The best holiday gifts for homebodies
Including a self-watering garden, a houseplant consultation and cult-favourite cookware
All products featured on this page were selected by Toronto Life’s editors. However, when you purchase an item through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
See our full holiday gift guide.
CanCon Candles
Ever wondered what Mr. Dressup would smell like as a candle? This collab between Newmarket’s Market Candle and the CBC captures classic shows as flickering scents. From $26
Banorah
Kikkerland goes bananas for Hanukkah with this whimsical fruit-shaped menorah. Candles included! $28
Cat Nap
From Parisian label OMY, this inflatable tickled-pink kitty pillow is squishable, washable and paws-itively cherishable. $36
Saucy Apron
If your recipient enjoys...entertaining, consider this saucy beaver-themed apron featuring multiple illustrations of the charming woodland creature that’s absolutely not meant to be innuendo at all. $39
Painted Candles
Add a little extra shimmer to the Festival of Lights with these tapers, hand-painted in Cambridge, Ontario. $53
Anishaa Basketball
This sporty piece of indoor-outdoor art is called Bear Spirits in honour of Anishinaabe artist Brandon Jacko’s clan. $60
Champagne Flutes
If their cupboards are vertically challenged, gift them Corkcicle’s double-walled glasses, which keep bubbly cold sans stems. $60
Fancy Toothpicks
For every tree that’s milled into Daneson’s aromatic birch picks, the Toronto company plants 100 in its place. $64
Portable Lamp
These nature-inspired rechargeable, portable lamps are tailor-made for Scandi-inspired cottagecore. They’re 3D-printed by Toronto-brand Humber. $79
Bowl Goals
Vancouver home decor brand Fable hand-finishes its zero-waste ceramic tableware in Portugal. They’re like beautiful Russian nesting dolls you can sip borscht out of. $129
Leaf It to Her
Troubleshoot droopy leaves, mystery pests or general fern-based anxiety with the help of Julia Rago, a.k.a. Toronto Plant Girl, during a one-hour virtual consultation. $130
Ceramic Tableware
Louf serves their sesame bread and fenugreek cake on this set from Jaffa-based Palestinian ceramist Nur Minawi—and now you can too. $175
Available at Louf, 501 Davenport Rd.
Shelf Control
Sleek and sturdy—we should all be so lucky—this wheeled olive-green polycarbonate shelving unit from Simons rolls with (or holding) the punches. $228
Heated Camping Chair
Kuma’s Canadian-designed Lazy Bear puts you in the hot seat—literally, thanks to Bluetooth-controlled seat warmers for all-weather lounging. $250
Lava Lamp Speaker
Govee’s JBL-enhanced lamp pulses light to your playlist. It’s groovy and actually sounds good—it’s a lava lamp glow-up. $250
Compact Cookware
Short on space but big on taste? Canadian brand Kilne’s limited-edition Studio Set features mini versions of its cult-favourite pan and pot, perfect for condo cooks. $295
Basket With a Twist
Baba Tree’s Ghanaian artisans weave strong, flexible elephant grass into a unique wave-like silhouette, creating a storage basket that doubles as functional art with serious shelf appeal. $325
Cozy Sheets for Cozy Sleep
There’s cozy, and then there’s Canadian flannel cozy. These 100 per cent cotton flannel sheet sets are brushed to cloud-like perfection and proudly made right here at home. Flannel is the fabric of winter dreams: plush, warm and perfectly giftable. When it comes to thoughtful giving, nothing tops the gift of Canadian comfort. From $379
Silk-Filled Duvet
Stuffed with double-cocoon mulberry silk—the highest grade you can get—this Aeptom duvet is cozy, cooling, cloud-grade Canadian luxury. Guaranteed to ruin you for basic bedding forever. From $400
Wool throw
Woven from 100 per cent baby alpaca fur, this made-in-Peru herringbone throw combines warmth and luxury in one elegant package. $465
Smart Garden
Self-watering and app-tracked, Plantaform’s “fogponic” garden grows 15 plants at once. It’s basically FarmVille, but you can eat it. $850
Coffee Table
This 1969 piece from Italian furniture brand B-line morphs from coffee table to bookshelf to a set of side tables—a necessity when your living room is your bedroom is your dining room. $865
Steeped in History
Elevate teatime with this 22-karat-gold-trimmed Royal China set in a pattern once personally selected by Queen Elizabeth II and King George VI during a 1939 visit to the Fairmont Empress. $1,025
Mini Sofa
Australian brand King opened their first Eastern Canadian showroom in Toronto this fall, and its 1977 sofa—undulating, sculptural, modular—now comes in mini, for the kid with a budding mid-century modern aesthetic. $1,088
Ostrich Cabinet
Ruffle feathers with the Lizzy cabinet, a hand-carved stunner from Italian furniture designer Piero Manara and a standout at this year’s Milan Design Week. $46,743
Caitlin Walsh Miller is a Montreal-based writer and editor whose work runs the gamut from small-town politics to big Canadian ideas, with the odd tumble down an internet rabbit hole along the way. Her work appears regularly in Maclean’s, Toronto Life, the Logic and elsewhere.
