The Marigold Potager – A Zone 3 Prairie Garden

Today is day 28 of the postal strike here in Canada. Parcels and mail of all sorts is not moving, everything is backlogged. They said yesterday that even if the workers went back to work today, our parcels will not get to their destination for Christmas.

This has put me in a tizzy, let me tell you. I have been optimistically sitting here, thinking of course they will go back in time and Christmas will be back on track.

Other couriers are overwhelmed with the additional deliveries so are turning down packages, or taking them but not guaranteeing that they will get to their destination in time.

As a momma trying to send Christmas cheer to my son, I am scrambling to figure out how to make this happen.

Psst, this strike affects not only Canadians, but anyone trying to ship something to Canada. Please check to make sure the company you go with says that they will be able to deliver your gift on time.

Here are some ideas that I came up with last night…

Find a Personal Shopper

• If you know someone in the city your person lives in, hire them to be your personal shopper. Give them your budget, including what you will pay them for their time and gas, any and all ideas that you have.
• Google up a personal shopper in the city your person lives in. Make sure to put in that it is a Christmas shop so that you find the right kind of personal shopper.
• Put personal shopper (plus the city) into Facebook Marketplace and watch the ideas pop up.

I love to make care type Christmas packages. Gifts that are specially curated for the giftee. It’s how I roll, how I find joy in the holiday season.

I’ll take a lovely basket, box, bag (something they can use that becomes part of the gift) with toiletries, socks, pajamas, their Santa gift (main gift-something special that they really want), plus favourite chocolates or candies, and baked goodies.

Unless I can find a personal shopper, this idea is out for this year, so here are some ideas that I looking into…

Baked Treats – If, like me, you usually add your person’s favourite cookies, breads, or loaf cakes to the parcel, find a bakery that sells something similar, and delivers.

Liquor Stores – My dad used to love a good bottle of Australian red wine, and his birthday was close to Christmas, so I always sent him a box of assorted red wines in December. I called the liquor store, asked them to pick out wines from lesser known but well rated wineries. I gave him my budget and he delivered the box for free each year. My dad so looked forward to trying those new reds.

Maybe your person loves a nice whiskey? Baileys? Vodka? Whatever it is. If this is something that your person would love as a gift, most all liquor stores will deliver. They probably even have on line shopping now so you don’t have to call them, like I did. My dad passed a few years before covid hit, things have changed a lot since then.

Delivery – Many local shops will have online shopping and delivery, like Canadian Tire, Walmart, liquor stores.

The drawback is that most do not have gift wrapping, so they will be delivered as is, or in a bag of some sort. If you can find a personal shopper to pick up and wrap, that would be amazing.

Check out places like tasterabbit.ca to see if they are in your person’s city and offer wrapping and services. Just put wrapping service (plus their city) in the search bar and see what pops up. Time for us to get creative, eh?

• Check out instacart.ca for a list of shops that a personal shopper will pick out and deliver for you.
• Many flower shops will also do giftboxes that look amazing, and they deliver.
• Put gift baskets + the city in the Google search bar for local ideas.
• If you know that they want something from a certain shop or vendor, give that store a call or an email, see what they can do for you.
• Many gift shops will offer unique items and if you chat with them, they may be able to help you find a way to deliver your purchases, as well.

Small mom and pops that usually ship across the country and out of country are really hurting right now. If you give them a call or an email about arranging delivery of the item(s) you purchased, I am betting that most will be super helpful. It might be a card saying your gift is on the way, with a picture of the item.

Coffee – This is a great idea if your person likes coffee, espresso, lattes, cold brews, any of those things.

My daughter in law loves her specialty coffees. She has a very fancy Nespresso machine (she found it on Marketplace for much less than retail) at home that makes all sorts of coffees so sending her a variety directly from the company is a gift that is both meaningful and useful.

Shipping if completely free if you spend $75 on the pods and not affected by the postal strike. Coffees will get to their home in 4 to 8 days. Btw, they always send you a bag or two for returning the used pods for recycling, you send them back at no cost.

