Let out your inner child
Between the lines
You can’t visit a bookstore without seeing them: colouring books for adults. If you don’t feel like being colourful on your lonesome, the Gladstone Hotel’s Melody Bar (1214 Queen St. W.) hosts a colouring event Thursdays from 5 to 11 p.m. Story Planet (1165 Bloor St. W.) also hosts wine-fuelled colouring nights.
One piece fits all
Fleece or flannel from head to toe, onesies are hot — literally. Whether you want to be a plush unicorn or try your luck with an old-fashioned flap jack, one-piece pajamas are a ridiculously warm fad. Snug as a Bug at 3022 Dundas St. W. specializes in onesies of all kinds. Lazy One and Kigurumi both operate onesie-filled online shops.
Boardom
If you want to relive the mindless childhood glee that was playing Hungry Hungry Hippos or lose all your friends over a beer-fuelled game of Risk, head to your nearest board game café. Snakes & Lattes (600 Bloor St. W. and 489 College St.), Castle Board Game Café (454 Spadina Ave.) and Roll Play (10A Edward St., 2nd floor) offering some of the best selections. Most serve booze.
Adult summer camp
If you’re craving campfires, crafts and cabins, you might want to register for adults-only summer camp. Two Islands Weekend offers traditional camp activities and a fully stocked bar in the Haliburton Highlands; Canadian Adventure Camp includes adult programs on a private island in the Temagami Lakes area when its kids clear out in August; and Jamboree LGBTQ Summer Camp near Algonquin Provincial Park offers plenty of outdoor activities for the out crowd.
Simpler songs
As a preschooler, I rushed the stage at a Fred Penner concert to tell him that he was doing a good job. Nearly two decades later, he’s still singing — and he still wants me in the crowd. Classic Canadian kids’ crooners are all capitalizing on the return-to-childhood trend, with Sharon & Bram playing gigs like the Toronto’s Field Trip music festival, Raffi performing in a continuing adult-oriented Beluga Grads concert series and Penner travelling across the country to play pub night singalongs.