🦊 Things to do this weekend in North London Nov 29-30

Stokey Winter Fest | 📍Stoke Newington High St & Church St, N16 | 29-30 Nov | Free
Stoke Newington's doing a winter festival this weekend. Saturday there's a free Santa's grotto on Church Street (12-3pm, needs booking), panto characters walking around in the morning, and a jigsaw trail where you collect pieces from different shops to win a hamper.Fire engine's out for kids 1-4pm, Morris Folk Choir at the farmers market, and there's a giving tree collecting for Hackney Foodbank outside the Fire Station - bring tinned food, rice, pasta if you can. Sunday's the Xmas Xtravaganza at Everyday Sunshine from 3-6pm with live bands, mulled wine, and toasties.



Duck Pond Highgate Christmas Market | 📍Lauderdale House, N6 | 29-30 Nov | Free
Christmas market from 11am-5pm in the 15th-century Lauderdale House. Local artists, crafters and food producers selling arts, crafts, gifts, vintage, homewares and clothing. Set in Waterlow Park next to Highgate Cemetery.

Mexican Christmas Market | 📍Coal Drops Yard, N1C | 28-30 Nov | Free
El Pastor's bringing back their Mexican Christmas market to Coal Drops Yard - authentic Mexican crafts, clothing, jewellery, ornaments, and design pieces. There's street food too: sopes, tamales, churros, pan dulce, hot chocolate, plus ingredients to take home. Live mariachis throughout the weekend, traditional tap dancing, improvised verse, and piñatas for families. On Saturday there's a Juan Gabriel singalong at 3:30pm if you know the songs.

Enfield Christmas Parade of Light | 📍Enfield Town, EN4 | 30 Nov | Free
Enfield's big community Christmas parade from 4pm with fireworks around 5:40pm. Before that: Palace Shopping has food and funfair from 12pm, free lantern-making workshop at Boho Flo 2-4pm, performances at the market 2-4pm. Parade goes from Civic Centre through Church Street around 5pm with scouts, brownies and local groups. Carols at 5:20pm in Market Square, then fireworks.

Turning Earth Ceramics Winter Market  | 📍Camden Art Centre, NW3 | 29-30 Nov | Free
Ceramics market at Camden Art Centre from 11am-5pm with 80 makers. Turning Earth runs community ceramics studios where people learn and make - so you're buying direct from makers rather than through shops. First time they've done a market here. Karimah Ashadu exhibition on while you're there, garden cafe for breaks.

Festive Fair at Clitterhouse Farm | 📍Clitterhouse Playing Fields, NW2 | 29 November | Free (donation encouraged)
Annual festive fair from 2-6pm with local crafters and makers selling handmade gifts, live music, ClimArts dance performance, choir, festive kids' workshops, mulled wine and seasonal treats. Dogs and families welcome. Free entry but raising money for the farm's roof fund - donation tickets available on Eventbrite or donate on the day.


Primrose Hill Christmas Festival | 📍Primrose Hill, NW1 | 30 Nov | Free
Christmas festival on Primrose Hill from 9:30am-6pm. Christmas lights switch-on at 4:50pm with a special guest, live music from The Crimsons, the popular Anna Webb Dog Show, Christmas craft fair, festive food market and fairground rides. All day on the hill with views over London.

The Gingerbread City | 📍Coal Drops Yard, N1C | 29 Nov-4 Jan | (£)
Museum of Architecture's gingerbread exhibition returns to Coal Drops Yard. Leading architects building future cities from gingerbread and sweets - this year's theme is The Playful City. Think train stations doubling as skate parks, schools with slides between classrooms, buildings with rooftop gardens and candy-coloured climbing walls. Every structure is a one-off edible creation. Book workshops to build your own gingerbread community centre to take home (up to four people).

Camden High Street Winter Warmer | 📍Camden High Street (by Boxpark), NW1 | 29 Nov | Free
Camden High Street's pedestrianised bit by Boxpark is doing a winter event - live brass band from Camden Music Service, spoken word performances, interactive craft making with kids, and artistic light projections along the street. There's a sound installation called Bass Tone Regeneration by Linett Kamala, plus a Fairy Den Village for families. All the independent shops along the high street are open, so you can combine it with Christmas shopping.


Tottenham Flea & Designers Fair | 📍Bruce Castle Museum, N17 | 29 Nov | Free
Tottenham Flea and Designers Fair is back at Bruce Castle - over 30 stalls selling vintage goods, clothes, jewellery, maps, artworks, and retro collectibles. Free entry, assistance dogs only, and the vintage cafe's open all day.

