Holiday Gift Guide

Dec 2016

Holiday Gift Ideas for 2015

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A Smartphone projector, gifts for foodies, classic board games and far- out fashions for men and women are among the gifts in Santa's bag. W hen you're making a gift list and checking it twice, there are just three rules to remember — for the naughty and for the nice. It's the thought that counts, everyone loves the element of surprise and, because it bears repeating, it really is the thought that counts. For the foodie on your list, there's more than one recipe for success. Go big with a gift every serious cook wants — cast iron. A Le Creuset or Lodge enamel dutch oven is on every home chef 's wish list, and while it isn't pretty, a pre-seasoned skillet will literally last a lifetime, and beyond. Or go small, with a hand-picked collection of locally made treats: Smak Dab Gourmet Mustard (smakdab.ca) offers flavours like Cranberry Wine, Honey Horseradish, Beer Chipotle and Curry Dijon, in single jars and four-flavour gift packs. Shut Ur Pie Hole (shuturpiehole.ca) packs a lot of pie into cute mason jars in buttertart, saskatoon, strawberry-rhubarb and more flavours. And Gourmet Inspirations (gourmetinspirations.ca) finishing sauces — chocolate port and salted caramel whiskey dessert sauce among them — will have your favourite foodie cooking like a professional chef in no time. Pick up a wine and cheese basket and an after-dinner liqueur at Fenton's Wine Merchants (fentonswine.com), or give the gift of a cooking class at De Luca's speciality food store (deluca.ca). Sign up for wine-tasting events at Banville and Jones Wine Company (banvilleandjones.com) or cruise the gift racks at your friendly neighbourhood Manitoba Liquor Mart for the perfect potable. Specialty wines include The Tragically Hip Ahead by a Century Chardonnay and Fully Completely Grand Reserve, along with Wayne Gretzky No 99 gift packs of Cabernet Merlot with two stemless glasses. For the clotheshorse, faux fur scarves and ear muffs make a fun accessory. Pet owners might appreciate matching dog-and-human scarves, if only for the selfies. And for many, ugly Christmas sweaters have become a holiday tradition. Comedian and talk-show host Whoopi Goldberg has embraced the sweater trend wholeheartedly, designing a limited-edition line of sweaters that are made with surprisingly luxurious materials, including alpaca and cashmere as well as wool. There are eight styles to choose from at Hudson's Bay stores or online at www.thebay.com for $179 each. Of course ugly is in the eye of the beholder, and it's not limited to sweaters. For the man who has everything — except a suit so loud that it practically screams Christmas — there's a holiday-themed OppoSuit. In fact, there's a whole series of styles, including Quilty Pleasure, Happy Holidude and Treemendous (pictured here). Cruise for one at Hudson's Bay or online at www.opposuits.ca. They run $129 per suit, with matching tie, and there's also a line of suits for women if you're in the mood to splash out on his-and-hers outfits. You can be pretty safe in assuming your fashion-forward friends don't already have one just like it. Spending quality time with family and friends is one of the greatest gifts of the season. Hipsters and traditionalists alike will appreciate the retro makeover Vintage Bookshelf Edition Games has given to classic board games including Clue, Scrabble and Monopoly. You'll find them tucked inside handsome book covers at Chapters Indigo. With all that festive gear, you'll want to preserve memories of the holidays. That's easy — every smartphone has a high- quality camera these days. But gathering around a hand-held device to squint at palm- size photos isn't the merriest viewing option. Make the season a bit more bright with a Smartphone projector, also available at Chapters Indigo for around $30. ❆ T H U R S D A Y D E C E M B E R 8 , 2 0 1 6 TOP GIFT PICKS OF THE SEASON A S U P P L E M E N T T O T H E W I N N I P E G F R E E P R E S S VIEW ONLINE AT winnipegfreepress.com/publications

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