Coming soon! Toronto One of a Kind Christmas Show & Sale

I go to the One of a Kind Show at least once a year. This year's Christmas show runs from:

Thursday, November 25 to Sunday, December 5, 2010
Weekdays and Saturday 10am-9pm, Sunday 10am-6pm

Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place

TICKETS ONLINE

$10 Adults
(A $2 saving compared to ticket at the door!)
$6.50 Senior (65+)
$6.50 Students (13-17)
Free Children (12 & Under)

TICKETS AT THE DOOR

$12 Adults
$6.50 Senior (65+)
$6.50 Students (13-17)
Free Children (12 & Under)

Parking
Surface (Monday - Sunday) $13 daily, then $10 after 6 pm
Underground (Monday-Friday) $13 daily, then $10 after 6 pm
Underground (Saturday-Sunday) $15 daily, then $12 after 6 pm
Ontario Place parking $5 per day

Hope to see you at the show -
The Gift Geek

Gift Guides in time for the holiday season

Many online magazines/bloggers have published gift guides in time for the holiday season - check a few of them out below.

- NOW Toronto Holiday Gift Guide - 2010
- High-Def Digest Holiday Gift Guide 2010: The Essential Holiday Blu-rays
- 2010 Holiday Gift Guide: Geeky Gadgets, Fashionable Finds, and Great Buys For Boyfriends!
- CultofMacs 2010 holiday gift guide for teens

- CultofMac’s 2010 Holiday Gift Guide for Women

Keep your gifts unique - The Gift Geek

Proud to be a Torontonian!

When I came across this excellent piece of art from Ork Posters, I just had to get it. It was ordered today and I can't wait to have it framed and hung in my condo. For only $22 USD - poster ( 30" x 24")or $27 USD- screen print (30" x 24") you can get one of these awesome typography art posters of your favourite city:

POSTERS - White and black OR blue and green (below)

Screen Prints - Brown and Yellow or Red and White (below)



I learned about this company when The Toronto Star featured a Toronto artist creates similar art of Toronto neighbourhoods using words. Dave Murray sells his typography art of three Toronto neighbourhoods through his online store.

The three neighbourhoods are: Kensington Market, The Ossington Strip and Queen West & Parkdale.

The posters are printed on Japanese hemp paper and are 100% acid-free and lightfast - 21" x 31" in size. Posters are between $40-$50 Canadian dollars and there are three colour options.


Dave Murray is starting on Leslieville next, according to the Star article.

Although I believe in supporting local artists, I don't have a connection to any of the areas featured in Dave's art, so I purchased from orkposters.com. In saying this,I do look forward to seeing the neighbourhoods Dave will feature in the future.

Keep your gifts unique -
The Gift Geek

Thanks to Guest Blogger Amy - I purchased your recommendation

You may remember my friend Amy writing a guest blog a few weeks ago. Well I loved her "find" so much that I ordered her gift recommendation from vista print - address labels, pens and sticky notes for me, my sister and mom and dad. They are going to make great stocking stuffers too.

Check out some of the items I ordered ...

PEN


Return Address Label (Address removed)

Sticky Note PadThanks again Amy!

Your pal the Gift Geek

The perfect Mo Sista thank-you card

For the third year in a row I am participating in Movember. During the month of November men (Mo Bros) grow moustaches (Mos) in support of men's health (In Canada -Prostate Cancer Canada). Women (Mo Sistas) can also participate by providing the Mo Bros with morale support and collecting donations for the cause.

This year, I have collected $1000 (so far) from my generous sponsors. To thank them I ordered the most fabulous personalized cards from etsy store ylimepulp. The seller changed the cards to read Mo Sista (rather than mister) and my full name.


Although the seller is in the U.S.A, the cards arrived within a week and a half. I am going to frame one of my cards for my desk as the 3D moustache makes me smile every time I look at the card.

ylimepulp has a wide variety of stationery, which makes this gift geek very excited.

Thank you Emily from ylimepulp for putting a smile on this Mo Sista and all of my Movember sponsors.

Check out Emily's shop and tell her the gift geek sent you.

It's gift giving time - keep it unique!
The Gift Geek

Another great baby shower gift idea - at least I think so.

My friend Amy and I were excited to be invited to our friend Denise's baby shower. We spoke about possible gifts and settled on an idea ... granted an idea I stole from a facebook friend. We decided to start the baby a library!

The library would consist of two bookends and as many books as we could purchase, keeping in mind our budget.

I went to Chapters/Indigo and found the most adorable bookends by a company named Zuny. The ends are sold separately for $29.99 a piece. For the most part, the bookends are animals and there is quite the variety to choose from. Chapters had five choices and I decided to pick-up the Elephant and a Lion.


I wrapped it up nicely with the books we picked up to help start the babies library and voila!


These bookends are also designed to work as door stops, so I wasn't too upset when Denise received a second elephant (her favourite animal). I was apparently not as original as I thought.

As I mentioned, I stole this idea from my friend Jordana. How nice do these bookends look on her son's bookshelf??!!!! GORGEOUS!


Note: The bookshelf itself is from ducduc -- an American company. Designed in NYC and built in Connecticut from sustainable wood. www.ducducnyc.com. Purchased from Ella & Elliot in Toronto.

Back to the shower ...

Denise's shower was a lovely luncheon event at Fire on the East Side. The meal was delicious, the conversation was great and Denise was glowing. She is such a beautiful expectant mother.

One of Denise's friends made cupcakes for each of the shower guests to take home with them. They were amazingly delicious and so cute.

The chick is made of cake that was dipped in white chocolate. YUM!

Denise said her husband liked the idea of receiving books for their new baby. I hope they will enjoy reading these books to their baby for years to come.

Keep on Giving -
The Gift Geek

Do you know anyone moving?

Guest blogger - My friend, the fabulous Amy

At my monthly girl’s dinner last week my friend Jill surprised another friend of ours with the cutest little gift: Return address labels. Now I know that doesn’t sound super exciting, but wait until you see them:




Cute right?

At Vista Print (where I also ordered my wedding invitations and must say was very happy with the quality), you can order address labels with a variety of different designs. In this case Jill customized Katie, her husband, and her cat’s caricature on to the address label. Caricature options include customizing one’s head shape, eye color, hair color etc not just for humans, but for your animal too! That way you can make sure to include everyone in your house on your label. You can even put head pieces like antlers on your little furry friends. Jill’s gift also included matching pens and sticky notes with the same design. So cute!