Today it’s all about the mar­kets, for there are many mar­kets to be found in our fine city at any time. Sadly, Christ­mas seems to bring every Tom, Dick and mar­ket out of the wood­work.

So I’m going to focus on some of the bet­ter cur­ated mar­kets where you walk in with high hopes of tick­ing many boxes on your shop­ping list and walk out with a smile for tick­ing those boxes with a few par­cels Santa snuck into your bas­ket just for you.

The Annu­al Wel­ling­ton Christ­mas Mar­kets held every Sat­urday and Sunday lead­ing up to Christ­mas. You’ll find 100+ stall hold­ers at Frank Kitts Park from 10 am till 4 pm.

Bonus of this mar­ket = it’s the largest cur­ated mar­ket in Wel­ling­ton and there is a very strong focus on loc­ally hand­made items, with a few spots for qual­ity impor­ted items that fit with the tone of the mar­ket.

You’ll find ceram­ics, paper­craft, soaps, fab­rics, toys, cloth­ing, lamps, tasty treats and a selec­tion of jew­ellery for all ages and genders. As an all-weath­er ven­ue there is no chance of get­ting way­laid by thun­der­storms, rain or sun­burn.

The Hill Street Farm­ers Mar­ket

This mar­ket is all about the fresh, qual­ity, loc­al food and runs every Sat­urday, rain or shine, from 8.30am until 12.30pm in the car park of the Cathed­ral of St Paul in Hill Street, Thorndon. Sat­urday the 15th sees them expand to include Christ­mas gifts and on Decem­ber 22nd you can shop for your Christ­mas table treats while the kids get exhausted cour­tesy of bit of free boun­cing and jump­ing on Spring­free Tram­po­lines. To keep up with what food you’ll find each week check out their news­let­ter.

 The City Mar­ket

Held every Sunday, 8.30am – 12.30pm, Under­cov­er in the Atri­um, Chaf­fers Dock Build­ing, 1 Herd St, Wel­ling­ton. With a Spe­cial Even­ing Mar­ket on Wed­nes­day Decem­ber 19th if you’re stuck for gift ideas, hang out to the 19th and take care of every­one in one go.

City Mar­ket is Wel­ling­ton’s spir­itu­al home for food enthu­si­asts, and the Line-up of guest Providores  changes from week to week. But with a staple of reg­u­lars like Macar­ons by Cre­at­ive Cook­ing, Cup­cake Sweeties, Mar­tin Bos­ley’s, Cul­tured New Zea­l­and cheese & Yel­low Brick Road long-line caught fish. It’s not like you have to worry about their not being some­thing to suit your taste buds. Plus who doesn;t love late night shop­ping that isn’t at a mall.

A little out-of-town but more than worth the day trip is The Craft Coun­try Fair on Sat­urday, 15 Decem­ber from 10 am – 3 pm.

The fair was the idea that gave birth to the best little shop in Feath­er­ston, Craft Coun­try at 44a Fitzher­bert Street.

 Now in its third year, Craft Coun­try is always a pop­u­lar reas­on to come over the hill. It’s held in the Greytown town hall/library build­ing and fea­tures top qual­ity stall­hold­ers from across the North Island. The fair is praised for its qual­ity and is an occa­sion that people look for­ward to. Shop­pers love the chance to buy great hand­made products and rave about the qual­ity and pro­fes­sion­al­ism.
 New on the block but shap­ing up to be a reg­u­lar little gem is the Sky­line Gift Fairs which you find at the top of the Wel­ling­ton cable car. For­get the fuddy duddy sky­line of old, now the ven­ue with a view is home to a boutique gift fair run­ning lead­ing up to Christ­mas and bey­ond. Between their late even­ing fair on the 15th and being the only fair open in town on Christ­mas eve, one trip up the cable car could answer all your last minutes shop­ping woes in but a moment. Plus the view is really beau­ti­ful.

Next week – the shops that make you smile.