Things to Do in Vancouver this Weekend: December 29, 2017

December 29, 2016
DV
By Destination Vancouver
22 min read

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

That was certainly a year. Hang in there – it’s almost over! All hard things things aside, this weekend be thankful for your triumphs and for all the good things that came or endured in 2016. Ring in hope for 2017 at one of Vancouver’s many events – there’s several ways to catch the fireworks, there’s family fun, cocktail parties, lively DJ nights, and even some parties that veer on the wild side.


Friday December 30

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Vancouver TheatreSports 2016 in Review
Where: Improv Centre
What: The lead-up to the US election, Kate and Will’s visit, climate change, the demise of Brangelina and the construction of more bike lanes are just a few of the stories that grabbed the headlines in 2016. These stories and more will provide fodder for Vancouver TheatreSports’ quick-witted improvisers as they journey back through the headlines this past year.
Runs until: Saturday December 31, 2016

Saturday December 31

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

New Years Eve Vancouver
Where: The Vancouver Convention Centre, Canada Place, Jack Poole Plaza, and Burrard Landing
What: See the fireworks from the best spot in Vancouver! There’s a indoor party at the Vancouver Convention Centre with live music, drinks and DJs; there’s a kid zone for families with crafts, a place to park strollers, and outdoor viewing; and there’s free concerts, shows, and plenty of food trucks.

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Family New Year’s Eve
Where: Grouse Mountain
What: Glide on a 8,000-square foot mountaintop pond, take a snow carpet down a new sliding zone and be awed by the outdoor Light Walk around Blue Grouse Lake. Enjoy incredible performances throughout the night as well as a special 9:00 pm countdown for our littlest revelers.

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

New Years Eve at the Hotel Vancouver
Where: The Hotel Vancouver
What: For the fourth year in a row, Arrival is back with another multiroom party at the iconic Hotel Vancouver. Each of this glamorous and storied hotel’s ballrooms will boast unique programming where you can expect an exciting mix of DJs, musicians, performers, and more.

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Palm Springs New Years Fling
Where: UVA Wine and Cocktail Bar
What: Guests will enjoy pop-up entertainment throughout the night, ranging from live music by the James Danderfer Trio to sabering champagne. Don’t forget to don your kitschiest poolside ensemble or throw on a tennis tuxedo – anything goes, as long as it captures the spirit of Palm Springs.

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Family First Night at Mt. Seymour
Where: Mt. Seymour
What: Enjoy snow tubing & tobogganing, take in live entertainment on the main stage by Vancouver’s ventriloquist Kellie Haines, a magic show from Shmendrick the Wizard and an exciting fire spinning routine performed by Vesta Fire Entertainment.

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Enchantment Under the Sea NYE Prom
Where: The Biltmore
What: All your favourite pop, old school hip Hop, 80’s, 90’s and Y2k hits you love to hate. Dance 2016 away in style.

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Up Yours 2016
Where: Red Gate Arts Society
What: ManUp, the all-gender drag show will bring the go-go dancers, Denim Vest is bringing the DJs, and Queers and Beers is bringing the – well the beer, of course. The name of this NYE game is respect for all genders, all sexual orientations, and all people.

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

New Years Eve Decentralized Dance Party
Where: It’s a secret – announced closer to the date.
What: Dress like you are going to high school prom, and bring some food for a giant potluck feast.

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Speakeasy NYE on a Yacht
Where: Magic Spirit Yacht
What: Celebrate like you’re ringing in 1925 instead of 2017 aboard this luxurious party yacht, where you can not only take in all the beauty of the Vancouver skyline but also enjoy a bash that’s bound to be the cat’s meow: dance the night away, prohibition style. Put on your slickest cocktail outfit (flapper attire is encouraged but not mandatory).

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

90s Dance Party & All You Can Eat BBQ
Where: Devil’s Elbow
What: It’s all-you-can-eat & dance, while you’re dusting off those platforms you’ve kept in the closet for the past 20 years. Ask yourself: this is what you want, what you really, really want?

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Cirque Noir
Where: Club 560
What: Stunning Cirque performance artists, 2 floors of house and hip hop DJs, plus an exclusive VIP mezzanine level.

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

New Years Eve Wonderland
Where: The Fox Cabaret
What: A live jazz band, a dance show, and DJs.

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Black and White Ball
Where: Celebrities
What: Wear black and white to this one. DJs, drinking, dancing.

