At Victoria's Butchart Gardens, visitors can tour the illuminated gardens and view the 12 Days of Christmas displays. Horse-drawn sleigh rides, Santa's workshops, scavenger hunts and live entertainment provide family entertainment at Panorama Mountain Village. Kimberley Alpine Resort boasts skiing with St. Nick (December 25th) and a Kootenay Snowshoe and Fondue trek.
After Christmas, Fort St. John celebrates an annual High on Ice Carnival on January 12 to 14. This festival features a snow baseball tournament, ice fishing derby, speed skating, dogsled races and the BC Ice Carving Championships. A children's winter playground is sculpted entirely from ice and snow.
From December 1 to 23, the Carol Ships Parade of Lights at Coal Harbour showcases over decorated 80 boats, 150,000 twinkling lights and a choir of 45,000. Capilano Suspension Bridge celebrates Canyon Lights, with over 200,000 sparkling lights illuminating a rainforest and carollers dressed in period costumes.
During the annual Festival of Trees, local businesses and organizations decorate trees at Victoria's Fairmont Empress Hotel, Vancouver's Four Seasons Hotel and Kelowna's Grand Okanagan Hotel as a fundraiser for BC Children's Hospital Foundation. At BC Wildlife Park, in Kamloops, Wildlights features a dancing light display synchronized with music in the park's new outdoor amphitheatre.
From December 16 to 31, Helmcken House, in Victoria, hosts an Old Fashioned Christmas. Guests fashion their own arts and crafts, while learning about traditional celebrations. (In 1884, for example, a Japanese merchant in Victoria first sold mandarin oranges that many families now include in their Christmas stockings.)
On selected days between December 2 and January 7, Christmas at Craigdarroch Castle showcases over 60 performances including music, theatre, storytellers and children's entertainers. The decorated castle holds annual Curator's Dinners (December 8 and 9) and Sweet Night Music (December 15), a celebration of choral music, with tours, sweets and hot apple cider.
In historic Barkerville, which recalls BC's Gold Rush, costumed guides urge visitors to explore the Gold Mining Museum, drop by the Goldfield Bakery for tasty gingerbread men, and search the Barkerville Hotel, the Mason, the Daly General Store and the Cameron and Ames Blacksmith shops for Christmas gifts.
Visitors can take a walk with noted historian and storyteller, John Adams, as he brings Christmas to life in Victoria during his annual Ghosts of Christmas Past tours on December 2, 9, 16, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31. Chinatown Christmas Walks (Saturdays in December) highlight the history, seasonal sights, scents, and shops in Canada's oldest Chinatown; and Christmas in Old Victoria (by private appointment only) tours the city's Old Town and explores how Christmas was celebrated during the days of Fort Victoria and the Gold Rush.
In Kamloops, passengers climb aboard the Spirit of Christmas steam rail, December 15, 16, 17, 22 and 23. The heritage train pulls into the station, with steam billowing to create illumination for hundreds of brightly colored bulbs. Santa, Mrs. Claus, elves, a Winter Princess and even Frosty the Snowman accompany guests on the one-hour excursion, which begins and ends at the old CN Station at Station Plaza. Hot chocolate, candy canes and goodies are delivered by Mrs. Claus.
Granville Island's Public Market, in Vancouver, hosts roving performers, ornament-crafting and gingerbread decorating workshops in December. The annual Winter Solstice Lantern Festival (Dong zhi) is on December 22. This festival marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year, with a procession of handmade lanterns and drummers, from Science World to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden.
A white Christmas waits at 1,127 metres (3,700 feet) on Grouse Mountain. The Peak of Christmas, November 25 to December 24, welcomes revellers with forest sleigh rides, Christmas classics at the Theatre in the Sky, Santa and his reindeer, and carollers in the chalet. Visitors can bring or rent skates at Grouse's 8,000-square-foot outdoor skating rink, and enjoy hot chocolate in Altitudes Bistro.
Fernie Alpine Resort holds a New Year's Eve Torchlight Parade with 150 glowing red torches weaving down Fernie's slopes. Sun Peaks has an annual New Year's Eve Torchlight Descent. Kids have their own Glow Stick Parade followed by fireworks.
Whistler's First Night, in Whistler Village, features children's entertainers, arts and crafts, live acts, DJs and a special Kid's Countdown at 9:15pm. Victoria's Craigdarroch Castle celebrates the New Year with festivities, Scottish treats, castle tours, Scottish music and Highland dancing.
