You know that technology has come a long way when your bracelet can track your sleep, count calories you’ve burned, detect your sleep states, and send emails. Wearables are the hottest gifts this holiday season with practical gifts for everyone in the family, including four-legged friends.
Best Buy Wearable Tech
There are over 200 products in Best Buy’s wearable tech category online like this Jawbone UP24™ that pairs with the UP app on your smartphone.
Activity: UP24™ gives you a clear picture of your activity levels by tracking your steps, distance, calories, active time, and idle time. Whether you’re walking the kids to school or sweating up a storm on the treadmill, you’ll find out exactly how active you’ve been through your stats shown on the UP app.
Food & Drink:Since a healthy lifestyle isn’t just about fitness. The food you eat plays a big part too. UP24™ by Jawbone can track your diet too, so you can see how it interacts with the rest of your lifestyle.
Through the UP app, it’s simple to track what you’re eating and drinking throughout the day. Record how much water you’re drinking, snap a photo of your meal, browse the library of restaurant menus, or log the information from a nutrition label. The UP app is filled with tools to help you monitor what you’re eating, make healthier meal choices, and ultimately improve your diet.
Sleep: A good night’s sleep can really affect your wellbeing, giving you the energy you need to keep up with your day. Whether or not you feel like you’re sleeping well, you can get an accurate picture of your sleep patterns with UP24™ by Jawbone. You’ll be able to see how long you slept for, how many times you woke up, how long it took you to fall asleep, and more. With its vibrating Smart Alarm, you’ll awake refreshed rather than distressed.
Best Buy Canada would like to give one UP24™ by Jawbone away to a lucky Miss604 reader along with a $200 gift card so that you can cross even more names off your shopping list this season. Here’s how you can enter to win:
- Leave a comment naming a wearable tech item available at Best Buy (1 entry)
- Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
I will draw one winner at 12:00pm on Friday, December 12, 2014. Follow Best Buy Canada on Facebook and Twitter for more information about wearable tech.
Update The winner is Carrie G!
An empty cupboard can be common and is particularly difficult during the holiday season for single mother families, which is why Cause We Care Foundation has launched its 8th annual Christmas Hamper Drive.
The goal of the Cause We Care Foundation Hamper Drive is to deliver over 600 hampers to frontline organizations in the Lower Mainland, while also raising funds for the YWCA Cause We Care House, a subsidized housing project in the Downtown Eastside.
Cause We Care Foundation works with local companies to secure donated or wholesale cost of items to ensure your donation makes a significant impact. For every $60 donation, one large food hamper will go to a single mother-led family this December –and the retail value of each can be well over $100 thanks to the support of campaign partners.
Hampers will include everything from soda crackers, soup, and canned tuna to rice, cereal, candy canes, paper towels, and toilet paper. Save-On-Foods supplies these items to Case We Care at cost for the hampers. Additional donated items such as toothbrushes, canned stew, chocoaltes, toques and mitts, and pasta have also been donated by local businesses.
How to Contribute
You can send over a donation online or help in a few other ways this holiday season by shopping at the following local retailers:
Blue Ruby introduced brand new handcrafted holiday bracelets with 100% of the proceeds supporting programs and initiatives run by Cause We Care. Prices range from $20 to $145. These beautiful bracelets make lovely holiday gifts and add a little sparkle to the season. They are available in all Blue Ruby stores from December 1st until supplies last.
Pottery Barn‘s Give a Little Hope campaign captures the spirit of the season with proceeds from special edition German Glitter Houses going to Cause We Care.
To celebrate the holidays Aritzia has launched the #FullofHeart campaign across its social media channels (follow @Aritzia and @CauseWeCare) benefiting Cause We Care: specifically the building of a subsidized housing facility in the Vancouver neighbourhood where its head office is located. Participants post a photo of someone they are #FullofHeart for on Instagram and Aritzia will donate a brick for each post or social media mention to Cause We Care on their behalf.
Volunteers can also assist with stuffing and delivering hampers on December 9th at the 8th Annual Christmas Hamper Drive. Email [email protected] to sign up and receive more detailed information about the drive.
I have a series of Vancouver Gift Guides I’ll be sharing this week that will help you find the perfect local gifts that come wrapped up with quality time with family and friends, and experiences you’ll never forget.
Gifts for Sports Fans in Vancouver
Today, I’m going to focus on the sport fanatic in your life, whether they live for the face off or kick off, appreciate the history and legacy of great athletes in BC, or love to get their own adrenaline pumping.
Ticket Packages
The Vancouver Canucks have introduced Cineplex Family Packs starting at $40 a ticket. Get 4 tickets to a game of your choice, receive a $20 Team Store discount (on purchase of $100 or more), plus 4 Cineplex movie passes and 2 popcorns, and enjoy a Classic Combo or the Collectible Combo at the Canucks game. The Canucks also have 3 game packs of tickets available for certain games throughout the season.
Individual tickets for the 2015 Vancouver Whitecaps FC season are not yet available but season tickets are, starting at just $369. The same goes for the 2015 BC Lions season, and their season ticket packs are on sale now starting at $271.
The Vancouver Giants have several ticket pack options including Mini Packs for popular games, Friday nights, or weekends. There’s also the fantastic deal that comes with the White Spot Family Pack for $99. 4 Red Category tickets to any regular season home game, 2 Legendary Burger Platters, 2 Pirate Paks, 1 game-night parking pass, and a $10 gas gift certificate from Chevron.