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Sin City NYE Fetish Masquerade
Where: 560 Seymour
What: If you’re looking for somewhere to dance in decadent nearly nude masquerade as 2017 rolls in, this might be the place. There’s a strict fetish dress code, so if you’re new, do your homework or you might not get in.

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Nwyrs at the Wldrf
Where: The Waldorf
What: Ring in the new year with several rooms of funk, house, hip hop, soul, and more.

New Year’s Eve Club Crawl
Where: Multiple locations
What: Can’t decide where to go? Go from nightclub to nightclub on a party bus.

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Black Wizard and Black Breath
Where: The Rickshaw
What: A metal NYE show with Black Wizard and Black Breath.

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Spirit Cruises New Year’s Eve
Where: Bayshore West Marina
What: Your cruise includes hand-served canapés, live entertainment and dancing, all in the true cruise ship tradition, spiced up by the romance of the sea, Vancouver’s spectacular skyline and the city lights at night.

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

SJS NEW 2017
Where: The Commodore
What: Slow Jam Sundays NYE party.

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Vancouver Outdoor Club for Women New Year’s Dance
Where: The Cultch Founder’s Lounge
What: A woman’s-only party with ladies who love the outdoors.

NYE Carnivale
Where: Lux Lounge
What: A Latin American themed party with DJs from Mexico and Spain.

Sunday January 1

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Salute to Vienna New Year’s Concert
Where: The Orpheum, 2:30pm
What: A stunning new program featuring Strauss waltzes and sweeping melodies from operettas will be performed by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, acclaimed European singers, ballet and ballroom dancers.

Ongoing

Vancouver Christmas Market

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Vancouver Christmas Market (ends this weekend)
Where: Jack Poole Plaza
What: A new location this year right on the harbor front. Get in there with a mix of traditional food and beverage, wood carvings and toys, knitted goods, nutcrackers, pottery and other crafty gifts. The kids (and maybe childish adults?) can make Christmas gifts and ride a Christmas carousel.
Runs until: Saturday December 31, 2016

Enchant Christmas Light Maze

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Enchant Christmas Light Maze (ends this weekend)
Where: Olympic Village
What: What may be the world’s largest Christmas light maze is made up of over 55,000 sq. ft. of illuminated sculptures arranged to create the an atmosphere of evening adventure. Along with the maze, Enchant features a market with over 40 local vendors, 12 food trucks and a licensed eating area where you can eat, drink, and get merry.
Runs until: Saturday December 31, 2016

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Heritage Holiday at Fort Langley (ends this weekend)
Where: Fort Langley
What: Taste chestnuts by the open fireplace, craft a handwritten letter with pen and ink for a loved one, then relax with coffee or lunch at lelem’ at the fort Café. Watch hourly barrel-making and blacksmithing demonstrations, and at 12 pm and 2 pm, laugh along with a holiday-themed fur trade wedding.
Runs until: Saturday December 31, 2016

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Vancouver TheatreSports 2016 in Review (ends this weekend)
Where: Improv Centre
What: The lead-up to the US election, Kate and Will’s visit, climate change, the demise of Brangelina and the construction of more bike lanes are just a few of the stories that grabbed the headlines in 2016. These stories and more will provide fodder for Vancouver TheatreSports’ quick-witted improvisers as they journey back through the headlines this past year.
Runs until: Saturday December 31, 2016

avenueq

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Avenue Q (ends this weekend)
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: The musical story of Princeton, a bright-eyed college graduate who arrives in New York City looking for love, a job, and his purpose in life. The only neighbourhood he can afford is the multicultural Avenue Q, where Sesame Street-esque puppets rub shoulders with humans. Part felt, part flesh, Avenue Q contains full puppet nudity and other vulgarities that will induce laughter.
Runs until: Saturday December 31, 2016

charlie-brown

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

A Charlie Brown Christmas (ends this weekend)
Where: Carousel Theatre
What: Good grief! A lively musical adaption that also features a live jazz trio. Join Charlie Brown on his quirky journey as he tries to direct the school Christmas pageant. With some help from his friends and a ragged little tree, Charlie Brown discovers the true meaning of the season.
Runs until: Saturday December 31, 2016

holy-mo

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Holy Mo! A Christmas Show (ends this weekend)
Where: Pacific Theatre
What: Folly, Guff, and Buffoona are back! And this time, it’s Christmas. A reverently irreverent re-imagining of the Nativity told with gusto and a questionable commitment to accuracy by Pacific Theatre’s three favourite fools.
Runs until: Saturday December 31, 2016

musicman

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

The Music Man (ends this weekend)
Where: Gateway Theatre
What: This beguiling and nostalgic family musical begins when fast-talking con man Harold Hill arrives in small town Iowa, singing empty promises about starting a glorious marching band to organize the local youth. Although all the townsfolk seem eager to follow his lead, the prim local librarian, Marian, threatens to reveal him as a fraud.
Runs until: Saturday December 31, 2016