Nespresso also still has their coffee machines (the white and gold one is so very pretty!) on sale at Black Friday prices and the machine will ship directly to whatever address you give them, at no cost to you. I am not sure how long this sale lasts, so please, please jump on it if you are interested.

Ps, I just ordered coffee pods for us here at home and am receiving some free coffee pods, a wooden tray, and chocolates as a gift. Who doesn’t love a gift for buying what they use anyway, eh? : )

Last but not least, there is Amazon, of course.

You can also order a Nespresso machine from Amazon at a great sale price, and the pods. Don’t forget to get a milk frother for that extra to make it special, and a box of chocolates. Nothing better than coffee and chocolates… except maybe potato chips and cabernet sauvignon.

Sticking to my curated care package theme, I checked out gift baskets on Amazon.

Gift Baskets – I am having a hard time letting go of the curated care package idea that I do up for everyone each year, and then found this solution!

Did you know that if you put holiday gift basket in the search bar on Amazon, you get pages and pages of ideas? Gift baskets for him gives great ideas specially for men, or her, of course. Clicking on any one item that piques your interest will takes you down a rabbit hole of gifts in that same theme. Buy your person a gift basket they love.

These are some of the ideas that I am looking at for my son and daughter in law, to add to their locally delivered goodies. Don’t forget to put a checkmark in the gift box option to add a personal message and get it wrapped.

For The Foodie/Entertainer

*As an Amazon affiliate, if you buy an item(s) from one of the links, I get a small commission to support my blog. It does not cost you any more to purchase through my link than if you went to the link on your own : )

Here’s a fun idea. Order something like the above and then have a local grocery store deliver stuff to go with the gift. Like fruits, cheeses, and crackers for the charcuterie board, cookies and cakes to go with the teas, or something yummy for the bbq-er (or maybe a set of bbq sauces to go with?)

For The Sweet Tooth

Assortments of treats are always a hit… who doesn’t love chocolates at Christmas? My son loves Beuno chocolates, but you can find most all chocolates come in gift packs, like these Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups, Hershey’s, or maybe this fun international snack foods box.

Gifts Curated For Your Person

Pick out a gift that has meaning for your gift recipient. My daughter-in-law loves to luxuriate in the bath so a spa sets is a welcome gift.

My son is a student, so choosing something for school like this leather laptop bag, is something he needs and will appreciate. We also got him this Ekster Leather Wallet & Card Holder in brown leather to match.

He also loves comfy clothes for while he is studying.

A gift card to a men’s suit shop would also be very appreciated as he is in law school and will be wearing suits often, but I may save that idea for his graduation gift.

Still stumped? Check out these Amazon ideas from last week, too.

• My Favourite Gifts To Give
• Gifts For The Gardener
• Curated Christmas Gift Ideas

If you were wondering how to get your gift to your person, as I was. If you were waiting for the strike to end, thinking we would still have time, it appears to no longer be an option. Let’s get a wiggle on and find some really good alternatives.

Local, too – These ideas might also apply if your Christmas is local. Maybe you are busy with work, kids, activities, meeting a deadline, something. Maybe you are sick in bed, recovering from surgery or covid, maybe you or a loved one is immune compromised so you’re avoiding crowds.

Whatever the reason may be, my number one thought is to find that personal shopper. If you are on fb, put it in your local buy and sell page or local newspaper page, hire someone to do your running around and wrapping for you. Give yourself that gift for the holidays.

These are some of the things I am looking into to make sure my son and dil have a wonderful Christmas despite the postal strike.

I found a small mom and pop shop for the main gift, the special Santa gift. Whew! That pressure is off. They are shipping directly to his address, though cannot guarantee it’ll get there on time. I now get to shop around for the extras, the cosy stuff. This is the fun bit!

I’ll do my best to make their holiday bright… and mine. I am not really big on Christmas spirit, but giving meaningful gifts gives me joy, puts the merry in my Christmas.

I feel much better now that I am no longer in limbo, waiting, wondering, and worrying. I have a plan, I have gifts they will love going right to their doorstep…. even during a postal strike.

Happy Gift Giving – Tanja