136/ A Non-Style Gift Guide From a Style Newsletter

Every time one of my kids’ birthdays rolls around, I’m faced with the same dilemma: what to put in their loot bags that isn’t dollar store junk destined for the landfill. I researched this question early on and the answers I found either: 1) wouldn’t be popular or “cool” with the kids, and/or 2) very time-intensive to put together.

I think about the time-intensive piece every time I go to the no-waste grocery store to refill receptacles with milk, shampoo and peanut butter, rather than doing a one-stop shop at the giant, chain grocery store. Somewhere in my mind I’m thinking, ugh, why am I doing this, this is so inefficient?!

Then I remind myself that before the time of modern conveniences (aka not that long ago), there wasn’t a single place to get all of your needs, whether it was ingredients to prepare a meal, or materials to make your clothes. Everything took time, and it’s just how people lived.

So yes, my loot bags. I decided to forego “cool,” and for my son’s third birthday, I made homemade tic-tac-toe kits with mini burlap bags and rocks. The following year, I threw some stray lego pieces in another burlap sack along with a DIY booklet of 2D lego shapes to copy. Three years in a row, I’ve given books and homemade hot chocolate mix in a mason jar.¹

Past loot bags: and DIY lego workbook and Tic tac toe kit.

Despite my efforts, I know I’m no better than the next person. I may be saving a few plastic toys from ending up in the dump, but the reality of living within a consumerist society is that every other action I take has environmental consequences and perpetuates social inequities. Those are big issues I can’t take on with DIY loot bags.

While bigger brains than mine are tackling these larger issues, I still believe I can make a small difference with the decisions I take day-to-day, and that extends to gift giving. I think about it the way I think about my kids’ loot bags: this gift guide is less about owning a “thing” and more about giving opportunities to learn, think and experience. It also focuses on supporting local businesses and encourages engaging with your community.

I also recognize that the fact I’m even writing a gift guide like this is a privilege in itself, as there are many people in my community who lack the basic necessities of life. If it’s available to you, please consider donating to a local shelter, volunteering for a food drive, and/or sponsoring a family through an organization like Holiday Helpers, a charity who provides “personalized Christmas packages to families with young children living in low-income personalized Christmas package to families with young children living in low-income situations who are trying to improve their circumstances.”

For more gift guide ideas,

PIGPEN

published a guide in a similar spirit and there’s some overlap to what I’m recommending below — you can read it here!

• Know someone who wants to learn a language? Give them a subscription to Babbel.

• A risky proposition these days, but an annual subscription to a news outlet or magazine that they may enjoy.

• Tickets to a lecture series, e.g. the Munk Debates.

• Subscription to a podcast or a favourite Substack.

• Adult education classes through your city’s community centres, and here in Toronto, through our local public school board.

• Improv or public speaking classes at The Second City.

• Cooking classes.

• Art classes through your local galleries, e.g. wheel throwing and pottery through the Gardiner Museum.

Wheel throwing at the Gardiner Museum

• Tickets to your city’s symphony, ballet, opera, theatre, or other performance institutions. Here in Toronto, that would be the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, National Ballet of Canada, Canadian Opera Company, Tafelmusik, Soul Pepper Theatre, Stratford Festival, etc…

• Annual memberships to local galleries and museums.

• Tickets to sporting events, concerts, movies, comedy shows, DJs, music festivals.

• Memberships to film organizations, e.g. TIFF Lightbox and HotDocs.

• Gift certificate for a cut/colour, manicure, spa day, wax, personal stylist.

• Membership to a fitness centre, wall climbing gym, community centre, pickleball court (yes, it’s a thing) or driving range.

• Know someone without a car who uses a city bike? Give them bike share membership. And, for the days they have extra groceries and need to rent a car, a car share membership.

• For your frequent flyer, an airport lounge membership.

• Passes to a pilates, yoga, taichi or qichong classes.

• Gift certificate to a favourite restaurant.

• Something bonkers like an escape room experience or indoor skydiving.

• Subscription to foodie club, whether for wine, cheese, coffee or tea.

• A curated produce box delivery subscription.

Fourth annual neighbourhood cookie exchange

• A gift made with whatever skills you have, whether it’s knitting, sewing, woodworking, etc…

• Any food made with love, whether sweet or savoury. For the past five years, my friend

  Loss & Found
  and I have a hosted a neighbourhood cookie exchange. The guest list is at 50 this year and we’ll all bring home a big box of homemade cookies!

• Plants

• Floral arrangement subscription or DIY floral arrangements that can be as simple or complex as you’d like. I’d love to receive one of these and place it on my window sill:

May you find as much joy in the giving as you do in receiving.

Love and gratitude,
Irene

1. Half cocoa, half sugar (adjust to taste), pinch of nutmeg, pinch of cinnamon, top off with small marshmallows. Mix with warm milk with a drop of vanilla.