HIHW Holiday Gift Guide: more ideas!

I hope you read enjoyed Part I of our Holiday Gift Guide, in which two female twentysomethings attempt to become personal shoppers for an entire legion of hockey fans. (Our parents always told us to aim high.) We already covered official Habs merchandise, but there's more to give, isn't there? We've got you covered.

Please accept this somewhat cheesy graphic in lieu of what I would have liked to Photoshop... maybe something like your favourite Habs dressed up as elves. Sorry.

Part II: The Scoring Bonuses
... stuff that isn't officially Habs-related, but will still tickle most fans


Brownish-yellow gloves. I can never seem to find the right pair of winter gloves, because they're too warm or not warm enough. Plus, if you've got a couple of different coats like I do, you need gloves that can match anything. If there's anything I've learned from the Habs on old-school jersey nights it's that dark yellow gloves apparently match everything!

Tickets to a U2 concert in July. In my opinion, U2 is the unofficial band of the Montreal Canadiens (the Bell Centre brought back "Vertigo" for a reason) and a chance to see them outdoors in such a huge venue just can't be passed up. You'll have to try your luck with eBay or scalpers, unfortunately, since the shows sold out so quickly.

A country-western style shirt or belt for the Price, Moen, or Gionta fan in your life. Yes, admit it, our team is slowly becoming Club de hockey Cowboy de Montreal. It could be worse - at least it's not Club de hockey Cheesy Overproduced Euro Dance-Pop de Montreal! Then we'd all be wearing metallic bodysuits to games. Ew.

Hamilton Bulldogs merch, these days, is pretty much the same as buying Habs merch anyway, and they've added a few items to their store since last season so it's worth looking at if you haven't recently. A few standouts: women's zip-up hoodie (please, Santa Claus? I've been extra nice this year!), the women's long-sleeve shirt (it's less busy than the kids' T-shirt I have), and the rally scarf.
 I should have bought last year's cards and book, but I didn't and now I regret it. That's what cousins in Hamilton get bribed to do, I guess.

Be nice! Make a donation to the Canadiens Children's Fund or to a charity that one of the players supports.

Speaking of charity, Alex Kovalev's got a second training DVD. The first one was a very hot holiday gift - most stores couldn't keep them on the shelves for more than a few hours. The second one's probably just as good, and just as watchable, and since some proceeds from the first one were donated to research into children's diseases, I can only hope that it's the same the second time around. Win-win-win.

Olympic merchandise! I'm crossing my fingers that a certain Mr. Yzerman was paying attention to the newly improved wicked good Carey Price during that Capitals game, so we can cheer for a Canadien on Team Canada. Otherwise... um, what's the Czech equivalent of the Hudson's Bay Company?

NHL 2K10 - you know, the video game with Ovechkin on the cover. We're endorsing this one over EA Sports' NHL 10 with its coverboy Patrick Kane. 2K9 probably costs about 20 cents less.

Shameless self-promotion.  I have another side project: I design and make jewelry, and at ~czechtacular's urging, I'm using the blog to promote one of my favourite creations: the Canadiens bracelet.

It's the official jewelry of Hab It Her Way! Made with Swarovski crystals in the shades closest to the real bleu-blanc-rouge (well, technically, it's bleu-clear-rouge), it's both sparkly and simple and goes well with almost any outfit. I hate to toot my own horn, but I've been wearing mine for almost two years and it still looks great (especially when high-fiving people after awesome goals at the Bell Centre). I get a lot of compliments on it, too! Contact me if you'd like to buy one and we can work things out (my Etsy store is still being set up, so for now I'm kicking it old-school and doing all my sales person-to-person). As you can see in the above photo, you have your choice of a primarily white, red, or blue bracelet, and I can make simple earrings to match!

Stay tuned for more holiday goodies, and don't forget to gift-wrap!