Canadian Gift Guide

Summertime means sandals at long last! However, before you break out the pedicure kit and bare your toes to the world, keep in mind that a stylish pair of canvas sneakers are also on the must-own list for evenings, outdoorsy activities, and hitting the streets.

I love the idea of a customized gift. Zazzle.ca features a ridiculous amount of customizable goodies, including a huge range of those ever-popular graphic tees with all sorts of themes.

However the thing I’m most drawn to is their customizable line of Keds. After Mischa Barton relaunched the brand’s image a half-dozen years ago, I snapped up four of their designer-inspired flats which I still wear today (including the pair on the far left shown here).

Now, Zazzle takes out the middleman and lets you design your own customized pair of Keds, with two men’s, three women’s, and two kid’s options. After you’ve chosen your shoe it’s easy as pie to import your own designs, photos, and text to match up with virtually every taste and occasion. Imagine customizing shoes to your favourite band, hobby, pets, family members, colours, nationalities and more!

Need some inspiration? Zazzle also features a gallery of pre-designed ‘custom’ Keds from other virtual artists and template-based designs that you can further customize to your heart’s delight.

This is one of those unclassifiable gifts, but I’d say it’s for someone whose taste and style you’re pretty familiar with. The price point is pretty reasonable – starting at $60 for kids kicks – and the one-of-a-kind factor makes this a fantastic value!