Canadian Gift Guide

…and so am I, from a brief hiatus. My apologies for leaving you in the height of pre-holiday-season gift planning. I hereby promise that every day from now until Christmas will include a gift suggestion for your enjoyment.

Today’s suggestion is perfect for a stocking stuffer, Secret Santa exchange, or what I like to call ‘finishers’ – items that are lovely, but not the ‘special’ piece you build a major gift package on. Namely I’m talking about The Bay’s collectors mittens that were omnipresent at this year’s Vancouver Winter Olympics. The original pairs literally flew off the shelves the first time around, but they’ve reintroduced them with a design variation for the same bargain price of $10.

Being one of the lucky few hundred thousand that own one of the original pairs, I can assure you these mitts are surprisingly warm, so if you’re concerned about the throwaway practicality, never fear! Beyond that, they’re quite the statement item and you will find your giftee receiving longing looks as they board the city bus or traverse through a parking lot. Plus you can outfit an entire family – the mitts come in two different adult sizes plus kid sizes. And if you didn’t know already, the net proceeds from the sale of the mittens actually go to the Olympic foundation to support our Canadian athletes.

Someone I know recently commented that if The Bay were smart, they’d open a permanent Maple Leaf shop, given the hysteria surrounding Canadiana gear at the Olympics. Given the return of the mittens, we might not be too far off from year-round, stylish Canuck gear – perfect for the Canadian Gift Guide if I do say so myself.