CJAD 800AM at 8:40am – Mother’s Day Ideas
Q1: Traditional Mother’s Day gifts might be pj’s or jewelry, could you give us some ideas of where we might go for these?
Zebra Lingerie Outlet Store is out of the way, up in a Chabanel building. You can really score well ($5 or $2 racks) in this neat liquidation store for bras, sports bras, undies (6/$10) and nighties, pj’s and bathrobes in names you might know: Lily of France, Vassarette, Lou, Fully, Curvation Bestform, Exquisite Form and more. The Zebra staff can ensure that you are wearing the right bra specifically selected and shaped for your body. There are decent try-on rooms too.
Location: 9500 Meilleur St. (Lobby)
corner: Louvain
Phone: 514-858-9254
Hours: Tues- Wed 9:30-2, Thurs-Fri 9-6, Sat 9-2
B. Shechtman Jewellers is a third generation jewelry wholesaler can turn all your creative ideas into sparkling pieces. Come in with a concept, a piece of old jewelry, or a photo of something you like and he can make it up to your specifications creating a one-of-a-kind piece just for you. You can change a ring into a necklace or a pin into a pendant, let his imagination guide you.
Rings, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, brooches and pendants can be crafted out of gold or platinum and embellished with diamonds, pearls, rubies, emeralds, sapphires or other precious stones.
Of course the standard tennis bracelets, eternity bands, Tiffany bands, diamond stud earrings, wedding and engagement rings can all be purchased here – for less. They offer a full range of repair services and appraisals..
Location: 1435 St-Alexandre St., suite 1290,
corner: Mayor
Phone:514-842-0222
Q2: What about chocolates and flowers?
How about them both together? For Mother’s Day there are chocolate flower bouquets and flower pots filled with different kinds of flowers, pretty baskets and gift packages ($6-$100) at Splendid Club Chocolate.
You can pick up yummy inexpensive chocolate gifts (or for yourself!), if you sneak over to this building’s outlet on the main floor for factory direct chocolate bargains (even Kosher) on caramels, raspberry-filled, cappuccino, almond bark, lollipops and solid or hollow novelties (Santas, bunnies, teddies) and boxed ballotins. Corporate gifts are available by appointment.
Location: 4810 Jean Talon ouest, Suite 100
corner: Victoria
Phone: 514-737-1105 x 224
Hours: Mon-Fri 10-3
www.splendidchocolates.com
Q3: Some Moms have enough stuff, what can you suggest for them?
Buy tickets for a show: Tickets for “Lies My Father Told Me” with Broadway star Theodore Bikel and Patsy Gallant is now showing at the Segal Centre.
Location: Segal Centre, 5170 Cote Ste. Catherine Rd.
Phone: 514-739-7944
www.segalcentre.org
And the run of our own homegrown hugely popular “Schwartz’s The Musical” has been extended until this Saturday.
Location: Centaur Theatre, 453 St. Francois Xavier
Phone: 514-288-3161
www.centaurtheatrre.com
Spa 200o is offering for a Mother’s Day Special where all taxes will be included purchase of a gift card. The card can be used on any services in the spa. That’s 15% off on everything.
Location: 3563 Boul. St-Charles
Phone: 514-695-5040
www.spa2000.ca
Q4: If you really get stuck for ideas, can you suggest some cool gift shops?
Pour Quoi Pas, located right downtown, is a colorful shop for gifts, parties, the kitchen, kids, girls and guys. For Mom’s how about some flashy colorful umbrellas, foldable collapsible water bottle or those rolling shopping carts?
Some fun things that they sell: a hook that looks like a sparrow sitting on a tree branch; bands that you slip over a beer bottle to identify whose it is; a voodoo doll toothpick holder; an alarm clock that sounds like a rooster, cat, dog, monkey or owl; a banana keeper to carry one for lunch; a purse hook to hang it on a restaurant table; or a duck shower cap.
Location: 275 Sherbrooke W
corner: du Parc
Phone: 514-524-2124
Mortimer Snodgrass, in old Montreal has good ideas for Mom: grow kits for herbs or baby peppers or an indoor tree (by local company Seracon). Also made in Canada – pinot noir bubble bath or bath bon bons bombs that look like chocolates. An “entertaining” Mom might like the sparrow party glass markers, or the dollhouse kitchen knick knacks. A green gift could be the pretty enviro sacs which scrunch up so small you can fit a few in your purse.
With its cutesy name, this gift shop has cutesy – and practical – gifts. Love the salad servers that look like a growing plant and the electro man extension cord. Green toys for kids are here, like the hand-painted-in-Montreal bike bell, puppets handmade in Canada from recycled fabrics or the kiddie tea set made out of recycled milk jugs. Hugely popular are the monkeys – plastic toppers which fit on your keys so you can easily tell them apart. The neoprene lunch bag is useful, as it insulates well for cold or hot foods, and cutesy is the humungastache fetch toy, which makes your dog look like he has a mustache when he grabs the ball in his mouth.
Location: 56 Notre Dame ouest
Phone: 514-499 -2851
www.mortimersnodgrass.com 
Le Panier is a huge gift store which is chock full of gourmet food items, kitchenware and gifts. You can certainly find something for Mom easily here.
There are 50 ready made baskets (baby, gourmet, birthday, sympathy), but custom-made baskets are easily assembled from the jams, hot sauces, Rogers chocolates, toys, jewelry, gadgets, and much, much more. Look for the little tasting bowls and crackers to try out new products, the candy corner or feast on their own 5-year-old cheddar, sausages made by the Mennonites, and their homemade fudge.
Location: 300 Lakeshore Road
corner: St-Joachim
www.thepanier.com