Canadian Gift Guide

First of all, some housekeeping. Congrats to Sophie, the winner of the ‘Gifts Cooks Love’ giveaway. Stay tuned as a new giveaway is going to be posted shortly for another fantastic gift-giving idea!

Moving on. My mom has made a solid point to me recently about shopping at Costco. Namely, that she is slightly bothered that you have to pay for the privilege of spending your money. It’s sort of like paying to go to a country club and then having to pay for a round of golf, one could argue, which seems a bit silly. Also, as someone who tends to use Costco as a quarterly ‘stock-up’ destination, wherein my freezer, pantry, and DVD collection get occasional top-ups of bulk goods, I’m not sure I’m really *saving* all that much money when you factor in the cost of the membership into your purchases, however awesome they may be.

If you’ve got a friend or family member like me, who is a little hesitant to spend money on a relative luxury like a Costco membership, may I suggest you take their pain away by purchasing a year-long membership for them? It’s only $50, and therefore you remove any sort of OCD-like cost analysis that may run through their head as they troll the store for the best deals on goods perishable and non. Yes, you could argue that I just talked my way out of a Costco-membership-as-a-good-gift in the above paragraph, but let me reiterate – from a personal standpoint, it’s hard for ME to justify buying a membership for ME. If someone else bought it for me, I would feel much more relaxed about the whole thing, just as you feel slightly less guilty when you give away a top that no longer fits that was a gift, versus one you splurged on for yourself.

Aside from your urbanite friends that live in a one-bedroom condo with no storage, virtually everyone will appreciate a Costco membership (or even a renewal if they’ve already got one). Whether they want to score an amazing deal on housewares and electronics, scope out gifts of their own in the books and electronics, or simply stock up on those one-of-a-kind items you literally can’t find anywhere but Costco, the place is always a blast to shop at, to the point where it’s caused a few good cases of buyer’s remorse in my lifetime.

In my mind, $50 is sort of a magic number for gift giving in a host of occasions – but of course, everyone has their own workable scale. It’s a great, appropriate gift for parents to give to their kids when they move out, or a practical wedding gift to throw in with some presentation money. The in-laws will love the concept of saving a few dollars on their next grocery bill, while the new parents of the world will be thrilled to stockpile kid-friendly treats and essentials without having to take a chunk out of their own tenuous budgets. University students going abroad will appreciate the chance to stock up on ramen, and really, the vast majority of dudes and dudettes alike will simply be happy that someone has made it that much easier for them to enter the iron clad shopping environment that is Costco.