In December, are you more into festive indoor activities or cocooning? Strolling through the Christmas markets or playing outdoor sports to enjoy the already snowy landscape?
Whatever your choice, Milesopedia gives you ideas of activities, cheap, sometimes even free, to do in Quebec and its surroundings during the month and the holiday season 2022.
Festive... at home!
Here are some “homemade” ideas for entertaining and indulging in delicious treats. We start with the aperitif.
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Do you create cocktails? When shopping for spirits, consider purchasing an SAQ gift card at the grocery store with the American Express Cobalt Card, which will give you 5X the points with this technique.
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Need guides or inspiration? We recommend the Quebec books Cocktails: the 50 essentials or Tout sur les gins du Québec by Patrice Plante (aka Monsieur Cocktail) or Boire le Québec by Rose Simard.
You are the one who is entertaining at Christmas or New Year’s and you have the pressure to manage the entire kitchen?
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HelloFresh, Goodfood and Cook it, ready-to-cook box delivery companies, are offering menus during the holiday season (themed or not, by the way)! Assemble the ingredients in a flash, heat up and you’re ready to lighten up on the big day, while keeping the flavors great.
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For HelloFresh, go to the Aeroplan eStore (up to 10 pts/$) or Rakuten.ca to multiply your points. For Quebec Good Food and Cook it, use the Scotiabank Gold American Express® Card which offers 5 points / dollar on food delivery services.
Relax and do crafts... at home!
After the effort, the comfort. Cocooning at home? On Etsy, many Quebec and Canadian artisans offer DIY(Do it yourself ) boxes. Here are our favorites:
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Montreal-based Mielei offers you the opportunity to design your own soy wax scented candles with their ready-to-use kits.
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ClubTerracotta (Quebec City’s online store) introduces adults to clay and pottery (including dried flowers!) in kits that contain everything you need to sculpt, paint and seal, with no cooking required.
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Want to try embroidery? Vancouver-based DiYOrder offers a variety of kits to try out this trendy handmade activity!
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For the whole family: CoquettePassion (from Mascouche) invites you to make thematic sets to make a house, a squirrel, a tree and a truck… out of felt! You can then use them to tell stories or hang them on a decorative banner. In the Christmas collection, you will find different levels of difficulty depending on the age of the children.
Outdoors at the park
More of an outdoors person ? There is no shortage of park outings in Quebec!
In Montreal :
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From December 23, 2022 to March 5, 2023: head to the winter trails of Parc Jean-Drapeau for sliding, cross-country skiing, ice skating, snowshoeing, winter biking, bird watching, ice climbing…
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Combine your outdoor outing with live entertainment? From December 3 to 31, 2022, Christmas in the Park offers more than 100 shows for the whole family in three Montreal parks: Place Émilie-Gamelin, Parc des Compagnons-de-Saint-Laurent and Parc Lahaie in Montreal. Celebrate the passage to 2023 with Bon Débarras, Les Frères à Ch’val, Millimetrik, Bran Van 3000 and Mélisande (electro-trad) to name a few!
In Val-d’Or in Abitibi-Témiscamingue :
- The Agnico Eagle Trail of theVal-d’Or Recreational Forest is ready to receive us at the end of December every year. On the program: walking, biking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, ice skating (thanks to a 2 km loop trail in the forest) and in-line skating. And even yoga-ski-rando on December 18, 2022!
In the Outaouais :
- As of December 17, 2022: skate or walk in the Eco-Odyssey nature park, a vast marsh transformed into a labyrinth of over 20 turns in 3 different ecosystems. This ice maze is unique in the world!
In Quebec City :
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There are many magical settings for winter activities! Tryfat biking at the Maizerets Domain, cross-country skiing on the Plains of Abraham or free sliding at Pointe-aux-Lièvres Park, among many other activities. Are you a hiker? The Jacques-Cartier National Park will surely enchant you.
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Looking for a thrill? As of December 17, 2022, come to the Valcartier Vacation Village Winter Playground, day and night, 20 minutes from Quebec City! It is the largest winter playground in America.
