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Lifestyle

Gift Guide

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For more great gift ideas, see our 2005 Gift Guide

Research says that if your foot hits the pavement 8,000 times in a day, you’re in Weight Loss City, population. You! Save yourself the hassle of meticulously counting your own steps and let the VoiceZone Talking Pedometer do it for you. Also includes a total-distance counter, calorie counter, stride distance adjustment and a 90dB panic alarm for when you have to step your way out of getting your ass kicked ($19.99 from RadioShack , Eaton Centre, 416-979-3180, and others).

Unless spell-it-out hints have been dropped, presenting someone with a vacuum as their special gift could pose some serious and nasty repercussions. Clues in place? Proceed to impress with Electrolux ‘s Oxygen Ultra vacuum ($899, Sears , 290 Yonge, 416-349-7111, and others), which boasts a washable filter that cleans 99.97 per cent of allergens from the air.

Cocoonerrific! It’s Mission Six ‘s Nomad coat by day, zip-on sleeping bag by night ($350). Warning: for some people (mainly drunks and children), snowsuits can provoke a pee-your-pants reaction. Embarrassed that you’re soggy on the slopes? Hide behind these Dragon optical foil goggles ($200, both from Let It Ride , 2229 Queen East, 416-693-9472).

Give them everything they need to know to get their knit on, with Debbie Stoller’s Stitch ‘N Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook ($20, Knitomatic , 1378 Bathurst, 416-653-7849). Packed with trenderrific patterns and super-easy instructions, it’s a valuable resource for anyone considering picking up the needles.

When the trendy apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, these buckskin baby moccasins will cushion the landing ($25, Delphic , 706 Queen West, 416-603-3334).

Educational during the day, decorational at night, this light-up globe ($69.97, Grand & Toy , 100 Yonge, 416-364-9120, and others) proves to be the mullet of den accessories.

Convert your outdated VHS tapes to the more advanced – and cheaper – DVD format with the BenQ JH300 DVD Recorder ($298 at 2001 Audio Video , 1032 Bloor West, 416-536-2001, and others), the next gizmo you’ll need to digitize your sadly analog life. Or set the timer to catch Scrubs when you can’t and effortlessly skip the commercials without hearing the lame whir of those video cassette tapes of yore.

Unless you know for absolute certain which fragrance your giftee adores, don’t bother buying in the perfume category. If you screw up the name or brand, you’ll be exposed as someone who isn’t paying attention. But if you want to take a fresh approach to personal fragrance, choose from the 18 surprisingly pleasant “memory scents” from Demeter ‘s Fragrance Library ($25, Shoppers Drug Mart , 292 Dupont, 416-972-0232, and others) and rationalize from there. I’ll get you started with Gin & Tonic to show you how easy it is: “Remember the time we got trashed at (fill in the blank) on G&Ts? Well, this made me think of you.”

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