This weekend Miss604 is proud to sponsor the Lumiere Festival, a FREE celebration of the season with thousands of sparkling lights illuminating all corners of Downtown Vancouver’s West End. There’s already been a sneak peak earlier in the week with a whale display at Morton Park (who still needs a name), and there is more to come this weekend along with several other events:

Things to do in Vancouver This Weekend

Events that run for longer than three days in a row are highlighted in green below.

Friday, December 11, 2015
* Sponsored by Miss604 Lumiere Festival Vancouver *
* Sponsored by Miss604 Education & Career Fairs *
Vancouver Winter Wonderland at the PNE Forum
Christmas Drive-In Movie: A Christmas Story
Holiday Pop-Up Market, Capilano Tea House
Stuff the Bus for Surrey Christmas Bureau
Alicia Tobin’s Come Draw with Me (Comedy Show)
Celebrate! A Good Noise Christmas
Roundhouse Radio Stuff the Truck for the Food Bank
Family Movie Night, Cloverdale
Vancouver Orpheus Male Choir, Christmas Concert in Langley
A Very Merry Fringemas
Sleeping Beauty at the Metro Theatre
Bah! Humbug! at SFU Woodward’s
Read Me a Story, at the Roundhouse
Gateway Theatre Presents: The Wizard of Oz
Skating at Robson Square Ice Rink
Christmas at the Cannery – Festival of Trees
Canyon Lights at Capilano Suspension Bridge
Vancouver Theatresports: Christmas Queen 2
Vancouver Christmas Market
Burnaby Village Museum Heritage Christmas
Bright Nights Christmas Train in Stanley Park
SOS Children’s Gingerbread Village at The Peak of Christmas, Grouse Mountain
Dickens Christmas at the Britannia Mine Museum
Festival of Lights at VanDusen Garden
Enchanted Nights at the Bloedel Conservatory
FlyOver Canada Christmas
Vagabond Players Presents: Inspecting Carol
The Arts Club Presents A Christmas Story: The Musical
The Arts Club Presents: It’s A Wonderful Life
Pacific Theatre Presents: A Christmas Carol on the Air
Cirque du Soleil: Kooza
Get Snow-Globed at Harbour Centre

Saturday, December 12, 2015
* Sponsored by Miss604 Lumiere Festival Vancouver *
Got Craft? Holiday Edition
Family Day at the Richmond Olympic Experience
Township 7 Winery: Langley Christmas Charity Open House
Holiday Fun at Wesbrook
Brentwood Holiday Magic
Christmas at the Lonsdale Quay Market
Curious Flea at River Market
Vancouver Bach Choir Presents Handel’s Messiah
Dundarave World Christmas
Breakfast With Santa, West Point Grey
Shiny Fuzzy Muddy Artisan Show/Sale
DTES Street Market
Nat Bailey Winter Farmer Market
Christmas Drive-In Movie: Elf
Christmas Drive-In Movie: Polar Express
Forbidden Vancouver Presents: War for the Holidays
Roundhouse Radio Stuff the Truck for the Food Bank
Stuff the Bus for Surrey Christmas Bureau
Once Upon a Christmas, Granville Island
Vancouver Opera: Dark Sisters
Sleeping Beauty at the Metro Theatre
Whitecaps FC Clearance Sale Weekend, Langley
North Pole BC, Abbotsford
Bah! Humbug! at SFU Woodward’s
Read Me a Story, at the Roundhouse
Gateway Theatre Presents: The Wizard of Oz
Vancouver Winter Wonderland at the PNE Forum
Skating at Robson Square Ice Rink
Christmas at the Cannery – Festival of Trees
Canyon Lights at Capilano Suspension Bridge
Vancouver Theatresports: Christmas Queen 2
Vancouver Christmas Market
Burnaby Village Museum Heritage Christmas
Bright Nights Christmas Train in Stanley Park
SOS Children’s Gingerbread Village at The Peak of Christmas, Grouse Mountain
Dickens Christmas at the Britannia Mine Museum
Festival of Lights at VanDusen Garden
Enchanted Nights at the Bloedel Conservatory
FlyOver Canada Christmas
Vagabond Players Presents: Inspecting Carol
The Arts Club Presents A Christmas Story: The Musical
The Arts Club Presents: It’s A Wonderful Life
Pacific Theatre Presents: A Christmas Carol on the Air
Cirque du Soleil: Kooza
Get Snow-Globed at Harbour Centre

Sunday, December 13, 2015
Physics in Movies (& Reality) – UBC Faraday Science Show
Vancouver Orpheus Male Choir, Christmas Concert in White Rock
Baker’s Market
Dixon Transition Society Christmas Benefit Concert
Hastings Park Winter Farmers Market
Shiny Fuzzy Muddy Artisan Show/Sale
Got Craft? Holiday Edition
Township 7 Winery: Langley Christmas Charity Open House
Once Upon a Christmas, Granville Island
Whitecaps FC Clearance Sale Weekend, Vancouver
North Pole BC, Abbotsford
Bah! Humbug! at SFU Woodward’s
Read Me a Story, at the Roundhouse
Gateway Theatre Presents: The Wizard of Oz
Forbidden Vancouver Presents: War for the Holidays
Vancouver Winter Wonderland at the PNE Forum
Skating at Robson Square Ice Rink
Christmas at the Cannery – Festival of Trees
Canyon Lights at Capilano Suspension Bridge
Vancouver Theatresports: Christmas Queen 2
Vancouver Christmas Market
Burnaby Village Museum Heritage Christmas
Bright Nights Christmas Train in Stanley Park
SOS Children’s Gingerbread Village at The Peak of Christmas, Grouse Mountain
Dickens Christmas at the Britannia Mine Museum
Festival of Lights at VanDusen Garden
Enchanted Nights at the Bloedel Conservatory
FlyOver Canada Christmas
Vagabond Players Presents: Inspecting Carol
The Arts Club Presents A Christmas Story: The Musical
The Arts Club Presents: It’s A Wonderful Life
Pacific Theatre Presents: A Christmas Carol on the Air
Cirque du Soleil: Kooza
Get Snow-Globed at Harbour Centre

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Check out the full December event listings here and if you have an event to include, please send it in by email for a free listing. Follow Miss604 on Twitter for more daily updates.

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.