Canadian Gift Guide

Canada Day is tomorrow peoples! While I’m sure you’ve already got your plans sussed out (and some hostess gifts stockpiled), I thought I’d through some patriotic crowd pleasers your way today anyway. If you do have a chance, swing by and pick one up and hand it off to whoever’s hosting your fireworks fete, but otherwise, just keep these in mind as great, truly Canadian gifts.

Oh Canada loose tea – $6.50+ @ DAVIDsTEA
I promise you I didn’t name this post after this tea – but a happy coincidence it is anyway. Canada’s tea masters have also captured Canada in tea form with this rich red rooibos. Sprinkled with maple leaf candies, and infused with honeybush, caramel, and toffee bits, every sip will be a happy reminder at how sweet it is to be a Canadian.

Canada Pennants – $5-$8 @Roots
Roots has, unsurprisingly, an entire Canada Day shop packed with gear to outfit you from head to toe in our red & white colour scheme, but I fell for these retro-styled pennants that would look adorable at the entryway to anyone’s woodsy cabin or even their mainland coat room. The price makes them an ideal pick to bring along to a party, and you get extra street cred for repping both the maple leaf and the beaver and the national anthem on one little gift.

Canada Day Cookies – $15 for 4 dozen minis @ Just Taste Baking
Vancouverites are in luck – the chef behind these cookie concoctions is based in Van City, but the rest of the nation can still enjoy these tasty sugary treats: half of which are dusted with white, snowy powdered sugar while the others are infused with ruby red cranberries. Bring some to stock up the buffet table, or share them with your coworkers the week after the event.

Maple Leaf Bikini Top & Bottom – $12 each @ Old Navy
Spending July 1 at the lake with you and yours? Gift the hostess / your sister / best friend / girlfriend with this uber cute bikini to don on the big day as a silly but also sexy way to get your patriotic spirit on. Bonus – she can also put it to good use two weeks later when pretending to be an Olympic swimmer during London 2012!

Map of Canada Floor Puzzle – $14.95 @ Indigo
This massive 50-piece puzzle is a fun way to get kids to learn a bit more about Canada from coast-to-coast, including our national symbols and our huge range of ecosystems and climates. And shh…they’ll also get to use their brains, even though it’s officially summer vacay!