Welcome to Canada care package

[MontrealMum]

Just bumping this to see if any of our Toronto area mamas have any suggestions.

[mikeys_mom]

How about a Rush CD? Lots of their lyrics have references to Ontario places and events. I actually never understood a lot of them until DH (native Torontonian) explained it to me. For

Roots T-shirt

Maple Leafs, Blue Jays or Raptors hat or shirt - we love our sports teams, although that might be hard to find in Mtl.

Small Maple Leafs hockey stick or puck - they sell them all over the place here, don't know if you can find them elsewhere

Timmy's GC is a good idea. People around here love going to Timmy's and in the suburbs there is practically one at every major intersection.

You can find the milk bag slicers in the grocery store. They are usually near the milk, together with the milk pitchers.

For sure she shouldn't worry about using the wrong words or phrases for things. There are so many people from different countries here, especially in the suburbs that no one really cares. They will probably notice her accent and people seem to like to figure out where you are from. While I don't notice it, I am told all the time that I have a "Montreal accent".

I tried curling once. It was an experience I don't need to try a 2nd time.

I've got to get my kids to bed but I'll try to think of more ideas later.

[EllasMum]

I'm a tad late to this party, but thought I'd throw this in, anyway...

How about some Canadian candy? Smarties, KinderSurprise egg, um... not really sure what else is Canadian specifically but those are the ones I hear Americans talk about.

Oh, and Alberta used to have the milk bags back in the 80's but that's about as late as I remember seeing them. Blast from the past!

Someone told me yellow margarine is a Canadian thing... or maybe it's that Quebec only has white margarine?? Sound familiar to anyone?!

[mom2binsd]

Mac and Cheese is called Kraft Dinner, end of story!

[MontrealMum]

Mac and Cheese is called Kraft Dinner, end of story!

So far I've got:
-milk pitcher and clippie thing
-maple syrup
-a vinyl cafe CD
-a Will Ferguson book (about being Canadian)

and I think I'm going to pick up a Timmy's gc, some sort of music CD, and some KinderSurprise eggs. I already did the Roots tees a few b-days back.

I think I'll stay away from sports stuff. They seem to be fans of Atlanta teams - though isn't their hockey team the one that's moving to Winnipeg? The DS is interested in taking up hockey this year since he's never done it before so maybe I'll look into buying him something for that for Xmas. Though I'm not quite sure what that would entail...I know next to nothing about hockey.

Margarine is white in Quebec because butter is naturally yellow and keeping margarine white is supposed to protect the butter industry. Whatever. White margarine is super gross. And it's really not pure white like Crisco, it's sort of a greyish pale entity.

[mom2binsd]

How old is their DS? Not sure about what their DS will need for hockey, it's harder for older kids (age 8 and up) to start playing hockey in Canada as most kids have been doing it since their heads 'crowned'. Yup the Atlanta team is going to be in Winnipeg, you could get him a historical book about hockey if he doesn't have any previous knowledge (again not sure how old he is). Anything Toronto Maple Leaf would be good (as much as I hate to say it, I'm not Leaf fan).

Oh remind her to, that she takes out the garbage, not the trash.

[MontrealMum]

He's 10, the sister is nearly 9. I think they know he's late in starting, but he's really set on trying it out. DS' friend from daycare started last year when he was 4!

[bubbaray]

I dunno, here at least he would find it impossible to find a team or way to *start* hockey at age 10. Kids here start skills camp inutero. Only kinda kidding.

You need to teach her how to order from Tims. Or hopefully she likes to drink black coffee. LOL.

I'm not understanding the vinyl cafe or KD jokes.

[mikeys_mom]

That is a really hard age to start hockey here. DS is almost 7 and starting his third year, so yes he was not quite 5 yet when he started. DD1 isn't old enough yet this year because of how her birthday falls but she wants to start next year at 5.5yo. The two biggest obstacles will be;
1) Finding a league with spots available (DS's league starts up again next month and was full already last spring)
2) Fitting in at the skill level for his age

His best bet is to try and start off in one of the municipal parks and recreation hockey programs because I think those might be more open to older kids who are beginners. If he is really interested in hockey, the other option is hockey camp. No idea how it works with regards to level and age and they are super expensive but I have heard great things. You can really build up your skills quickly because it is such an intensive program. A few of DS's friends have done them for a week or two and their parents noticed huge skill improvements.

You could get him a hockey jersey from his favorite team. All the other gear you really need to try on to make sure it fits properly. We buy as much of DS's stuff used from Play it Again Sports and trade-in the next year for bigger stuff. They grow so quickly that lots of the used stuff looks brand new.

[mom2binsd]

KD....American's don't call it Kraft Dinner, they call it Mac and Cheese whereas Canadians seem to only buy Kraft brand (or most folks I know anyway and always refer to it as KD).

As for the hockey...ya, starting at 10 is going to be tricky, he'd be best to take learn to skate lessons first, maybe even some private lessons to get his skating skills up, and then hopefully find a house league...but even then, at 10 most house league kids will have been playing for 3-4 years. Here we have a program called Hockey learn to play, it's like learn to skate but for hockey beginners.

My DS has been playing mini-mites since he was 3, he is now 5!