Past-minute DIY holiday gifts

My favourite Dollarama store downtown closed last year and I just noticed that it will soon reopen as a brand new Prada store. And across the street from that same wrecked Dollarama is a new Versace store. I went in last week to peruse the merch, which clothes-wise consisted of five wimpy black dresses hanging bravely on a far wall and a few unisex T-shirts in an altar in the middle of the store.

This was my Dollarama last year.

There were other weighty faux-gold logos for sale too, attached to watches and shoes and bags. And they had the cutest big backpack in the window with so much black shaggy faux fur the clerk couldn't find the fasteners to show me the inside - it was marked down 50%, now only $3,000.

 (The backpack was missing from the window today when I took these photos.)

Tory Burch and Burberry and Escada, Hermes, Coach, and Luis Vuitton are all within a couple of blocks of each other now. I go to gawp and play and get ideas, and to shop at a favourite supermarket nearby. 

But I want my Dollarama back!!!

The logos. Why spend that much if you can't see them, right?

I tend to celebrate the little cheap things more dear than money can buy, yesh - the headband with feather antennae, shown below (still from a VOGOFF promo video here), the child's construction vest, the Christmas ornaments that saved the fashion show (see post here) all purchased for a low-low price at Dollarama but priceless for their inspiration.

The holiday season really makes me think about consumption and I will share with you some of my favourite past-minute Christmas gifts that say "Can You Tell I Love You?" on a budget, gifts that you can source in your own home at this very late, late, late hour.

PAST-MINUTE DIY HOLIDAY GIFTS  

• Toothpaste, either in the tube or lovingly squished into a little plastic baggie. Who can fail to be touched by the gift of healthy teeth and gums?

• For the crafter, a potato and a Sharpie marker, although a Sharpie probably won't work on a potato. For stamping, okay?

• A lock of your hair wrapped in plastic. And for that Special Someone, use the other hair.

• A fan made from the giftee's credit card bill with a loving Haiku scrawled across it and a sketch of a bird.

• The lost sock.

• Packing tape for sticking on your forehead as a dream catcher when you go to bed. Who will forget anything with a hunk of tape on their head?

• Tissues/toilet paper/paper towels, preferably unused, to be tucked into the coat pockets of loved ones for rescue from sniffle emergencies.

• One leg cut from old pantyhose or tights to be used as an umbrella holder. 

• Half of your brownie - that's TRUE love! (especially if Suzanne made them)

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Can you imagine the squeals upon opening such personal, loving gifts? I think not.

Of course gift-giving goes hand-in-hand with feasting, so this holiday season I whipped up a fresh batch of boiled eggs. My oven is full of electronic goods so I couldn't bake them (the eggs or the electronics). I am quite pleased with the progress I'm making in boiling water. The trick is in the temperature.

That's the best taxi in town! I asked the driver inside if I could take a photo, and then after, he rolled down the window gave me a mini candy cane from the dashboard, a very storybook event on Christmas Day.

Of course if anyone were to throw a big faux fur Versace backpack my way, I would sigh and say, "Hey, I would have been just as happy with a baggie of toothpaste and packing tape stuck to my forehead." Hahaha!!!

And this is a video I made of Suzanne and Sue and me shopping at Talize thrift store. See what I mean about having fun? This is NOT a sponsored post or a sponsored video - it's just a trio of over-40 Canadian women bloggers, besties, having a blast shopping.

Hope you're having great times if you have holidays - and even if you don't!