What a crazy time! I am gutted for performing artists, small businesses, restaurant owners, and all of those who have lost loved ones this year. I’ve decided to focus for our main gift guides on small business in Canada. These are all brands that ship, so you can support local, but from a safe distance.
With the economy always at the forefront of our minds, we always try to simplify the holidays in some way. We’ve put together a list of gift ideas that may keep you hooked even when the world is booming again.
1. Snowman in a Can. Take a clean paint can and paint the outside of it with a snowman scene (or leave it silver with white dot stickers). Put inside: a toque, mittens, buttons, plastic carrot and a scarf. Voila! You have the finishing touches to your snowman.
It’s almost the end of an epic-ally horrid year, and time to set some goals and evaluate all that is amazing in life. What better way to connect with your kids than sitting down to a new classic Disney film! Mulan is the story of a fearless young woman who risks everything to become one of the greatest warriors China has ever known.
There is little as special as a peaceful bath with soap you have made yourself. Try different scents, and let the kids experiment with their own colours and smells. Handmade soap is spectacular hostess treat for the holidays, or perfect for holiday gifts. Once you are comfortable with the basics, you can try different recipes, or interesting moulds to create amazing one-of-a-kind soaps.
There are few life events that are as exciting and meaningful as the arrival of a brand new baby—whether it’s your own darling smoosh or one belonging to someone you love. As happy as we are about these new little additions, picking a perfect gift for each baby shower can be a daunting task—mostly because you want to commemorate the occasion with a really great baby shower gift.
Recently, we have been feeling so much pressure to register, to organize play dates, to structure. What about spontaneity? Learning through play? We have been soliciting ideas for fun, learning-enhancing activities that can be done with little or no cost. Pretend play offers young children a chance to practice skills within their own frame work and rules, letting them set the boundaries. You can always make suggestions if they need it but follow them, not the other way around.
After searching for the perfect nanny, how are you going to pay her? In determining the nanny’s status as an employee or as an independent contractor, the Canada Revenue Agency does the following tests:
1. Control: Are you specifying the work to be done? Are you specifying the working hours and are you reviewing the work that was done?
There are a couple of things that have always scared me a bit. Maybe it was lack of knowledge. Maybe it was fear of the unknown. Possibly just being copasetic. I remember browsing the course catalogue for university and not knowing exactly what engineering was. Seriously. Similarly, when friends got braces in high school I would just smile and nod. My teeth were straight enough – the top ones anyway. Everyone else was part of some club who got dismissed early for their ‘ortho’ appointments and I just sat and watched them leave, as if they were venturing to mars. I should have done some research. Little did I know that braces aren’t just cosmetic. Crooked teeth and overbites can affect speech, jaw stress and cause unnecessary wear on other teeth as time passes.
