Why fight the crowds for a run-of-the-shopping-mall present, when you could surprise that special someone with an out-of-the-ordinary Maine or Acadia holiday gift?
Whether you want to support local business, help raise funds for charity, or bring memories of Maine and Acadia home for the holidays, here are some of our favorite ideas.

Half-price annual Acadia park pass available for purchase in person, only in December, $35 vs. $70 (Image courtesy of NPS and Alan Nyiri)
And as we’re sponsoring the Acadia to Katahdin Virtual Race, to help raise funds for charity and provide a virtual tour of the 26 peaks of Acadia and the real-life course of the MDI Marathon & Half and Millinocket Marathon & Half (being held Dec. 2 this year), we also include that in this round-up of Maine-themed gift ideas.
Acadia National Park annual pass – Available for purchase year-round online, the park makes it available at half price in the month of December – $35 vs. $70 this year – but only in person at the park and locations in and around Bar Harbor. According to the National Park Service, the discounted pass will be available for sale at the Sand Beach Entrance Station, which accepts credit cards; chambers of commerce in Bar Harbor and Ellsworth; Harbor House in Southwest Harbor, where the Southwest Harbor & Tremont chamber is selling passes; and town offices in Gouldsboro, Mount Desert, Tremont and Winter Harbor. Payment by cash, check, debit or credit is accepted at the Sand Beach station, but you’ll want to check what methods of payment are accepted elsewhere. In the past, local town offices and chambers have accepted only cash or check payable to the National Park Service because they sell the half-price passes as a service. The annual pass is an Acadia holiday gift that keeps giving for 12 months – what a deal!

While your donations may not be matched monetarily after Giving Tuesday, the spirit-lifting views are still included! (Image courtesy of Friends of Acadia)
Friends of Acadia gift membership – By giving a gift membership, you would provide a year’s worth of membership benefits to a family member or friend, including a subscription to Acadia magazine, the Friends of Acadia journal, six note cards, and a window decal. Gift membership starts at $40, and also helps support the nonprofit that does so much for Acadia National Park. And if you want to contribute independent of a gift membership, you can donate by making a one-time tribute gift, donating a car, or supporting businesses that donate a percentage of sales to the non-profit.