Via Shutterstock.Nothing says “I love you but you could be better” than the gift of lessons. Kidding! Classes are a great alternative to another piece of kitchen gear or knick knack that will gather dust. Instead, here are a few options that will get the gift recipient out of the house.
Tappa-tappa-tappa: Say traditional exercise isn’t for you. Say making loud noises with your feet sounds appealing. Say you suspect you’re the next Gregory Hines but no one knows it. Then the gift of adult tap classes may be something you want to be on your Christmas list. Joy of Motion (1333 H Street NE; 7315 Wisconsin Avenue; and 5207 Wisconsin Avenue NW) offers different levels of tap classes in six-week bursts for $111. Knock on Wood Tap Studio‘s (6925 Willow Street NW) eight-week winter session for adults is $128, while Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (545 7th Street SE) charges $152 for an eight-week session.
Oh my love, my darling: If your friend or loved one has a high tolerance for Ghost jokes, consider gifting them pottery lessons. Ten sessions at Hinckley Pottery (1707 Kalorama Road NW) will set you back $350, while $45 will get you one class. CHAW’s ceramics session, which runs eight weeks, costs $304 per session plus a $30 clay fee. Eastern Market Pottery (225 Seventh Street SE) charges $268 for eight weeks of evening classes.
Smithsonian smarts: The Smithsonian is constantly offering really interesting media classes to make you a better artist. This winter that will include a class on mosaics (eight sessions for $281), color theory (six sessions for $246), quilt making (three sessions for $206), toy camera photography (four sessions for $201) and painting in the right state of mind (six sessions for $241).
Parlez-vous français?: This is it: The year when you really learn a language. And not just any language — French! Because you just don’t want to watch À bout de souffle with subtitles anymore. At Alliance Francaise (2142 Wyoming Avenue NW; 421 7th Street, NW), thirty hours of lessons in the language of love costs $445. The International Language Institute (1337 Connecticut Avenue NW) charges $340 per ten-week term, with accelerated classes offered.
Chef [Insert Your Name Here]: While cooking classes are selfish gifts to give (you better believe I expect a meal), they’re still pretty useful. CulinAerie (1131 14th Street NW) is the go-to spot for cooking classes, with the majority of classes (like a candy workshop!) costing $85 a piece. Hill’s Kitchen (713 D Street SE) will teach you basic knife skills for $50 and how to make handmade pasta for the same price. Casa Italiana (595 3rd Street NW) will teach you both how to speak Italian ($320) and make Italian food ($60), though sadly not at the same time. Restaurants across the city also offer classes.
Oh, so that’s how you do that?: Fancy classes are awesome, but sometimes a friend can use a refresher on basic life skills. Bits of Thread (1794 Columbia Road NW) sewing studio offers a two-hour hemming and mending class for $40, though the $40 intro to sewing class is required if the giftee doesn’t know how to use a sewing machine. (Hat making also seems pretty useful, but maybe that’s just me.) The Washington Area Bicycle Association offers skills classes for newbies and advanced riders
Guitar Hero: So you’ve always had an inch to learn to play a six string and become a master of the axe? Luckily, it’s never too late to take lessons and learn to shred. Earlier this year, Capitol Hill’s first music store, Music on the Hill, opened its doors, providing the Southeast area (1453 Pennsylvania Avenue SE) with a place to buy instruments and take lessons from the shop’s staff of musicians. The shop offers electric guitar lessons to students of all ages, for the cool price of $40 per half hour. Start now and you could be playing the 9:30 Club by this time next year (maybe). —Matt Cohen
Drop the beat: Rock is dead, long live electronic music. At least, that’s increasingly becoming the mentality in today’s music industry (I disagree, but I am only one person). Still, the fact of a matter is you no longer need three, four, or five people to start a band. All you really need is a laptop. At Beat Refinery in Bethesda (4819 St Elmo Avenue) or Herndon (13009 Worldgate Drive), you can take a variety of DJ lessons—from scratching, to mixing, to music production—to learn everything you need to become your own band. Private sessions are $105 per lesson, but both locations also offer group classes, which range from $175 to $240 a month. Let the bass drop. —Matt Cohen