Finally for baseball fans, Vancouver Canadians season tickets are on sale and the club hosts a few off-season events like the Scotiabank Hot Stove Luncheon happening January 23rd, for which tickets are now on sale. Canadians merchandise can be purchased online.
FIFA Women’s World Cup
Canada is hosting the world in the summer of 2015 and several FIFA Women’s World Cup matches will be played at BC Place in Vancouver. Stadium passports (so a pass to all matches at BC Place) or half passports are on sale now. With the passports you can catch all the action at BC Place throughout June and July, save up to 25% on individual ticket prices and sit in the same seats for all matches. Tickets are also transferable between friends and family.
Games at BC Place for the FIFA Women’s World Cup include: June 8: Japan vs. Switzerland / Cameroon vs. Ecuador; June 12: Switzerland vs. Ecuador / Japan vs. Cameroon; June 16: USA vs. Nigeria; June 21: Round of 16, featuring A1 (possibly Canada); June 23: Round of 16, featuring C1; June 27: Quarterfinal (possibly Canada); July 5: Final.
Team Merchandise
Vancouver teams each have their own online shops or team stores that you can visit. The Canucks have an online gift guide and stores at Rogers Arena, 1151 Robson Street, 2893 East Hastings, and at Morgan Crossing in Surrey. Pick up gifts from jerseys and toques to iPhone cases and onesies for kids.
The BC Lions Store has jerseys, stockings, ornaments, hats and more online and their locker room sale takes place 11:00am to 2:00pm on December 13th at BC Place.
For anthem jackets, scarves, gift cards, t-shirts, half-season tickets and more check out the Whitecaps Shop online.
The Vancouver Giants have an online shop, and a store at the Pacific Coliseum on game days, with scarves, jerseys, hoodies, collectibles, and more.
BC Sports Hall of Fame
If there’s a sports fan on your Christmas list consider passes to the BC Sports Hall of Fame. From the Terry Fox and Rick Hansen galleries, to Vancouver 2010 and Olympic exhibits, and plenty of hands-on fun, a visit makes for a great day out with the family at BC Place.
A full family membership is $75 and members receive perks throughout the year. Enjoy unlimited visits to the hall for 4 family members for the year, 4 free admission passes for friends, discounts on merchandise and event rentals, advanced registration for kids programming and select lectures, and invitations to member events and exhibit previews.
Light Adventure Outdoors
For the sports fan who loves to be active themselves, there are several gifts for them to use around Vancouver, from sea to sky.
Close to home, the Vancouver Park Board has gift cards available that can be pre-loaded with $25 to $100. The gift cards can be used at 21 fitness centres, 13 swimming pools, 8 ice rinks, 3 golf courses, 3 pitch and putt courses, 2 gardens, and much more.
Our three local mountains all have something different to offer and passes are available now for skiing, boarding, and more outdoor fun at Mount Seymour, Cypress, and Grouse Mountain.
The Sea to Sky Gondola is the new hot spot in Canada’s recreation capital, Squamish. Tickets and passes make a great gift for any season. Hike in the summer, snowshoe in the winter, and enjoy a meal in the Summit Lodge anytime.
For those looking for the ultimate rush, give the gift of an Olympic bobsleigh experience! The Whistler Sliding Centre is now open for bobsleigh, skeleton, and luge runs.
Watch for a series of posts featuring themed gift ideas in the Vancouver Gift Guide this week.
Vancouver’s newest holiday organization, the Lumière Festival Vancouver Society, presents a fun collaborative initiative this week that will link the West End and Yaletown.
*** CLICK HERE FOR 2015 EVENT INFORMATION ***
Lumiere Festival Vancouver
Businesses within the West End and Yaletown Business Improvement Associations (BIAs) have setup impressive lighting installations that will be in place until January, 2015 and between December 11th and December 13th, the commercial streets in these popular neighbourhoods will be filled with live entertainment, street activations, and a free hop-on/hop-off trolley tour.
Lumiere Vancouver will connect you with Yaletown, Davie Village, St Paul’s Hospital Lights of Hope, Bright Nights in Stanley Park, Lights for Life at English Bay, and more.
Other highlights between December 11th and December 13th include the Comox Winter Jam light parade down the Comox-Helmcken Greenway, free ice skating at the West End Community Centre, a special appearance by Santa Claus and a Surprise Celebrity Drag Claus at the Denman Place Mall, and a carnivalesque light and performance spectacle at Yaletown’s Bill Curtis Square.
*** CLICK HERE FOR 2015 EVENT INFORMATION ***
Follow Lumiere Festival Vancouver on Facebook and Twitter for more information. Click to download itinerary and map.
Take a break from your holiday shopping in Downtown Vancouver and hop into the Vogue Theatre for some entertainment and Christmas cheer for a cause. Starting December 16th, the Vogue will be showing holiday favourites on the big screen to help collect donations for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society.
Free Christmas Movies for the Food Bank
Tuesday, December 16, 2014: Love Actually
Wednesday, December 17, 2014: Polar Express
Thursday, December 18, 2014: Elf
Doors open at 6:30pm and the movie starts at 7:00pm. The Vogue staff will be serving an assortment of beer and wine along with traditional movie snacks.
There will also be pre-film trivia where you can test your cinematic knowledge for a chance to win some awesome prizes. All ages are welcome to these films.
Admission is free, with a donation of a non-perishable food item or cash for the Vancouver Food Bank.
Follow the Vogue Theatre on Twitter and Facebook for more information about these films, their upcoming shows, and more.
