Holiday Gift Guide 2023 - Made In Ontario

It's back! The 2023 edition is here. I have curated a list of 5 small businesses to shop from this year. All of these small shops handcraft their products. From one of a kind cards, body care and more, please check out the following businesses.

Soaps and Natural Body Products

5 Local Businesses to Shop from this Holiday Season

Munday Body Care

Munday Body Care Natural Soap Bars

Mun is the founder of Munday Body Care. With a background in architecture and a diverse life journey spanning multiple South-East Asian countries, Australia, and Canada, Mun's life experiences have led her to a profound appreciation for the remarkable healing potential of botanicals, rooted in the age-old self-care traditions of South-East Asian cultures.
 
Mun's personal encounters with the therapeutic wonders of plants ignited a passion to explore the incredible benefits of bio-adaptive botanicals such as moringa, turmeric, gotu kola, and thanaka. Stepping away from her architecture profession, she initially found a creative outlet in crafting artisanal soaps.
 
Fast forward to 2019, Mun and her husband decided to transform her passion into a full-fledged venture, giving birth to Munday Body Care. Munday stands as a testament to hand-crafted self-care products that embody the essence of nutritionally rich, plant-centric formulations. At the heart of Munday's creations are adaptogens, nature's answer to the everyday skin challenges posed by environmental stressors like fluctuating temperatures, pollution, and dry conditions. Mun elevates her products with the artistry of aromatherapy, crafting unique blends of essential oils. At Munday Body Care, it's not just self-care; it's a holistic journey of nourishing your body, mind, and soul with the power of nature.

Munday Body Care

Connelly Crafts

Connelly Crafts Cards

​Stephanie is the creator behind Connelly Crafts, a small-batch handmade greeting card and paper goods company. She began making cards when she moved to Canada from Scotland and couldn't find the cards she wanted when she needed them. What started as a need soon blossomed into a love of all things papercraft.

In addition to greeting cards for all occasions, she creates card-making kits to help beginners find a love for papercrafts too. She also has a regular supply of gift tags, gift card holders and money wallets available.

Stephanie prides herself in keeping each piece as handmade as possible with the aid of stamps and dies and a hand-cranked die machine.

Connelly Crafts

Tia Toria's Creations

Tia Toria's Creations Resin Products

Victoria is the creator behind Tia Toria’s Creations. In 2016, she became an aunt (Tia) for the first time and started creating things from her littles. As an educator by day, Victoria knows how important play is to support littles in their learning and from there the resin products were introduced. 

Resin alphabet and number sets are at the core of Tia Toria’s Creations, however overtime sensory loose parts and kits were added to the collection. You can find a variety of resin sensory items for the littles in your life to assist them learn and explore.   

Here's how it all started...Tia Toria's Creations began with alphabet and number rein sets for the littles in my life - to provide them with fun and engaging learning tools that were disguised as play toys. The resin collection has grown to include sensory loose parts and sensory kit items, as well as letter keychains and kid safe Christmas ornaments as well. These items range from $10 - $50.

Tia Toria's Creations

Cards by Niesey

Cards by Niesey Handmade Cards

Denise is the creator for “Cards By Niesey.”  She started making cards for her family and friends and after years of bringing smiles to those she loved, decided to turn her passion into a small business.


With a little help from beautiful paper and stamps, she designs and colours each card by hand. The best part of making her cards by hand is that each card is completely unique, which makes them a little extra special.

Cards by Niesey

Clay Tulips by C

Clay Tulips by C Fine Silver Jewellery

Casual, earthy jewellery made of eco-friendly recycled silver. Cheryl is the designer behind Clay Tulips by C. Her jewellery making began as a hobby when her youngest child started school full-time and turned into a small business in 2015.

Her love of the outdoors is seen in the silver jewellery she creates. Designs are inspired by nature and she imprints pieces of nature into her pendants, earrings, rings and bracelets. She also loves using unique stamps and interesting  buttons in her designs.

Since every piece is individually hand-sculpted, they are truly unique.

Clay Tulips by C

Thank you to each of these businesses for sharing their wonderful products. When you are thinking of shopping this festive season, think of supporting local.

Happy shopping!🎁
Cheryl