What I have learned over the years, through covering events like We Day in Vancouver, is that it’s equally important to give and act locally as well as globally. This Christmas, you can select a gift that will be much more than a box wrapped with a bow under the tree. You can help children in need of humanitarian assistance, from Syria, to the Central African Republic, Yemen and South Sudan, and beyond.

UNICEF Survival Gifts for Christmas

Canadians generously purchased 39,217 life-saving gifts, totalling more than $1.7 million in 2014

To inspire and motivate Canadian donors in their generous support of children through the organization’s Survival Gifts program, UNICEF recently launched an immersive storytelling series called UNICEF 360°.

A Canadian first in the non-profit realm, UNICEF 360° is a film series that aims to transport donors into the lives of some of the most vulnerable children across the globe – using the power of virtual reality. It gives Canadian donors a chance to see their life-saving and life-changing Survival Gifts at work in the field.

Made accessible and affordable through a simple cardboard virtual reality viewer, the viewer’s own smartphone and the virtual reality film content available at www.unicef360.com, this advanced storytelling experience provides a unique, deeply immersive perspective on the daily challenges faced by some of the world’s most vulnerable children and their families.

The UNIECF 360°virtual-reality viewer.

For a limited time, when donors purchase a featured Survival Gift, they will receive a free UNICEF 360°virtual-reality viewer.

This holiday season, UNICEF is calling on Canadians to continue their generous support of the Survival Gifts program to help reach even more children in Syria, and in other locations around the world. Survival Gifts can be bought online at survivalgifts.ca or by phone at 1-888-777-0380.

Survival Gifts most needed in Syria

• Emergency Gifts: Five Emergency Blankets to help protect children and families against cold temperatures ($46)
• Clean Water: 3,741 Water Purification Tablets provides ten families with enough clean drinking water for one year ($29)
• Education: School Essentials Bundle, provides 60 pencils and 30 exercise books and gives children a chance to learn ($19)

Image courtesy of UNICEF

Most popular Survival Gifts with Canadians

• Plumpy’Nut: These peanut-based, therapeutic food packs boost a malnourished child’s chance of survival. Canadians purchased more than 153,000 packets of Plumpy’Nut in 2014. Each gift is $12 and includes 21 packages of Plumpy’Nut, enough to help save the lives of seven children.
• Bed Nets: Canadians provided 8,952 bed nets in 2014 keeping children safe from malaria. For only $10, this gift provides two bed nets that help to protect four children from mosquito bites that cause malaria, one of the leading killers of children under age five.
• Vaccine Pack: Canadians provided 398,520 vaccines in 2014. Each gift is $44 and includes 58 tetanus vaccines, 58 measles vaccines and 58 polio vaccines that will guard against these life-threatening illnesses.

This season you can give the gift of nutrition, education, and even clean water to someone in need.

UNICEF is supported entirely by voluntary donations and helps children regardless of race, religion or politics. As part of the UN, they are active in over 190 countries – more than any other organization. Follow UNICEF Canada on Facebook and Twitter for more information.

Big trees, big presents, and big love are all a part of the holiday season, and this year the Yaletown BIA is hoisting a big mistletoe at Bill Curtis Square. On Saturday December 19th, grab your loved one and huddle under a 3 foot tall mistletoe and show your best PDA in front a kiss camera for Kissmas.

#YaletownKissmas

• Where: Bill Curtis Square (corner of Mainland and Davie St just behind the Roundhouse Canada Line station)
• When: Saturday, December 19, 2015 from 4:00pm to 7:00pm
• Cost: Free to attend!

There will be a live DJ with KISS FM entertaining crowd-goers, hot chocolate, as well as a fun Yaletown Kissmas Money Booth for a chance to win gift cards. Yaletown Kissmas bags will be handed out, containing gift cards & vouchers from select Yaletown businesses to the first 100 guests who participate in the Kiss-In at 5:00pm. While you’re in the neighbourhood, check some items off your holiday gift list as you #buylocal from the bevy of Yaletown merchants.