In Saguenay :
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Introduction to ice fishing? Head for the Glaces du Fjord in the Saguenay for a unique experience in its villages of multicolored cabins. Other activities are offered for the whole family (snowmobile, dog sledding…).
Light and technological activities outside
To be more dazzling than ever, some cities combine illuminations and technologies to offer surprising interactive activities in Quebec and Ontario:
- Baie-Saint-Paul: There is the digital art trail on Saint-Jean-Baptiste Street from December 2 to 11, 2022.
- Quebec City: Visit the interactive light tour Plein les yeux et les oreilles at Place Jean-Béliveau from December 1, 2022 to January 4, 2023. Another luminous path called Light on Art delights our eyes thanks to the 34 lampshades on Cartier Street.
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Trois-Rivières: Christmas in lights at the Notre-Dame-du-Cap Sanctuary, to visit its illuminated gardens from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. from December 16, 2022 to January 1, 2023. Free access, voluntary contribution suggested.
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Ottawa, Ontario: Winter Lights Across Canada, multimedia projection on Parliament Hill, 5:30 p.m. Thursday to Monday. Also follow the Route des lumières, where close to 300,000 illuminations highlight many sites and monuments in Ottawa and Gatineau. From December 8, 2022 to January 8, 2023.
Generous December
Taking advantage of the holiday season to give to the next?
Christmas is synonymous with generosity so why not give a little of your time to organizations in need. A few hours or a day of volunteering alone or with your family does a lot of good for others.
Here are a few suggestions among many others:
- Guignolée des médias(throughout Quebec), food aid
- Operation Nez Rouge, volunteer Safe Ride Service
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Pas dans la rue(Montreal), inclusive support for people aged 55 and over who are very vulnerable or homeless
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For all types of volunteer work throughout Quebec: jebenevole.ca
Christmas Markets in Quebec
Christmas Markets are the perfect way to store local and find unique artisanal and agri-food products. You will find 27 of them on the Christmas Markets Route page.
If you visit the German Christmas Market in Quebec City, take advantage of the opportunity to book two nights in one of the city’s hotels. You will receive a 50% discount on the second night.
A stopover in Montérégie? Get a $100 prepaid card for a night’s stay in the region.
Are you in Montreal? Get a $75 pre-paid card for two nights’ accommodation to use at participating Treater.co restaurants by December 31, 2022.
There are eight other artisan markets to discover throughout the province:
- In Gentilly, Centre-du-Québec: Meunier, tu fêtes.
- In Montreal :
- the MTL Creative Collective Holiday Market at the Verdun Auditorium on December 17 and 18, 2022
- the Circuit féérique in Montreal(the Christmas Village at the Jean-Talon Market and the Grand Marché de Noël).
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In Quebec City: The Great Christmas Market at the Grand marché de Québec until December 31, 2022
- The Montebello Market
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In Charlevoix: The Baie-Saint-Paul Christmas Market ( every day until December 11) and the Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu Winter Market in La Malbaie, from December 23, 2022 to January 2, 2023. Take advantage of staying at the Manoir ? Read about Caroline’s experience in a Fairmont room.
Store local online
You can’t go anywhere and you want to buy local ?
The Chaudière-Appalaches region has its own virtual Christmas store!
Take your pick of local gifts with many gift cards starting at $25. There is something for everyone with accommodations, restaurants, activities and gourmet pleasures…
In addition, the site offers two interesting promotional codes:
- Get 15% off gift cards with code NOEL15
- Get 25% off any purchase of $250 or more with promo code NOEL25
You can even pay by credit card or PayPal, to collect even more rewards points.
Bottom line
Whether you want to stay warm or enjoy the outdoors, there’s no shortage of ideas for getting out and about this December and holiday season in Quebec and Ontario.
Will you use your points or credit cards to take advantage of any of them? Tell us about your adventures and share your tips with the community in the private Milesopedia group!
Come to discuss that topic in our Facebook Group!
