The most wonderful time of the year is almost here! And as we all know, each year, Toronto goes all out when it comes to the holidays, with countless festive events and attractions popping up all throughout the city. If you happen to be a bit of a foodie, you’re in luck as there are a number of great holiday food events worth checking out this year that will surely put you in the festive spirit.
Check out there holiday food events happening in Toronto!
The Distillery Winter Village
When: November 17th to December 31st
Where: Toronto Distillery District
The annual holiday market returns this year to welcome thousands of visitors and warm up with a cup of hot chocolate, indulge in festive treats and eats from the market vendors, and shop for gifts from local shops and booths, all while exploring the market under twinkly lights.
Taste of the Holidays
When: November 18, 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Where: Eataly, 55 Bloor Street West Toronto
Come and follow a holiday trail throughout Eataly’s marketplace as you enjoy 10 different authentic Italian bites, from decadent desserts like artisanal panettone dipped in Venchi chocolate hazelnut spread to savoury bites like agnolotti del plin, and holiday classics like freshly roasted chestnuts.
Miracle Toronto
When: November 18th to December 31st
Where: 875 Bloor Street West
Miracle is back once again, bringing a Christmas-themed pop-up cocktail bar serving holiday cocktails in a festive setting to Toronto. With kitschy holiday decor, cocktails by the team at Civil Liberties, and the nostalgic energy of the best office party you’ve ever been to, Miracle is sure to get even the grouchiest Grinch in the holiday spirit.
Swedish Christmas Fair
When: November 19th and 20th
Where: Daniels Spectrum, 585 Dundas Street East
The Swedish Christmas Fair, hosted by SWEA Toronto, attracts thousands of people each year who come to experience Swedish Christmas food, design, folk art, crafts, and traditions. There will also be the traditional Glögg stand (Swedish mulled wine), Swedish candy, and the traditional Swedish dance around the Christmas tree to celebrate the holidays.
Northern Lights TO
When: December 1st to January 8th
Where: Grand Bizarre at Exhibition Place
Northern Lights is an immersive experience that wraps you up in the lights, sights, sounds, and feelings of the holidays. Bring your festive spirit and explore 80,000 square feet of holiday fun including art installations, dazzling décor, a 25-foot illuminated Christmas tree, games and activities, a holiday vendor market, festive food and drinks, and much more. Tickets are on sale now and a portion of every admission ticket sold will be donated to The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids).
Holiday Fair in the Square
When: December 2nd to 23rd
Where: 100 Queen Street West
Toronto’s Holiday Fair in the Square is the ultimate foodie wonderland. Whether you’re looking for something sweet, a drink to warm you up, or just somewhere different to go for dinner, the Holiday Fair in the Square features seasonal snacks and delicious cuisines from some of Toronto’s finest food trucks and gourmet merchants.
Improv Holiday Brunch
When: Sundays – December 4th to 18th
Where: Second City, 1 York Street
Comedy and brunch, what more could you ask for? For three weekends only this holiday season, come and enjoy a scrumptiously seasonal breakfast and a totally improvised comedy show from some of the city’s funniest.
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The holiday season is always magical, but step inside the Toronto Christmas Market that opens today, and it’s like living in a European Christmas village. But in addition to the charm and Christmas magic, there’s also a wide assortment of holiday treats available from a variety of vendors that’ll make your experience at the market even sweeter.
From classic Canadian poutine, to Belgian-style waffles, the Toronto Christmas Market has all your fave holiday treats available in spades.
Cacao 70 Express
There’s something magical about strolling through the snow with a hot chocolate in your hands. Need something sweet treat? Cacao 70 Express’ chocolatey crepes, and warm cinnamon sugar churro donuts are equally as delicious.
Schnitzel Haus
Live out your Euro market fantasy with Schnitzel Haus’ Pork Schnitzel that’s served with pickled peppers and caramelized onions on a pretzel bun. New this year is its plant-based Beyond Bratwurst made from Beyond Meat.
