This weekend is the annual Boston Christmas Festival where over 300 hundred artisans and artists gather under one roof. Part of the Boston Christmas Festival is the Gingerbread House Competition that my children and I have been lucky enough to participate in as judges. Although the seeing what local chefs and gingerbread architects come up with each year is definitely my favourite part, here are all 5 reasons the festival is worth a visit whether you celebrate Christmas or not.
1) Those Gingerbread Houses are such fun inspiration. It’s great to see the children’s faces as they take it all in from the tiny details to the sheer amount of sugar and candy used in each house.
2) Shop local. It is so easy to hop onto a website and order holiday gifts for Christmas. The vendors are all happy to talk about how they make what they are selling. The vendors I spoke with came from Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts. We bought some amazing soaps from Northwood Naturals who gets his goat’s milk, honey, and herbs from a few of his local farms.
3) One stop shopping. The number of vendors really allows you to do a huge amount of holiday shopping all in one place. From soaps and lotions to birdhouses and clothing, you can shop from the newest baby in the family to the great great great uncle or aunt.
4) Get the children involved. My son who would usually rather be at home playing Legos or Minecraft definitely was out of his element after we had finished judging the competition and went out to explore the booths. After a few minutes and a few guidelines, he was helping us find a gift for grandpa’s new puppy, he stopped to look at some of Bob Brown’s glass ornaments and “crazy chicks” and even chose some artwork for his room.
5) A great excuse to explore the Seaport. From new little parks and restaurants, you don’t have to stay inside all day. Spend the weekend at the Seaport with the family. We went for a nice lunch together at Legal Test Kitchen after we could shop no longer.
The 28th Annual Boston Christmas Festival is held at the Seaport World Trade Center:
November 7, 8, and 9, 2014.
Show Hours:
Friday: Noon-7pm
Saturday: 10am-6pm
Sunday: 10am-5pm
Admission: $15 • Kids under 14: FREE
Love the post! I’m on my way there this morning for the first time. I hope to get some christmas shopping done and I can’t wait to see the gingerbread houses.
Its a bit overwhelming at first but if you go row by row and just walk past the stuff that is not what you are looking for you can find some fab vendors. I think you can take breaks and head out then go back in too- just ask at the door.