Christmas Gift Guide - All Hail the Luxury Consumable!

I love giving gifts. To get to think about how much I like someone and what I could do or give them that would bring them some joy is the best. It was actually when my gift-giving skills started failing a couple years ago that made me realize I'd reached a pretty high level of burnout, because I was forgetting to be thoughtful and phoned in a wedding gift for a friend I cared deeply about. This won't do, I said, and make some drastic changes in my life which led us all here together to this very post.

I know for many people, gift giving is very hard and not enjoyable, a "just tell me what to buy you" experience. There is nothing wrong with that, but sometimes people (like me all too often) say "I don't need anything" or "I already have too much stuff" etc etc. This is where the Luxury Consumable will save you!

One can almost never go wrong when gifting a Luxury Consumable - i.e. something that by its very nature is not meant to be "kept" (e.g. food or toiletries) but is likely a little higher-end than what someone might buy routinely. As long as you have a vague idea of whether the person you're gifting likes the general category (e.g. booze, chocolate, candles) of your gift, the Luxury Consumable is a foolproof present that works for every price point.

There is no shortage of places to obtain Luxury Consumables year-round in Saskatoon - The Saskatoon Farmers' Market (only in the downtown location until December 22), SaskMade MarketPlace (now with a Midtown location), Joyne, The Better Good, Wanuskewin, Ten Thousand Villages, Saje, Bernard Callebaut, the grocery store, the list goes on. There's also a ton of Christmas pop-up markets happening over the next few weeks, which CBC has compiled a list of. Just pick a store or market, go with a general idea and budget in mind, and I guarantee you'll find the right gift.

Some of my favourite luxury consumables with a local flavour:

• Chocolate from Those Girls at the Market - still taking Christmas box pre-orders, I think
• There is no shortage of excellent locally produced specialty booze in Sask (multiple links here)
• Or if you want to gift a tasty and bubbly non-alcoholic beverage, Parkerview Brews has really perfected their craft
• I got an Alauna Whelan candle in a silent auction at the Third + Bird market and I love it, expensive but very nice and lightly scented with essential oils only
• Everyone needs soap! Soap Cutts has several scented just with essential oils too which are safer to gift if you aren't sure if someone is scent-sitive
• Lots of independent coffee roasters around, my favourite is Caliber out of Regina even though I have to get it shipped to Saskatoon
• While we don't agree on certain transportation planning initiatives in Saskatoon, McQuarrie's is still a great place to buy loose tea in Saskatoon
• My former curling teammate Kevin of Saskatoon Spruce has Christmas cheese boxes this year, his business and story is very cool
• I also love the chevre (goat cheese) from Red Barn Dairy but best to buy right before you gift because it doesn't last forever
• Kitako Lake Honey is some of the best honey I've ever tasted and I'm not just mentioning it because Steven is my cousin-in-law (is that a thing?)

However - you don't have to go to a specialty market to find something great! Last time I was in Shoppers Drug Mart they had giant higher-end dark chocolate bars (PC brand) on sale for four bucks. Unless one is allergic to chocolate I can't imagine not loving such a gift, and never guessing it was only four dollars. Grocery store gifts are HIGHLY underrated yet nearly always appreciated.