If some kind friend or family member is doing the heavy holiday lifting this season, pick up one of these host gifts on the way over – or ship it to them four days after the fact – and ensure you’ll be invited back next year.
Headed to a party where you’ll be feeling more than just a tryptophan buzz? Bring this weedy gift set, which features a blunt ornament, a cute ashtray, rolling papers, a lighter and bonus munchies. $39.95, Drake General Store, 1151 Queen West, 647-346-0742, and others.
Appeal to your host’s sense of nostalgia by bringing along festive flavoured popcorn from a cool little hole-in-the-wall spot in Kensington. $9.50, Toronto Popcorn Company, 147 Baldwin, 1-844-767-8368.
If you forgot to grab something on the way, app-based service Giftagram has you covered – just pick a gift and give them the recipient’s email, and they’ll arrange delivery from there. Prices get bumped up a little above retail to account for delivery, but this handsome mortar and pestle set is a bargain any way you slice (or grind) it. $30, Milton Brook, available at Giftagram.
Another delivery option: a box of Canadian small-batch foodstuffs. FoodiePages curates selections and recipes for its monthly Chefs Box. The theme of the latest is west-end shop Cheese Boutique, and it includes pickles and stone-fruit chutney cooked up with Samuel Adams beer by local chefs Jason Bangerter and Jonathan Goodyear. Forgot your host’s birthday this year? Get them three months’ worth of boxes instead of one! $55/box, FoodiePages.
Is a holiday pancake breakfast in your plans this year? Blow minds with a bottle of Tapped Out Maple Syrup cooked in the woods over an open flame for a mind-bendingly complex smoky flavour and thick, full-bodied consistency. $15.99, Roast Fine Foods, 786 St. Clair West, 416-657-6278.
Get more Holiday Food & Drink 2016 here.
