I have a deep desire to show my kids the world. We travel as often as we can. But travelling with kids is also a lot: expensive, exhausting, and half the time just not feasible. That has never meant the learning, or the connecting, has to stop. So this week, instead of booking a flight, we brought France to us.
We're building a popsicle-stick Eiffel Tower, painting Monet water lilies out of tissue paper, mixing our own perfume from petals and lavender, and doing a Ratatouille-themed dinner and movie night with crepes and a cheese board. All from our house in Toronto. We call it France Week.
France Week is one of 11 countries in Stamps from Home, the done-for-you guides my friend Jordana and I built to bring a new country into your house for a week. Crafts, real recipes, games, books, movies, a Little Ones section for the toddlers, a Mom and Dad Edit for after bedtime, and a full themed family dinner. You pick a country, open the guide, and spend a few hours actually connecting with your kids. No passport required.
Want the guides? All 11 countries are $24 right now - that's about $2 a country, yours to keep and use anytime you want. Digital download, instant access.
But if you have been following for a while, you know I cannot resist a good themed itinerary. Turns out you do not have to fly to Paris to get the Paris feeling, and you do not even have to stay home. Toronto is quietly hiding a whole little France: grand Parisian cafés, fourth-generation pastry chefs, castles with real gardens, a perfume lab, lavender fields.
So here is the real-world version of France Week: a France-themed itinerary of Toronto, grouped by neighbourhood so you can pull it off in a day instead of zigzagging across the city.
Do one neighbourhood at a time, or chain a few together if you are feeling bold. And if you want to see it before you read it, I filmed our four favourite stops, watch the reel here. Allons-y.
Yorkville and midtown: the pretty uptown day
Your easiest, most walkable cluster, and honestly the prettiest. Start here.
Ladurée, Yorkville (162 Cumberland Street). The Paris macaron house, and this is the very first Ladurée café concept in Canada, not just a boutique but an actual sit-down café with a patio. Get the macarons, get a coffee, and do not skip the strawberry millefeuille, it is to die for.
Yorkville Crepes (18 Yorkville Avenue). Two minutes away. Tiny, French country decor, about twenty seats, sweet and savoury crepes. The ham and Swiss is great, but you cannot beat Nutella and strawberry.
High tea at the Windsor Arms (18 St Thomas Street). For a proper afternoon tea moment: tiered stands, finger sandwiches, warm scones, all in a French-countryside tea room serving since 1927. Book ahead.
Bata Shoe Museum (327 Bloor Street West). A whole museum about shoes, and the France angle is real if you love fashion. It has celebrated French couture shoemakers like Roger Vivier, who designed for Christian Dior and got called the Fabergé of Shoes. Sparkly enough to be a hit with the kids too, with a little kids area where they can try on shoes. They also have a kids scavenger hunt and free crafts/activities on rotation.
Orris Labs (326 Davenport Road). Do not write this off as adults-only. It is a custom perfume workshop where you spend about two hours blending your own scent from more than fifty notes and walk out with a real bottle. We did it with the kids (ages 5 and 7) and they were fully engaged the entire two hours, which is basically a miracle. What is more French than leaving with your own perfume!
Paint your own Monet at Creative Class Studio (396 Summerhill Avenue). A quick hop from Yorkville and the perfect tie-back to France Week. Their Magical World of Claude Monet class has kids painting their own water lilies on canvas. Do it the same day as the AGO and they will spot the real Monet on the wall.
Casa Loma plus its gardens (1 Austin Terrace). Toronto's castle, built by a man who wanted a grand European chateau in the middle of the city and got one. Ninety-eight rooms, towers, secret passages, and five acres of gardens that bloom all summer. The formal garden is the France part; the secret tunnel is the part the kids will love most.
Spadina Museum (285 Spadina Road). Right next door, so you can do both in one shot. A grand mansion frozen in the 1920s with six acres of restored gardens. It leans more European old-world than strictly French, but paired with Casa Loma it completes the whole grand-estate, dress-up fantasy.
Downtown core: art, pastries, and a proper French dinner
AGO, the Art Gallery of Ontario (317 Dundas Street West). Your see-Paris-on-a-canvas stop, very doable with kids. There is a Monet in the permanent collection, and right now the Impressionist Revolution: Monet to Matisse show is on through the fall with seven Monets in it. The Grange House even does an Impressionist Afternoon Tea inspired by it with a Kids Menu.
Marvelous by Fred (224 Queen Street West). Five minutes from the AGO, the Toronto outpost of Aux Merveilleux de Fred from Lille. The signature merveilleux is a cloud of meringue and whipped cream rolled in chocolate. Quick, showy, very French.
Le Sélect Bistro (432 Wellington Street West). The most Paris dinner on the list. Fifty years old, zinc bar, mosaic floors, a 1,200-label wine cellar, and all the classics: duck confit, moules frites, cassoulet, tarte tatin. A grown-up dinner but they also have a kid's menu!
Maison Selby (592 Sherbourne Street). A beautiful French bistro inside a 136-year-old mansion, with a big patio and a hidden speakeasy called Sous Sol downstairs. Coq au vin, tuna nicoise, weekend brunch with a pastry case. Don't miss the french onion soup!
West end: the bakery and pastry-class crawl
The west-side food day. Come hungry :-)
Nadège Patisserie (780 Queen Street West). If Ladurée is the tourist, Nadège is the local favourite. Run by Nadège Nourian, a fourth-generation pastry chef from Lyon, with some of the best macarons in the city. The flagship is right on Trinity Bellwoods, so grab a box and walk it into the park. Other locations around town too, including one in the Annex.
La Palette (492 Queen Street West). Cozy, unpretentious, steak-frites French. It moved here from Kensington Market, so the Queen West address is the one you want. Great for a low-key French lunch.