East Van Panto: Little Red Riding Hood

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

East Van Panto: Little Red Riding Hood (ends this weekend)
Where: York Theatre
What: Little Red Riding Hood is bombing down the Adanac bike trail to deliver a basket of goodies to her sweet little granny. Cheer Little Red along as she battles everything from bike thieves to distracted drivers to The Big Bad Wolf. Suitable for kids 5 and up.
Runs until: Saturday December 31, 2016

mary-poppins

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Mary Poppins (ends this weekend)
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: Watch Mary Poppins fly over the rooftops of London, and feel like a kid again! Remember, anything can happen if you let it. This family musical featuring the unforgettable songs from the popular Disney film—A Spoonful of Sugar, Chim Chim Cher-ee, and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious—is practically perfect in every way.
Runs until: Sunday January 1, 2017

Untangled Figures by Guillaume Leblon

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Untangled Figures by Guillaume Leblon (ends this weekend)
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: Creating fictional landscapes or altering an existing space has long been Leblon’s favoured technique for fuelling uncertainty and doubt in order to undermine the stark purity and perfect finish of the museum.
Runs until: Sunday January 1, 2016

Après over the Holidays (ends this weekend)
Where: Sea to Sky Gondola
What: Wrap up a day of snowshoeing, tubing, exploring the backcountry or a headlamp hike tour by gathering with friends and family at the top of Sea to Sky Gondola for cocoa or a wintery stew as you cozy up and drink in the views from our Summit Lodge.
Runs until: Sunday January 1, 2017

Grouse Mountain Peak of Christmas

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Peak of Christmas (ends this weekend)
Where: Grouse Mountain
What: It’s mountaintop holiday time. Bring your family to Santa’s workshop and meet reindeer, or take a sleigh-ride through a mystical alpine forest. You can also experience the tranquil beauty of skating on an 8,000 square foot mountaintop ice skating pond, surrounded by snow-topped trees or wander through an outdoor holiday lights display.
Runs until: Monday January 2, 2016

flyover

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Christmas at Flyover (ends this weekend)
Where: Flyover Canada
What: FlyOver Canada will transform into a magical winter wonderland this Christmas season. Guests will have fun helping Santa search for his missing elves during an exhilarating flight across Canada and onto the North Pole.
Runs until: Monday January 2, 2016

holiday-heights-at-bloedel

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Holiday Heights at the Bloedel Conservatory (ends this weekend)
Where: The Bloedel Conservatory
What: Experience a (warm) winter wonderland inside the Conservatory with lights, festive music, a holiday scavenger hunt, and more. Go to new heights with a holiday ferris wheel outside. Only $6.75 for adults, less for kids.
Runs until: Monday January 2, 2017

Canyon Lights

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Canyon Lights
Where: Capilano Suspension Bridge Park
What: The suspension bridge, Treetops Adventure, Cliffwalk, the rainforest and canyon are transformed into a world of festive lights in the trees, over bridges, and in the little village. See the world’s tallest living Christmas tree (153 feet) go on a Snowy Owl Prowl, decorate gingerbread cookies and make your own Christmas card.
Runs until: Sunday January 8, 2016

All Together Now: Vancouver Collectors and Their Worlds

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

All Together Now: Vancouver Collectors and Their Worlds
Where: The Museum of Vancouver
What: 20 beautiful, rare, and unconventional collections, with something for everyone including corsets, prosthetics, pinball machines, taxidermy, toys, and much more. In this exhibition both collector and collected are objects of study, interaction, and delight.
Runs until: Sunday January 8, 2016

White, Steel, Slice, Mask

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

White, Steel, Slice, Mask
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: Working together for over a decade, the duo’s interdisciplinary practice typically instigates community-based models of participation in order to re-imagine a material record of the present. They investigate tactics of cultural representation while utilizing the methods of anthropology to examine various forms of collecting, interpretation and display.
Runs until: Sunday January 8, 2016