Pets, kids, pals and even your mom deserve a smooch. The best Kissmas kiss will win an overnight stay at Yaletown’s renowned OPUS Hotel Vancouver and a romantic Italian dinner for two at La Pentola, and beauty treatments from White Orchid Rejuvenation. Post your photo on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook with the hashtags #YaletownKissmas #getaroom for a chance to win.

Yaletown Kissmas Contest

Feel the love of the season by entering to win a $200 #YaletownKissmas experience prize pack that includes: $50 to New Oxford; $50 to Central City on Beatty; $25 to Reckless Bikes; $25 to The Ten Spot; $25 to Divine Vines; and $25 to Fine Finds! Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a comment naming who you would kiss under the mistletoe (1 entry)
• Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
RT to enter to win a #YaletownKissmas prize pack from @iyaletown @Miss604 http://ow.ly/VHFuW

Follow Yaletown on Facebook and Twitter to learn more about Kissmas and the many other community events and festivities they host throughout the year.

I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Tuesday, December 15, 2015. Must be 19+. Please enjoy responsibly.

Update The winner is Jordan!

Recipes, local history, vibrant photography, and information about some of the best proprietors in the area all converge in the recently-released North Shore Foodie book by Brad Hill. These pages aim to add a story to your dinner and will convince you that “knowledge is flavour”.

The North Shore Foodie Recipe Book is a showcase and celebration of the food scene on the North Shore. The book features the stories behind 37 leading independent North Shore restaurants, bars, cafés, bakeries, breweries, butchers and chocolatiers, and over 100 delicious recipes that come directly from North Shore chefs.

Ranging from simple everyday family meals to challenging cuisine that will push you to the boundaries of your culinary repertoire, the decadent, hearty, and nutritious range of featured recipes offers something for every palate and skill level.

From Bowen Island to Deep Cove, inspire the foodie in your life this Christmas! Pick up a copy at a number of local restaurants and book stores, or purchase online.

Win The North Shore Foodie Book

Enter to win a copy of the North Shore Foodie book here:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
• Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)

I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Wednesday, December 16, 2015. Follow the book on Instagram and you could enter to win some prizes there, from North Vancouver restaurants. Read more on Twitter and Facebook.

Update The winner is @AmieGarras!

Fort Langley National Historic Site presents Heritage Holiday at the Fort this Christmas complete with storytelling, crafts, tree decorating, and roasted chestnuts.

Heritage Holiday at Fort Langley

• Where: 23433 Mavis Ave, Fort Langley
• When: December 19 – January 3, 10:00am to 5:00pm
  (closed December 25, 26, and January 1)
• Admission: Regular rates apply

Pick up a Holiday Scavenger Hunt card at the visitor centre, and have some fun dressing up in old fashioned costumes at the holiday photo stations.

Daily scheduled activities include:
11:00am: Chestnut Roasting/Heritage Hot Chocolate Tasting
12:30pm: Blacksmith Demonstration
1:30pm: Coopering Demonstration
2:30pm: Chestnut Roasting/Heritage Hot Chocolate Tasting
4:30pm: Lowering of the Flag
11:00am to 4:00pm: Heritage crafts. Make your own handmade wooden and fabric holiday ornaments

Follow Fort Langley on Facebook and Twitter for more information about the fort’s special events and activities throughout the year.

The Lumiere Festival will light up the town this week with dazzling installations all around the West End. If you’ve been by Morton Park (near English Bay) in the past week, you’ll be familiar with MK Illumination‘s Orca Whale. I’ve been away but have seen the flurry of photos online featuring this whale, which is just one of the many installations to come.

This now-famous whale however needs a name so the Lumiere Festival has launched the Name The #LumiereWhale.

What do you think the Orca should be called? Whale-ma? Oliver Orca? Wilbur the Whale? Send in your ideas on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #LumiereWhale and on December 15th a panel of judges will select a winner. The winner will receive a $150 gift certificate to the Beach Bay Cafe and Patio, the perfect spot for a little winter whale watching.

The Lumiere Festival will officially take place December 11th and 12th, 2015 after dusk around the West End. Visitors can expect free hop-on, hop-off trolley tours, free horse-drawn carriage rides, and free entertainment on Davie, Denman, and Robson streets.