Lil Arvo
A sister to Arvo Coffee, a staple in the Distillery since 2016, Lil Arvo is a chocolate fondue popup that will be using only the best ingredients and serving exclusive drinks for Christmas Market goers.
Poutine du Canada
Indulge in the classic French Canadian poutine. Can’t get enough of the holiday season already? Sample the Gobbler Poutine that’s made with smoked turkey and stuffing, or opt for the Champignon Poutine that’s made with mushroom and tasty roasted garlic.
Santa’s BBQ
Thought barbecue season was over? Think again because we hear that Santa loves a Bratwurst. This is the place to go for all things meat with offerings ranging from hot dogs, thick-cut smoked bacon sandwiches, and Beyond Bratwurst sausage, to jumbo pretzels, traditional german pork jerky, and even grilled corn.
Winter Warmers
Nothing is better than a warm and cozy meal on a chilly winters day. Warm up with Winter Warmers and its pierogies or split pea and ham soup.
Pretzel Haus
Everyone loves a portable snack, right? Stroll around the market and enjoy a variety of pretzels from Pretzel Haus. Options range from sesame seed pretzels and poppy seed pretzels, to cinnamon sugar pretzels, marzipan stollen, and fruit cake.
Das Kartoffelhaus
Potato’s truly make the world go round and here at Das Kartoffelhaus, you can enjoy a whole potato spiralled onto a skewer with a choice of your favourite seasoning.
Good Grieves
There’s nothing like enjoying quality shortbread at this time of year and the folks at Good Grieves know it. The store’s handmade recipe is super delicious as it’s been made by hand with the family recipe!
Eva’s Original Chimneys
A Christmas Market must-try are Eva’s Original Chimneys. These chimney cakes are hand-rolled and freshly baked. Plus they’re a delicious, warm and festive treat that’s served just like in traditional Hungarian Christmas markets.
Schokoladen S’mores
You had us at s’mores! These s’mores in a jar are exactly what dreams are made of with a golden graham crust bottom, layered with house-made marshmallow cream, and finished with decadent chocolate ganache.
The Gingerbread House
What is Christmas without gingerbread? Enjoy sugar cookies, cake pops, marshmallow pops, chocolate-dipped pretzels, and of course, gingerbread.
Wafel Bar
Waffles are great but have you ever had a real Belgian Liege-style waffle? Well it’s time you did and Wafel Bar’s are served fresh off the hot cast iron and are delicious on their own, or they can be enjoyed with a variety of toppings.
Tartistry
You may feel like you’re in a European Christmas market but you’re still in Canada. Sample beloved butter tarts at Tartistry that are made with 100% barrel-churned creamery butter and pure bourbon vanilla.
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‘Tis the season for eating! Thanksgiving may be done and gone, but we’ve got plenty of food to look forward to from now until the end of the year.
From Halloween candy to holiday dinners with friends and family, good eats are never too far away. And if it’s a Swedish meal you’re looking for, you don’t have to look any further than IKEA.
IKEA is bringing an all-you-can-eat Swedish-style buffet to stores across Canada.
Also known as a Swedish Julboard, Daily Hive reports that the feast will be available throughout the month of December, offering shoppers the opportunity to take part in Swedish Christmas traditions. As you may remember, the feast was available at select stores last year, too.
There will be plenty of Swedish Delicacies to indulge in.
On the IKEA Swedish buffet menu, diners will find oven-baked or boiled Christmas ham, herring, marinated salmon, meatballs, eggs, a variety of cabbage, cheese, gingerbread, and so much more.
The entire meal is all-you-can-eat, so come with your baggy pants on! The best part is that tickets are just $19.99 for IKEA Family members, while children’s tickets are just $9.99. We’ll keep you in the loop once tickets become available.
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The holiday season is finally here! A festive charm is in the air, decorations have popped up all over the city—it’s time to get serious about knocking names off your holiday shopping list. If you’re anything like us, you really want to feel those Santa WINS by giving inspired gifts that won’t break the bank. So, we’ve scoured the city for the best deals on those “wow” gifts, and that’s how we discovered Nordstrom Rack.
