For Canadians who still have some Christmas shopping to do, this list of made in Canada Christmas gift ideas from Chatelaine could be just the thing to help with those left on the gift list.
And hey, unlike the beautiful panettone from Viva pictured above, many of them would make good birthday gifts too. So even if you have all your holiday shopping done, give it a look.
The smart folks at Teenage Engineering have produced another cool product. As Yanko Design explains….
The PO-80 Record Factory Kit is a record cutter that engraves audio onto 5″ vinyl discs, giving kids the ability to record their own LPs the old-fashioned way, quite like how millennials made mixtapes and burned their own CDs. The Record Factory, created in collaboration with Yuri Suzuki, lets you engrave and playback 5″ discs with an ultra-analog lo-fi sound. This isn’t studio-grade equipment, after all, but it does add a creamy muffled, effect to your audio that totally sounds like the 40s and 50s in a nutshell.
Love it! For more on the PO-80, see these write ups in Yanko Design and the Awesomer.com.
(Image link to Yanko Design)
Books usually make good gift ideas. While there are lots of ways to come up with book ideas, one way I think is good is to go to FiveBooks.com and check out their most recommended books. They have them all listed, here.
You can’t go wrong with any of books on the list. In the worst case, you can refresh a copy of a book the person may already have.
Are here: Best Gifts from West Elm for $50 or Less | Apartment Therapy.
Even if you can’t get them from West Elm, try and use the ideas and get your last minute items crossed off your list.
(Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash)
It’s tough shopping in this pandemic. If you are stuck trying to find a gift and you are thinking of regifting, then read this first: Best Regifting Ideas — 5 Things That Are OK to Regift, and 5 That Aren’t | Apartment Therapy.
Yes, wine is a good choice (assuming the person getting the gift likes wine). For other Dos and Don’ts, check out that article.
(Image Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash)
This piece by Austin Kleon on being moderately gifted got me re-thinking this idea he discusses.
I say re-thinking because it is something I have thought about since I was a young man. Back then I was getting into jazz (as one does) and someone told me: the problem with being a jazz musician is your new album is always competing with the albums of Armstrong and Fitzgerald and Davis and Coltrane and Simone. People putting out pop music don’t have to worry about that. It’s tough to be moderately gifted in jazz, I thought, for you are always competing with the best. But in pop music, you are usually competing with the now. There’s more room to get by being moderately gifted. (Especially in the era I grew up when three chords was all you needed.)
If you have a creative spirit but moderate talents, it is easy to get dispirited and put your tools away. You will never be great you say, why bother? But I think the answer comes from looking at pop music. You may never be great, but you can enjoy putting in play whatever talent you do have. Maybe you can only paint flowers, or knit scarfs, or bake brownies. Do it with gusto! Do it like a punk rocker pounding away on his guitar with the 3 chords he knows! You might never be great, but in the moment, you are living large and the audience at the time is loving it. That’s enough. And enough is as good as a feast.
Perhaps you will go on to greatness. Whether you do or not, shine on as brightly as you can. Not all of us can be the sun, but sometimes being a campfire is fine.
Then you need this article in the New York Times:
www.nytimes.com/2019/12/18/smarter-living/last-minute-gift-ideas.html
It has a wide range of gift ideas but more importantly, it will help you better think about what to get someone.
Don’t panic, you still have time!
I can’t vouch for everything on this list, but over the years I’ve acquired a three of the items on it and they are all good:
Some are even on sale!
For more details, go here: Gift Ideas Under $200 | Bay Bloor Radio Toronto | Bay Bloor Radio Toronto Canada
Smart People I Know 