Le Dolci Culinary Classroom (west-end studio). Do not just eat French pastry, learn to make it. This is the spot to send the kids: Saturday classes, PA Day drop-offs, summer and March Break camps, even baking birthday parties, all hands-on so they come home having piped their own buttercream instead of watching you. Grown-up classes too, from a two-hour macaron session to a five-day Desserts from Paris masterclass. Everyone leaves with a box of what they made. Book ahead, spots go fast.
Shop like a Parisian (Dovercourt and Queen West). Turn bringing France home into a little treasure hunt. Clémentine Boutique (138 Dovercourt Road) is a jewel box of made-in-France home goods, so let each kid pick one small thing to make dinner feel French: a stack of colourful Duralex glasses (basically unbreakable, so you can actually hand them over), a Peugeot pepper mill they get to crank at the table, or a bit of French candy. Then wander A Room in Paris by Belle Epoque in the Queen West area, part shop, part time machine, full of French vintage and farmhouse furniture from rococo to rustic. Give everyone a mission to spot the most Parisian thing in the store, let them ooh at the chandeliers and gilded mirrors, and even if you buy nothing it feels like walking through a flea market in Provence.
East end: paint like Monet, then eat like a Parisian
Bonjour Brioche (812 Queen Street East). A French bakery and bistro nailing the basics since 1997. Baguettes, croissants, quiche, and a brunch people line up for. The dine-in door is on the Degrassi Street side, and they sell out early, so go hungry and go early.
La Cigogne (1419 Danforth Avenue). A little France within France: this one is Alsatian, from the northeast corner of the country, founded by a master pastry chef with over 30 years of experience. The kid draw is the treat case, bright rows of macarons to pick by colour, warm croissants, and soft Alsatian pretzels, plus a hot chocolate to split while you point out that the stork on the sign (cigogne) is the symbol of Alsace.
Conci (1300 Gerrard Street East). By day this is a sweet little French bakery in Little India, flaky croissants and beef bourguignon pastries, easy to pop into with the kids. The melty raclette cheese is a guaranteed kid win too. Come back after bedtime and it turns into a natural wine bar with good records and French vibes, so you can have your own date-night version.
Douce France (820 Danforth Avenue). Not a restaurant but a whole Parisian experience. This tiny French shop is run by Christel from Normandy, packed with imported treats, candied chestnuts, biscuits roses, Angelina hot chocolate, proper French butter, plus pastries and quiches baked in house, and a little café at the back. The closest thing to a corner shop in France.
Julienne's Patisserie (2195 Gerrard Street East, Upper Beaches). The east-end high tea pick: afternoon tea with all the ceremony, tiered stands, finger sandwiches, warm scones, in a pretty little Upper Beaches patisserie. Even better with kids, they run a beginner cupcake class built for families: one hour, everyone pipes their own buttercream and takes home six cupcakes they decorated themselves. The activity and the treat in one stop. Email ahead to book a date.
The Distillery District deserves its own stop
If one part of Toronto makes you forget what continent you are on, it is the Distillery District. Cobblestone streets, Victorian brick, no cars. It feels like stepping into Europe, so it earns its own stop.
Balzac's Coffee Roasters (1 Trinity Street). Probably the closest thing to a real Paris café in the city. Balzac's turned the historic 1895 Pump House into a two-storey Grand Parisian café: soaring ceilings, a huge chandelier, vintage posters, marble tables. Order a coffee and soak it in. It's SO pretty!
Cluny Bistro & Boulangerie (35 Tank House Lane). Just around the corner, modelled on a classic French brasserie and one of the best French-inspired restaurants in the city. Tiled floors, marble bar, brass details, and a boulangerie counter with warm baguettes and house-made macarons. Sit down for a meal or grab from the bakery on your way out.
The Love Locks. The little Paris moment hiding in plain sight: a big steel LOVE sculpture and a 14-foot heart covered in padlocks, exactly like the ones that took over the bridges of Paris. Buy a lock on site, write your names on it, and add yours. A sweet, tiny thing to do with the kids.
Worth the drive
Parkwood Estate Gardens (Oshawa). About forty-five minutes east, and worth the gas if you love a formal garden. The 55-room McLaughlin mansion is wrapped in twelve acres of gardens, including a formal garden and an Italian garden in the grand European tradition. A National Historic Site you have probably seen in movies. Save it for a proper day trip.
Plein air painting at Purple Hill Lavender Farm. Maybe the most French thing on the list. In summer, You and I Paint runs kid-friendly guided outdoor painting sessions right in the lavender fields, with picnic setups, and purple as far as you can see. No experience needed. It is basically the south of France for an afternoon, and it sells out every time, so grab tickets when they drop. We had the most incredible experience with the kids here. They also sell lavender popsicles and have a whole little market of cute lavender finds.
How I would actually do it
If you only have one day, keep it uptown: macarons at Ladurée, a crepe at Yorkville Crepes, perfume at Orris Labs, then Casa Loma and Spadina next door. A full, gorgeous, very French day without leaving midtown.
If you have more time, spread it out and do several French-inspired days: west-end bakery crawl one weekend, east end the next, a pastry class or the perfume lab on a rainy day, the lavender fields on a sunny one, Parkwood for a day trip. End any of it in the Distillery District with a coffee at Balzac's and dinner at Cluny.
The point of Stamps from Home has always been that the world is closer than you think. Sometimes it is a whole country in your house for a week. Sometimes it is a streetcar ride away.
Not ready to leave the house yet? France is one of 11 countries in Stamps from Home, our done-for-you guides that bring the whole world home. Crafts, recipes, movie nights, a Little Ones section, and a full themed family dinner for each one.