Nordstrom Rack is the off-price division of Nordstrom, Inc. and offers a wide selection of on-trend apparel, accessories and shoes for the whole family (you’ll even find gifts for your pets and décor for your home!)—all at up to 70% off! The Rack has amazing prices on a mix of merchandise from top brands—many of them brought over directly from Nordstrom stores—like Adidas, Cynthia Rowley, Eileen Fisher, John Varvatos, Nike, Ray-Ban, Rebecca Minkoff and Sam Edelman.
And there are six locations located throughout Canada, all offering great customer service and express mobile check-out—so you can get those gifts wrapped and under the tree faster than ever before.
Happy shopping!
From desserts, side dishes to dinner entrees, here are some awesome Holiday-themed food recipes that will keep your guests talking about it long after the holidays are over.
1. Cheese and Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Stuffed with prosciutto, garlic and herb cream cheese this recipe by Jo Cooks will surely excite your taste buds! Get the full recipe here.
via Jo Cooks
2. Holiday Sheet Pan Turkey Dinner
Surrounded by heaps of fully flavoured and beautifully coloured vegetables, this sheet pan turkey holiday dinner is as delicious as it is easy to prepare – and the best part? It’s as fantastic as a turkey dinner but without the fuss! Get the full recipe here.
via Simple Bites
3. Holiday Honeycrisp Salad
This lovely holiday salad is filled with fresh apple slices, chewy dried cranberries, crunchy candied pecans and so much more! As visually stunning as it is delicious! Get the full recipe here.
via Five Heart Home
4. Strawberry Cream Cheese Pastries
These strawberry cream cheesed pastries are soft, flakey and oozes with delicious strawberry jam and cream cheese filling! Yum! Get the full recipe here.
via Diethood
5. Caramel Apple Cheesecake Crumble bars
Want to up the game from a traditional cheesecake to something much more mouthwatering and festive? Try out Averie Cooks’ recipe that combines an apple pie and cheesecake into one heavenly marriage. Get the full recipe here.
via Averie Cooks
6. Canada’s first Ocean Wise™ recommended Caesar Mix
Canada’s first Ocean Wise™ recommended Caesar Mix is Canadian-made, all natural and contains no artificial colours, flavours, or high-fructose corn syrup and is gluten-free. Check out the recipe below:
What are your favourite holiday-themed food recipes? Share them with us in the comments below!
Featured image: Peas and Crayons
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Is your bank account already screaming in pain from all the awesome holiday goodies that are currently sitting pretty on store shelves? Yep, we thought so. Here are some great tips you can use to help survive the holiday season without breaking the bank:
1. No, you don’t need a new dress for that Christmas party. Those words probably just caused a stinging sensation to your eyes, didn’t they? New dresses, new shoes, new clothes, in general, are frivolous and completely unnecessary to splurge on especially since nobody even remembers what you wore to last year’s Christmas party. So put down that hanger and go dig something out of your closet.
2. Don’t say ‘yes’ to every single holiday function. We know it’s hard to resist all those awesome Christmas parties but think of all the expenses that you’ll have to incur. Whether bringing a bottle of wine, appetizers, hostess gift etc – these things all add up very quickly. So make a list and select a few parties that you want to attend and stick to the plan.
3. Work within a budget. Create a Christmas list for every person you’re planning to buy a gift for and set an amount for each person. This easy to-do Christmas planning will help keep you organized and stay on budget.
4. Consider DIY gifting ideas. There are tonnes of great DIY gift inspirations on the internet that you can make for the people closest to you. These gifts tend to have more sentiment attached to it so get online and scour Pinterest for ideas or check out our 7 DIY gift picks.
5. Use your reward points to buy gifts. Oh yeah, don’t forget about those points! You probably have a bunch racked up on a reward program card somewhere. We’re talking points from your credit cards (which have cool offerings like cameras, gift cards, clothing, and trips), programs like Shoppers Optimum or any of these reward programs.
