Buying one gift for two people is its own challenge. It needs to suit both of them, which rules out most of the obvious stuff. A gift he’d love might bore her, and a gift she’d love might sit untouched on his side of the bed. This list is for wedding presents, engagement gifts, housewarmings, anniversaries, or just treating a couple you care about. All of it works in Canada, and most of it is something they’ll use together.
Gifts for a night in
1. A cheese, wine and cigar evening
Put together a hamper built around one long evening. A few Canadian cheeses, like Oka, a Quebec brie or an aged cheddar from Ontario, a bottle of Okanagan or Niagara red, good crackers, and a pair of cigars for the back deck once the plates are cleared.
Plenty of couples enjoy sharing a mild cigar, and a smaller format like the Trinidad Coloniales or Cohiba Siglo I suits both first-timers and regulars. Cubans are sold legally in Canada, but the selection at local shops can be thin outside the big cities, so many people end up ordering from overseas sellers with Cuban cigars shipped worldwide. Just make sure they arrive in sealed original boxes.
If you go this route, allow for duty, excise tax and GST/HST, which are charged on cigars when they arrive in Canada. The Canada Border Services Agency explains the rules on its website. Both recipients need to be of legal age, which is 19 in most provinces.
2. A cocktail kit
A proper shaker, a jigger, a strainer and two good glasses. Add a bottle of Canadian gin and a card with three easy recipes. Now every Friday has a plan.
3. A board game they’ll actually play
Skip the ones that cause arguments. Two-player games like Patchwork, Jaipur or Codenames Duet are quick to learn and good for weeknights.
4. Matching robes
A pair of quality waffle or linen robes feels like a hotel stay at home. Canadian brands such as Flax Home and Maison Tess both do nice ones.
Gifts for the kitchen
5. A pasta maker and a class
A pasta machine on its own ends up in a cupboard. A pasta machine plus a two-hour class they attend together turns into a Sunday habit.
6. A cast iron casserole dish
Le Creuset or Staub, in a colour that suits their kitchen. It’s the sort of thing couples use for decades and eventually pass down.
7. A coffee setup
If they’re coffee people, a quality grinder and a bag of beans from a local roaster make a real difference to the morning. A manual pour-over kit is a cheaper option that still feels considered.
Gifts that get them out of the house
8. A winery tour
Book a guided day trip through the Okanagan, Niagara-on-the-Lake or Prince Edward County, depending on where they live. Someone else drives, which is the best part.
9. A hot air balloon ride
Early starts are worth it for this one. Balloon flights run over Niagara, the Ottawa-Gatineau area, the Fraser Valley and the Alberta foothills, and most finish with a champagne breakfast.
10. A stay somewhere special
A night in a glamping dome, a lakeside cabin in Muskoka or the Laurentians, or a converted lighthouse on the East Coast. Canada has plenty of unusual places to stay, and a single night is often enough to make it memorable.
Gifts that last
11. A personalised piece of art
Commission an illustration of their home, their dog or the venue where they got married. Local artists on Etsy and at weekend markets do this for reasonable prices.
12. A tree or plant for the garden
A maple sapling, a lilac, or a potted fig they can bring inside for the winter. It grows along with the relationship, which sounds cheesy in writing but feels lovely in person.
Tips for buying for couples
Think about the thing they do together most often. If they host friends, buy for hosting. If they travel, buy for travel. If they sit on the deck on a warm summer night talking until midnight, a good bottle and a couple of cigars fit right in.
Avoid anything too personal to one of them, like clothing sizes or skincare. And if you know one partner better than the other, check in with the one you don’t know as well. Couples usually share one secret wish list, even if only one of them writes it down.
Check out my article on gifts for him, if you would like more inspiration for your partner.
