Gift shopping is a pleasure in the Mystic and eastern Connecticut

There’s no excuse to leave The Dinosaur Place at Nature’s Art Village without a treasure! And there are so many shops to choose from for those take-home treasures — from the tiny handmade dishes at the Artful Gift Shop to the real dinosaur bones and shark’s teeth at the Ancient Fossil Shop and natural gemstone beads at the Absolute Bead Shop. Take home a glittering crystal tree or cathedral, a bejeweled trinket box, a colorful dreamcatcher. Check out the plush animals and science toys at the Ageless Toy Shop. Or, visit the Geode Center, pick your own geode and see what’s revealed when it’s sliced in half. Over at The Past Antiques Market & Museum, over 90 dealers offer two floors worth of antiques, collectibles and crafts.