6. Attend free holiday events in your city. The holiday season is usually the busiest when it comes to free events and activities: free light ceremonies, ice skating rinks, performances.. the list goes on. So be smart and don’t splurge on expensive concerts or restaurants. Explore your city’s event calendar and don’t miss out on great events.
What other tips do you know on how to survive the holiday season? Share them with us!
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If you are a regular mall shopper like us, you may have noticed that the Christmas and Holiday season has already descended upon us. Halloween Candy doesn’t even get a discounted day anymore as literally employees at our local Shoppers Drug Mart were taking the Halloween decorations down and putting Chrismas Decorations up at 8:00 pm on October 31st. The famous 100 Ft tall Christmas tree at CF Eaton Centre is set to be unveiled in two weeks, and it’s looking likely that mall Santas will start to show up before there is even snow on the ground this year.
Now, we love Christmas and the holiday spirit as much as the rest of you, but do we actually need 1.5 months of Christmas music? The truth behind the early jump on Christmas isn’t because people and stores can’t contain their holiday spirit, it’s real because the holiday season is one of the biggest commerce seasons and people want to sell you stuff.
The truth is is that Christmas music and decorations encourage you to buy and spend more. It’s a constant reminder of our loved ones and the things we need to buy them. This isn’t simply anecdotal, there have been some scientific studies that Christmas music not only encourages shopping but customers actually like it. A UK study revealed that 95% of customers prefer to do their Christmas shopping with in-store-music. Furthermore out of the 95% of people that said they prefer to shop with Christmas music four out of 10 claimed they would go to a different store if the store they were shopping in wasn’t playing in-store music. The findings go on to reveal that 1 in 4 people actually think they buy more or are more generous with their gifts when they hear Christmas music. What does this all mean? Well, essentially holiday and Christmas music entices you to part with your money.
In a separate study done by Dr Alan Bradshaw from the University of London discovered that from a business perspective Christmas music is gold. He states that when customers hear Christmas music they actually give part of their attention to the song, removing some of the focus from the shopping task at hand. This causes shoppers to be less resistant to sales techniques and are usually a little more careless with their spending.
So not to put a bummer on Christmas music and decorations, but you should know while they are nice and make you feel all warm and fuzzy at the end of the day while everyone loves the holidays, the reality is this equation. Music + decorations = overspending.
To get you in the mood here’s the Holiday song that everyone loves to hate.
Every year Hudson’s Bay and Saks Fifth Avenue bring Christmas spirit to Toronto with one exciting event – the annual holiday window unveiling.
The display decorations and special performances on Queen St. West have been filling the street with Christmas magic for a decade, drawing crowds of Torontonians, tourists and, of course, kids to the iconic store. The unique window design showcases favourite Christmas tales filled with magical characters. It has become an inseparable part of the holiday celebrations in Toronto.
This year the free celebration will be held on Thursday, November 2 at 7 pm. The highlight of the night will be the three-time Grammy-Award-winning and multi-platinum-selling a capella group from Texas, Pentatonix.
Last year, Hudson’s Bay treated the crowd to a free performance of the superstar Mariah Carey. The R&B-diva was reportedly paid $1 million for singing just two songs during her mini-concert. The audience erupted as the singer performed the beloved Christmas hit All I Want For Christmas Is You. Besides the highly-anticipated performance, Hudson’s Bay and Saks Fifth Avenue presented the new displays with enchanted mechanized creatures instead of the traditional Santa and the elves.
The 2017 event will celebrate the city of Toronto with a lights show and other traditional outdoor activities, including a festive photo booth and ornament painting from vendors including Clinique, Michael Kors, Nespresso, Our Generation Toys, and Topshop/Topman. As part of the celebration, guests will also be invited to visit the store for some holiday shopping.
Will you join in celebrating the Hudson’s Bay window unveiling?
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