De Beauvoir Christmas Fair & Trail | 📍St Peter's Church & around De Beauvoir, N1 | 29 Nov | Free
Christmas fair in St Peter's Crypt from 11am-3pm (crypt open till 4:30pm) with local makers selling ceramics, candles, soaps, jewellery, baked goods and more. Plus trail across De Beauvoir where local studios and homes open up to sell. Sweetie trail for kids. Donations at crypt door go to Smart Works Canonbury (supporting unemployed women). Raffle running till mid-December raises money for gift cards for local teens in need.

Danish Christmas Fair | 📍Danish YWCA, NW3 | 29-30 November | (£)
Traditional Danish Christmas market over two days. You’ll find stalls selling Danish Christmas decorations, sweets, chocolate, cards and spruce arrangements. Danish food including open sandwiches, gløgg (mulled wine), æbleskiver (Danish doughnuts) and hot dogs from their own stand. There’s also christmas lottery and tombola.

Stable Yard Pottery & Bolland & Crust Winter Open Studio | 📍1a Saxon Road, N22 | 29-30 Nov | Free
Stable Yard Pottery in Wood Green is opening their studio for the weekend - handmade ceramics sample sale with original pieces for Christmas presents. Bolland & Crust are doing mulled wine and food throughout.


Forty Hall Christmas Fayre | 📍Forty Hall, EN2 | 29-30 Nov | (£)
Forty Hall in Enfield is doing their Christmas fayre across two days - over 50 stalls spread across two floors selling handmade crafts, unique gifts, and holiday treats. Mix of new stalls and regulars who come back every year. There's outdoor music and a food court with seasonal food and warm drinks.

David Bownes - former head curator of London Transport Museum, you might've seen him on Secrets of the London Underground - is doing a talk at Twentieth Century Posters in Islington about how London advertised itself over 150 years. Early Tube maps, theatre posters, political moments, everyday notices. It's £3, includes a glass of wine, and you get a tour of their collection which has rare pieces for sale - some never been available before, including early Tube maps and works by Hockney and Riley. My North London readers get 10% off anything in the shop with code London2025 (works in store or online).

_{**Full transparency: Twentieth Century Posters offered a discount for My North London readers in exchange for a feature. I'm not being paid for this - just connecting neighbours with local things to do.}

Museum of Homelessness is doing their second festive dog show in Finsbury Park - all dogs welcome, especially street dogs. Enter your dog into categories like family resemblance, waggiest tail, and best costume. It's raising money for emergency supplies for people experiencing homelessness - sleeping bags, warm clothes. There'll be handmade gifts, dog costumes for sale, exclusive merch, a tombola, badge-making workshop, and treats for dogs and humans. Every street dog gets a stocking full of treats. It's at the Manor House Lodge inside Finsbury Park by Manor House Gate. Free entry, kicks off at 1pm.

There's a new VR experience in Camden where you step into ancient Rome - walk through bustling markets, go down into the hypogeum where gladiators prepared, and watch the legendary Flamma fight in the Colosseum with 80,000 spectators roaring around you. It's 30 minutes and fully immersive - not just watching but feeling like you're actually there. Good one for dodging the british weather, and it works for families too (age 8+).

Paul Baker, City of London guide who's lived in Barnet for 35 years - is doing a Christmas walk through Charles Dickens's North London. You'll hear about Dickens's connections to Barnet (including the Red Lion pub and where Oliver Twist first met the Artful Dodger), Finchley, Hampstead, Highgate, and Hendon, plus how he celebrated and wrote about Christmas beyond just A Christmas Carol.

Meets outside High Barnet tube at 11am.

My North London readers get a discount:
£12 adults (usually £15), £3 under-12s (usually £5). Just mention you're a subscriber when you book.

Book: [email protected] / 07506 761294. Spaces are limited.

_{**Full transparency: Paul offered a discount for My North London readers in exchange for a feature. I said yes because it's local, seasonal, and the kind of thing some of you look for during these festive times. I'm not being paid - just connecting neighbours with local things to do.}

Hornsey Town Hall is reopening after its refurbishment with a full day of festive events. There's a Christmas market, Father Christmas' grotto, art exhibitions with Crouch End Open Studios, line dancing, and a Christmas tree lights switch-on at 6pm with a light show on the building. Evening brings jazz, blues and soul in the Crossover Jazz Room, plus comedy at Downstairs at the Kings Head. Some talks need tickets (including Katy Hessel on living an artful life), but entry to the building is free. Good chance to see what they've done with the place, and there's food and drink throughout the day.

