-to-follow instruction booklet for making charming paper pets. For the bookshelf: Medieval Cats: Claws, Paws and Kitties of Yore by Catherine Nappington is a hilarious celebration of cats in artwork from medieval times, with cat facts, the origins of cat proverbs, and poems and literary excerpts, while Renaissance Dogs A Litter of Hilarious Pups, Mutts, and Hounds by Taylor Wagmore offers over 100 hilarious depictions of man’s best friend by the Renaissance’s greatest painters along with interesting facts and excerpts from famous literary works.

Artful accessories for home

Birch veneer laminated trays featuring the striking geometric designs of Wallace Sewell are heat resistant and easy to clean making them ideal for serving drinks, coffee, or breakfast: Art Quadrant Small Tray and Art Athenaeum Narrow Tray. The Converge Coaster Set features four colorful geometric designs inspired by Wallace Sewell watercolor studies. To accompany your beverages, four embroidered linen-blend Literary Heroines Cocktail Napkins featuring four classics: Jane Eyre, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, and Wuthering Heights. And the best lighting: Josee Pillar Beeswax Candles, hand poured and individually finished in New York State, made from 100% pure North American beeswax, available in three sizes—squat, medium, and tall—and four colors—Antique, Cobalt, Goldenrod, and Tangerine.

The Write Stuff

For Hamlet fans, Tiny Wolf Studio’s Skull Notecard Set features hand-illustrated artwork using earth pigment watercolors on recycled cardstock. Also available in a Cauldron Set and Broomstick Set. Neoclassical vibes but with a modern twist: LitBodies Notecards by Sophia Mitchell showcase Black women’s strength and beauty, drawing from digital paintings to create one-of-a-kind designs. Ink your messages with a Vintage Warren Penny Pen, the first disposable pens created in the 1890s. Made of spiral wrapped paper and a non-detaching pen nib, these dip-style pens are dipped in ink to write similar to Shakespeare’s quill pens.

For fans of the Folger

Explore the Folger’s history in a lushly illustrated volume, Folger Shakespeare Library: Renewal and Revitalization, which traces the work of those who have built, supported, and reimagined the institution from its founding in 1932 to its renovation and reopening in 2024. To accompany it, the Folger building as silver keepsake ornament of the Folger from East Capitol Street. The Seven Ages of Man Notebook Set showcases the Reading Room’s iconic stained-glass window depicting Jaque’s speech from Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Enjoy a better pencil made from recycled industrial graphite waste captured from electrode manufacturing with the Folger Recycled Pencil. The patented technique uses 80% recycled material, does not contain wood, and does not break easily. No graphite dust, no pencil shavings, no mess.

Prefer to share your affection for the Folger through your apparel? Explore our Folger t-shirts, baseball caps, and sweatshirts or our tote bags featuring a whimsical illustration of the Reading Room as seen through a child’s eyes by artist Carlos Carmonamedina of The Culture Curious. Also available as a smaller pouch.

Gift certificates for the Folger Shop are available if you’d like to treat someone!

More Folger gift ideas

6Tix flexible subscription

Our package of six tickets can be used in any combination to performances in Folger Theatre and Folger Consort’s 2026–2027 seasons. See the plays or concerts that you want at a time of your choice. Just call the box office when you’re ready to select your seats. Pay now, pick later, so easy!

Gift certificates

Good for tickets to any Folger program including Folger Theatre and Folger Consort performances, readings in the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series, and virtual events. You can choose any dollar amount and the gift certificate is good for three years from the purchase date.

2027 Reading Room Festival all-access pass

Join artists, scholars, and audiences in a celebration of creativity and community in the fifth annual Reading Room Festival, featuring new works by Lauren M. Gunderson, Naomi Iizuka, Drew Petersen, and Octavio Solis. All-Access Pass holders enjoy three full days of staged readings, panel discussions, workshops, and community celebrations. Early Bird rate of $100 per pass through December 31.

Folger memberships

Your friends and loved ones can enjoy the benefits and discounts of membership while supporting the Folger—or perhaps you’d like to treat yourself! Folger membership benefits can be enjoyed long after the holidays. Join today and enjoy 20% off Folger Shop purchases from Sunday, November 29, through Sunday, December 6.

For the teacher in your life, give a teacher membership which includes a subscription to Folger Teaching, online resources and professional development opportunities, special conversations, and more.

Thank you for shopping with us.
Every purchase supports the Folger Shakespeare Library.