Hot Cross Buns ordered?

Baskets assembled?

Husband’s bunny costume picked up from the cleaners? (Don’t laugh, Ben Affleck has one.)

Now how about dinner decor?

Cotton yarn, glue and balloons are all you need to make these jaunty decorative eggs, and, alas, there will be no need to hide them.

Okay hubby, hop to it!

For step-by-step instructions, click here.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring… who are we kidding, we’ll be wrapping presents well past midnight.

And to make the last minute hubbub brighter, Zaac Pick, a friend and singer-songwriter (his tunes recently appeared on episodes of One Tree Hill and The Ghost Whisperer) has given us a free Christmas track to share. Appropriately, it’s “Silent Night.” Click here to download the song.

A happy and peaceful holiday to you and yours from all of us at Vitamin Daily Vancouver.

www.zaacpick.com

Herewith, our gift picks for the gals, from save to splurge.

If your bestie likes books gift her a paperback from Penguin’s Couture Classics series. Famed fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo drew custom covers for the three female-centric titles, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights and The Scarlett Letter. $20 each at www.penguin.ca

Spruce up the office space of a working girl with Cubicle Art by Vancouver-born artist Talia Shipman. The 4x6 pieces feature photos taken on travels paired with hand-written messages, like “It’s not me, it’s you,” and will mount to a wall or stand upright. $55 at Vancouver Special, www.vanspecial.com

Heat up the cold hands of those warm hearts you know with a pair of leather driving gloves. In patent, snakeskin and other colours, they’re the sexiest we’ve seen and will make her feel like a secret agent. $79 at Club Monaco, www.clubmonaco.com

Road trips with gal pals aren’t the same since Polaroid passed on, so replace hers with the Fuji Instax, a cute instant camera that takes credit card-sized snaps. Joshua Jackson just took one to Mexico to capture holiday pics of his paramour Diane Kruger. $145 at Urban Outfitters, www.urbanoutfitters.com

A Burberry trench is timeless, and with the brand’s recent Art of the Trench collaboration with The Sartorialist, the gal you give it to can street-style it up and submit her photo to be featured on the website. From $1,095 at Burberry, www.burberry.com

Whether he’s a music man or a funny fellow, we’ve got a gift for every kind of gent at any price point. Herewith, Vitamin Daily Vancouver’s top 5 gifts for guys.

With labels and envelopes that make digital look analog again, a Vintage Vinyl CD packaging kit will inspire him to make you mixtapes. $21.95 at Front & Company, www.frontandcompany.ca

A Goody Grams animal shot glass is steady either way it stands, and doubles as a paperweight or candle holder when it’s not holding a drink. Various species in black or white, $30 each at Vincent Park, www.vincentpark.wordpress.com

Skip the thousand-piece puzzles and give your boy at heart a serious Lego set based on Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpieces, the Guggenheim Museum or Fallingwater house (pictured). $45-$100 at www.brickstructures.com

With the '80s back in a big way, it’s time to give his weekend style a touch of cool retro with the Timex classic digital watch (Ryan Gosling wears a similar one). In silver or gold finish, $70 at www.timex.ca

Get your Will Ferrell-fan creating his own Funny or Die vids with the Flip MinoHD digital camcorder. It’s pocket-sized and can be personalized with a photo or design. $249.99 at www.theflip.com

If you’d rather sniff out a good Christmas treat than make one, follow your nose to the Baker’s Market.

Walk away with fine chocolates by My Chocolate Tree and Wendy Boys, cute cupcakes by Le Petit Cupcakery, gingerbread cookies from the Cookie Vonster or mini bundt cakes in a multitude of flavours (like lime coconut) by Miss Mandy.

Vendors take special orders too, so we suggest letting the ladies of Yummy Baked Goods make you a holiday fruitcake worth serving.

With the baking out of the way, all that’s left is the shopping.

Baker’s Market, November 21, December 5 and 12, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., 118-408 E. Kent Ave. S., Vancouver, www.bakersmarket.com

1. The Crayon Keeper (comes with crayons) is a kid’s—and mother’s—dream come true. $12.95 at Style Kid.

2. This wooden caterpillar rattle doubles as a Christmas ornament! $16.19 at The Ecochic Baby.

3. Doodle all Year: big, creative colouring books by cult illustrator Taro Gomi, $14.40 at Chapters.

4. For the ACDC wannabe, Chuck one-stars are always fit, $20 at Modern Kid.

5. For the tiny chef, Andrey Durbach’s (Parkside, La Buca, Pied-a-Terre) whimsical new one-recipe book Delicious Chicken Soup, will have them on dinner duty in no time. $20 at Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks.

6. A Red Devil racecar made of bamboo for the fast-track enviro-kid. $16.99 at RaspberryKids.

7. Let them draw on their clothes with a chalkboard T-shirt. $35 at Red Poppy.

8. Happy campers will love the kid-sized sleepover bags from Mountain Equipment Co-Op. Off to grandma’s now! $33-$38 at MEC.

9. Personalized stationary for kids from Vancouver’s Haute Note ($24/8 cards) for the budding socialite.

10. The Little drummer boy will go crazy for a wooden drum kit (noise canceling headphones not included) $46 at Lavish and Lime.

With All Hallow’s Eve just around the bend, we boarded the Haunted Vancouver Trolley Tour looking for a real scare.

And squealer than real it was, with detailed accounts of local murders and crime scene artifacts. Departing from the Vancouver Museum, the tour takes you to a few of Vancouver’s more haunting historical landmarks—like the famed F.L. Baker residence at 3851 Osler Avenue and Mountain View Cemetery. It also provides a chilling and scintillating portrait of our city’s darker side, from the unsolved mystery of the Scottish Nightingale to Stanley Park’s Babes in the Woods.

It’s the last leg of the tour (pun intended) which stops at the old city morgue for an autopsy demonstration that will really have you squirming.

Nothing a stiff drink can’t cure.

The Haunted Vancouver Trolley Tours depart between 7-9 p.m. and run until November 1, 2008, advance tickets $28, available through Ticketmaster.

Don your Easter bonnet and head to Marquis Wine Cellars on Sunday for the free adults Easter Egg Hunt, where prizes include wine, Marquis gift certificates and more.

PS: Dark chocolate pairs well with Merlot.

11 a.m. sharp, Sunday, March 23 at Marquis Wine Cellars, 1034 Davie St., 604-684-0445, www.marquis-wines.com

We're convinced: Appetizers were invented to drive every hostess to an early grave.

Fussy, messy, time consuming, and destined to distract you from more important tasks, like applying fresh lipstick, calmly greeting your guests and pouring thema glass of wine.

Rather than arriving at the door in oven mitts with an ashen tray of phillo triangles you'd forgotten under the broiler. This year, let the German boys at Oyama Sausage do the cooking and curing, and you can do the artful arranging of the charcuterie board.

Choose from holiday specialties, such as venison terrine with pistachios, pheasant terrinewith cranberries, boudin blanc with truffles, wild boar salami, duck prosciuttoand goose Fois Gras.

Sit back, relax, have another glass of wine. Oh right. Dinner.

Oyama Sausage Companyis located at the Granville Island Public Market, 1689 Johnston St., 604-327-7407,www.oyamasausage.com