I’ve found these gift guides to be very helpful in finding gifts for others, and, perhaps more useful, finding things to ask for myself.
Canada
The Globe and Mail’s gift guide is straight down the centre, and very similar to a lot of mainstream gift guides. But their links are to Canadian urls, so that’s something.
Same goes for Toronto Life.
Simons has expanded into Toronto this year, so their His and Hers lists are on my radar.
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of local things presented by Toronto.com.
The CBC’s Canadian Brands’ gift ideas surprised me too.
Finally, Meredith Hardie’s “A Toronto food lover’s gift guide” has some unique picks.
The States
Some gift guides are too general. I like specific contextual ones like this, The New Yorker’s gifts for hosts. See also, Food Lovers and presents for Kids.
Robin Sloan’s 2025 gift guide, like all years before, is delightful.
Noah Kalina’s from last year is fun too.
Kottke’s 2024 is a gift guide full of links to other gift guides. It’ll take you about two hours to get through all the links and you’ll have a nice time on the internet.
David Pierce’s Installer Gift Guide is full of good ideas.
Cool Hunting has so many guides.
And while these aren’t gift guides, here are a few sites that are just fun to browse for gathering inspiration: Tools and Toys, Uncrate, Wirecutter, and Spoon & Tamago.
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