Barnet Christmas Fayre | 📍Barnet High Street, EN5 | 7 Dec | Free Barnet's doing their annual Christmas fayre across the high street - stalls, food and drink, craft fair, live music, choirs, and performances spread across multiple locations. There's Santa's grotto at The Bull Theatre (free, donations welcome, 12:30-4pm) and a magic show with Santa's elves (£5). Entertainment's happening at the Christmas Courtyard (kids' activities and dancing), St John's Church (live music and mulled wine), Wesley Hall (music and cakes), The Spires (choirs and meet-and-greet characters), and outside Waitrose if the weather holds. The Mayor opens it at noon by Barnet Church.

Carols and Ices | 📍London Canal Museum, N1 | 11 Dec | (£)
London Canal Museum is doing something a bit unusual - Christmas carols sung from inside the Victorian ice wells, with the singers' voices drifting up while you look down into the candlelit space. There's also Edwardian-style ice cream making (no freezer, just ice and salt like they did it back then), and you get to taste it. Short boat trips on the canal at night to see the King's Cross lights (need to be booked in advance), free mince pie, and a pay bar with beer and wine.


Open Air Christmas Carol Singalong | 📍Stationers Park, N8 | 13 Dec | Free
Crouch End's annual carol singalong in Stationers Park is back for its 20th year. Heather Maîr Thomas and her pop-up choir lead an hour of traditional carols - kids sing "Away in a Manger" at the front, "Silent Night" gets sung in whatever language you know (Klingon and Cornish have both featured), and there are harmonies if you fancy them. Bring a head torch because it gets dark, and the park cafe does mulled wine for donations to Friends of Stationers Park.

Philharmonia Festive Brass | 📍Alexandra Palace Theatre, N22 | 15 Dec | (£)
The Philharmonia Orchestra's brass ensemble is doing Christmas carols at Alexandra Palace Theatre - all the classics like Away in a Manger, Good King Wenceslas, and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.



Christmas Carols with Tottenham New Singers | 📍Ferry Boat Inn Tottenham, N17 | 15 Dec | Free
Evening of Christmas carols from 7-9pm performed by Tottenham New Singers choir. Classic Christmas tunes at the riverside pub. Free event. 

Here’s a couple of shows to have on your radar…

Sleeping Beauty on Ice | 📍Alexandra Palace Ice Rink, N22 | 4-8 Dec | (£)
Alexandra Palace is doing Sleeping Beauty on ice with local amateur skaters - everyone from tiny kids taking their first steps on ice to skaters training for national competitions. They rehearse all year for this, and it shows. It's the classic fairy tale with graceful choreography and glittering costumes, performed on the historic ice rink. Age 3+, and it's become a bit of a festive tradition at Ally Pally. 

The Night Before Christmas | 📍Artsdepot, N12 | 8-31 Dec | (£)
Artsdepot's doing a Christmas show based on the classic poem - six-year-old Amber's Christmas Eve with music, puppetry, and a surprise visitor who turns everything upside down. It's the usual Christmas Eve chaos of grumpy grandad and broken snow globes, then something magical happens.

Die Hard Xmas: The Parody Musical | 📍Museum of Comedy, WC1A | 19-20 Dec | (£)
A musical parody of Die Hard at the Museum of Comedy in Bloomsbury - yes, really. It started in LA, got 12 Broadway World Award nominations, and now it's back in London after selling out last time. It's the full story (cop visits estranged wife at Christmas party, terrorists take over building, yippee ki yay, etc.) but done as a comedy musical. If you're in the "Die Hard is absolutely a Christmas film" camp, this is for you.

Santa's Grotto | 📍The Mall Wood Green, N22 | Until 24 Dec | (£)
Santa's already set up in The Mall Wood Green - kids can meet him, tell him what they want, and get a photo and a present. He's there every weekend and every day in December until Christmas Eve. Tickets are £7.50 per child (includes a gift), and £1 from each goes to North London Hospice. The grotto's on the Lower Mall near Primark, so you can sort out your Christmas shopping at the same time.

Santa's Grotto | 📍Alexandra Palace, N22 | 28 Nov-23 Dec | (£)
Santa's set up in the East Court at Alexandra Palace. Kids can meet him, get a small gift, and can have their photo taken in the grotto. Tickets are per child and include up to 2 adults. It's on selected dates so check before you go. 

Santa's Ice Grotto | 📍Camden Market Hawley Wharf, NW1 | Selected dates in Dec | (£)
Camden Market's set up an ice grotto at Hawley Wharf where kids can meet both Mother and Father Christmas. There's arts and crafts, face painting, a story corner, and letter writing - you get 1.5 hours and a goodie bag.