Word on the street is that Scrabble is cool again. Not that it was ever uncool.

Now we can show off our love of the letter with Scrabble mugs by Wild & Wolf. The ceramic mug in simple cream has a black letter on the front and the complete letter distribution chart on the back. Treat it like a monogram and gift a mug to a friend or yourself. Or, if you have open shelving in your kitchen like I do, buy a collection and put your favourite word on display.

High score! —Jaelyn Molyneux

$14 at Steeling Home, 1010 17 Ave. S.W., Calgary, 403-245-0777, www.steelinghomestore.com

When the weather outside is frightful plan a pajama party in with girlfriends and games.

Wear
No one will be judging what you wear so throw on the comfiest clothes you have and keep your toes toasty with faux fur booties ($16) from Restoration Hardware. Southcentre Mall, 100 Anderson Rd. S.E., Calgary, 403-271-2122, www.restorationhardware.com

Drink
Keep it casual by serving beer, but instead of picking up a generic 12-pack, buy the Case of the Month ($65) at Zyn and sample the curated collection of a dozen domestic and imported brews. January’s case runs the gamut from the sweet Ommegang Witte to the spicy Birrificio New Morning. 1543 17 Ave. S.E., Calgary, 403-543-8900, www.zyn.ca

Eat
Make it a pizza party by preparing Jim Lahey’s no-knead pizza dough from his book My Bread ($27.27). The dough rises overnight in time to top and bake to each person’s tastes. At www.amazon.ca

Play
Card game Apples to Apples is an old favourite with easy instructions. It’s all about matching unconventional nouns with wacky adjectives. It doesn’t require any special skill set, but there is an element of judgment, which is when hilarity ensues. $34.99 at Revolution Games & Music, 100, 3400 14 St. N.W., Calgary, 403-282-5200, www.revolution-games.com —Jaelyn Molyneux

British company Spineless Classics found a way to our bookish hearts through art.

They publish entire novels onto a single poster to tack to your wall. The book is displayed in four-point font making it legible if you get really close or use a magnifying glass. Choose from an already designed selection of books including Pride and Prejudice, The Origin of Man and The Secret Garden, or, the company accepts commissions letting you give homage to a book that made you laugh, cry or changed the way you thought about life.

Now where to start? —Jaelyn Molyneux

From $63, www.spinelessclassics.com

We have making soups and sauces from scratch down, or at least we’re on our way. It’s time to move on to cheese.

Ella Kinloch makes it easy with her mozzarella cheese making kit ($29.95). The box comes with enough citric acid, vegetable rennet tablets, salt cloth, cheesecloth and instructions to create 30 batches of mozzarella. With a little practice you’ll have cheese in 30 minutes with leftover whey to make ricotta. A poutine kit including gravy mix is also available and kits for blue cheese, Brie and Gouda are on their way.

If you prefer to start your cheese making surrounded by your friends book a cheese night with a hands on lesson for up to 10 people ($40 per person).

The things we’ll do for fresh ingredients. —Jaelyn Molyneux

www.makecheese.ca

Leftovers are so much more appetizing when you have a well-designed container to take them in.

European designers black + blum’s box appetit combines style and function to create a good looking lunch kit. Side clamps on the lid make it water tight and easy to snap on and off. Interior dividers mean your sandwich won’t touch your salad and a separate sauce pot prevents soggy salad. The plastic container looks like glass and ceramic, but is light and unbreakable. It’s also dishwasher and microwave safe.

So long brown bag. —Jaelyn Molyneux

$26 at Chapters, www.chapters.ca

Take a sweet trip down memory lane.

The brand new Gummi Boutique is a funky funhouse of a confection shop that is a throwback to those free spirit days when we would take our allowance to the corner store and blow it all on candy. Garbage Pail Kids, Super Mario and Willy Wonka are all represented in the bulk sweets, vintage candy bars and novelty items. Tear your eyes from the sugar rush and you’ll walls of murals painted by local artists.

This candy store is a cult favourite in the making. —Jaelyn Molyneux

Gummi Boutique, 2, 3919 Richmond Rd. S.W., Calgary, 403-457-4865, www.gummiboutique.ca

The name might be familiar, but the brand is all new.

Master chocolatier Bernard Callebaut opens his new store Papa Chocolat. The 860-square-foot boutique sells Callebaut’s filled dark, white and milk chocolates with international ingredients including Sicilian pistachios, Normandy sea salt and Ceylon cinnamon. Enjoy them individually or go all in with the Christmas Cracker, a chocolate log stuffed with more chocolates. The Callebaut’s had our sweet tooth pegged 100 years ago when they first started manipulating cocoa in Belgium. A century later the basics are still the same: creamy cocoa, inventive fillings, a pretty package and we’re willing to blow our daily calorie intake in a few bites. —Jaelyn Molyneux

Papa Chocolat, Willow Park Village, 226, 10816 Macleod Tr. S., Calgary, 403-264-7212, www.papachocolat.ca

We all like a sparkling wine. The satisfying pop of the cork, the effervescent bubbles that dance across our tongues, what’s not to like?

But there comes a time in every gal’s life when just any fizz won’t do. Just in time for toast season, Calgary Co-op Wine and Spirits is offering its Discover Sparkling Wines tasting event  ($30). Sip prosecco, cava, cremant while being educated on the finer points of blanc de blanc and demi-sec. You’ll be among drinking buddies so seize the opportunity to pose all those questions you were too timid to ask before, like what the heck is demi-sec. —Jaelyn Molyneux

December 9 at 2570 Southland Dr. S.W., Calgary, 403-299-5444, December 16 at 8220 Centre St. N.E., Calgary, 403-299-7764, www.coopwineandspirits.com

I love a good journal, but sometimes the blank pages are too high maintenance.

For those of us who love to reflect on our day, but need a little prompting to take the pressure off there is Keel’s Simple Diary. The second volume of these colourful notebooks includes one-page questionnaires that always start with asking about your day. One Monday you might have to decide if your day was deluxe, diplomatic or nervous on Tuesday your multiple choices might be a silver bullet, a red herring or a golden oldie.

Choose your cheeky descriptor fill in a sentence explaining your choice, answer two or three similarly sassy questions and you’re done your diary entry for the day. Just don't expect to be the next Anne Frank! —Jaelyn Molyneux

$17 at Chapters, www.chapters.ca

A good drinking buddy gets right to the good stuff.

Tannic.ca is an online wine club that is like a virtual drinking buddy for connoisseurs of fancy vino. Membership costs $199 and gets imbibers access to a weekly collection of six carefully curated wines available at discount prices. Members buy only the bottles they want and need only sit back and wait for it to be delivered to their door. The weekly six-pack is made up of rare, hard-to-find and pricey wines to whet the palate of discerning drinkers who want to skip the liquor store aisles.

Fancy wine, discount prices and door-to-door delivery, what could be better? —Jaelyn Molyneux

www.tannic.ca