STOMP Out Hunger
Where: Red Truck Brewery
What: Everyone who drops off a cash or non-perishable food donation at the Red Truck Brewery before January 13th will receive a coupon good for $5 off a ticket to see the touring production of STOMP during its January 13th-15th run at Queen Elizabeth Theatre. In addition, Red Truck Beer will donate $1 from each pint of its seasonal beers sold in the Truck Stop during the month of December to the Vancouver Food Bank.
Runs until: January 13, 2016

Walker Evans: Depth of Field

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Walker Evans: Depth of Field
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: The American photographer Walker Evans (1903–1975) is among the most influential artists of the 20th century. Covering the full arc of his career, Walker Evans: Depth of Field presents the most comprehensive look at Evans’ work ever mounted in Canada.
Runs until: January 22, 2017

Alexine McLeod

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Alexine McLeod
Where: Monte Clark Gallery
What: The artist presents wall-mounted abstract compositions that combine everyday materials including plastic, fabric, found objects, and light.
Runs until: January 30, 2016

In the Footprint of the Crocodile Man

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

In the Footprint of the Crocodile Man
Where: UBC Museum of Anthropology
What: The Sepik River of Papua New Guinea is one of the largest river systems in the world, extraordinarily beautiful, but seldom visited. It is here that the Iatmul people, who live along its banks, have created internationally renowned works of art primarily inspired by stories of the majestic crocodile as the primordial creator. This unique exhibition will showcase the most comprehensive collection of contemporary Sepik art in North America for the first time. In addition to highlighting the exquisite carvings of Papua New Guinea’s latmul people, the exhibition will delve into their economic, cultural, and spiritual connections to the river system, drawing urgent attention to the logging and mining operations that pose environmental threats to the region.
Runs until: January 31, 2017

Juxtapoz x Superflat

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Juxtapoz x Superflat
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: A manifesto for new creative practices that can no longer be adequately described by the traditional categories of art and production. Presenting the work of more than 30 artists from Japan, China, Korea, Europe and the United States this remarkable exhibition offers a unique insight into contemporary art and its place in cultural life.
Runs until: February 5, 2016

As Heavy as a Feather

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

As Heavy as a Feather
Where: Centre A
What: Indigenous Taiwanese artist Chang En Man is having her first exhibition in North America. Chang’s practice is characterized by a dynamic interplay between story, tradition, and the struggles of indigenous peoples in the face of ongoing experiences of colonization.
Runs until: February 11, 2016

Robson Square Ice Rink

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Robson Square Ice Rink
Where: Robson Square
What: Ice skate for free or rent a pair for $4 on this outdoor, covered public rink right downtown.
Runs until: February 14, 2017

Judy Chartrand, What a Wonderful World
Where: The Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art
What: Her beautiful and provocative work presents her own personal history and insights into life in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, and commentary on racism and post–colonial relations between Indigenous and non–Indigenous cultures.
Runs until: February 19, 2016

Layers of Influence

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Layers of Influence
Where: UBC Museum of Anthropology
What: This stunning exhibition will explore clothing’s inherent evidence of human ingenuity, creativity and skill, drawing from MOA’s textile collection — the largest collection in Western Canada — to display a global range of materials, production techniques and adornments across different cultures and time frames.
Runs until: April 9, 2017

vancouver-special

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Vancouver Special
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: The first iteration of this series and it features works by 40 artists produced within the last five years—Vancouver’s post-Olympic period. The exhibition includes many emerging artists as well as those who are more established but whose ideas were prescient. Some are recent arrivals to Vancouver, while others are long-term residents who have already made significant contributions. Others are nomadic, less settled in one place and are working energetically between several locations.
Runs until: April 17, 2016

Nat Bailey Stadium Winter Farmers Market

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Nat Bailey Stadium Winter Farmers Market
Where: Nat Bailey Stadium
What: Don’t fret the summers Farmers markets packing up – winter is here, and you can still shop local for fresh produce, preserves, baked goods, and crafts.
Runs until: April 22, 2017

Hastings Park Farmers Market

Family New Year’s Eve at Grouse Mountain

Hastings Park Farmers Market
Where: Hastings Park (near the PNE)
What: The Hastings Park Farmers Market features a great selection of local produce; nursery items, fish, meat & dairy; artisan prepared foods, baking and treats; local crafts, and of course, food trucks.
Runs until: April 30, 2017

What are you up to this weekend? Tell me and the rest of Vancouver in the comments below or tweet me directly at @lextacular

Vancouver events
weekend activities
fireworks
family fun
cocktail parties
DJ nights
wild parties
December 29
2017