🎄 Christmas in Croydon 2025
Kick off the festive season next to Croydon Station with carols, dance performances, live jazz, face painting, DJ tunes and an open‑air dance floor for an evening of holiday cheer.
📆 Sat 6 Dec / 6:30pm – 8:30pm
📍 Croydon (next to the station)

🎄 Strathfield Christmas Carols
A festive evening of live carols, family entertainment and a special visit from Santa, followed by a screening of The Santa Clause.
📆 Sat 6 Dec / 6pm – 10pm
📍 Strathfield Park (Chalmers Road side)

🎁 Christmas in Five Dock
Bring the family for Christmas carols, festive activities and a Santa visit.
📆 Sat 6 Dec / 1pm – 4pm
📍 Fred Kelly Place, Five Dock

🚒 Santa Tour
See Santa cruise through Canada Bay on a vintage fire truck, handing out candy and taking photos with families at Canada Bay Club (12pm), Rhodes Recreation Centre (1:30pm) and Five Dock Library (3:30pm).
📆 Sat 6 Dec / 12pm – 5:30pm
📍 Canada Bay Club, Rhodes Recreation Centre & Five Dock Library

🎄 Cockle Bay Christmas Spectacular
A huge waterfront Christmas celebration featuring jet-ski Santa, jet-pack shows, live music and a festive fireworks finale.
📆 Sat 6 Dec / 4pm – 9pm
📍 Cockle Bay, Darling Harbour

🎄 Christmas Market
A cosy Christmas market offering handmade gifts, crafts, local goodies, food and drinks while raising funds for Médecins Sans Frontières.
📆 Sat 6 Dec / 11am – 3pm
📍 Goodman Hall, Ashfield

🎄 Flour Mill Christmas Markets @ Summer Hill
Browse unique gifts, handmade decorations, local art and delicious festive food at the final market of the year.
📆 Sun 7 Dec / 9am – 1pm
📍 Flour Mill Markets, Summer Hill

🧶 A Very Merry Maker’s Market
Meet local makers, browse unique handmade goods and enjoy live 1-minute and 5-minute portraits sketched on the spot.
📆 Sun 7 Dec / 9am – 2pm
📍 Market Studio, Annandale

🎄 Christmas Bauble Workshop: Orna-Make-It
A drop-in creative workshop where kids and adults can craft their own colourful Christmas baubles.
📆 Sun 7 Dec & Sun 14 Dec / 12pm – 2pm
📍 Inside the Locomotive Workshops (near IGA), South Eveleigh

📸 Say Sleigh! Christmas Photobooth
A fun outdoor photobooth where you can snap festive pics beside the 1083 Train and meet Twisty Claus.
📆 Sun 7 Dec / 11am – 2pm
📍 Innovation Plaza, South Eveleigh

🌊 Free Entry at Victoria Park Pool - Summer Open Day
A fun open day with entry at no cost, complimentary gelato (between 11am – 2pm, or until gone) pop-up exercise classes, games and giveaways.
📆 Sat 6 Dec
📍 Victoria Park Pool, Camperdown

🍹 South King Christmas Mingle
A festive day of shopping, dining and neighbourhood fun with exclusive in-store specials, giveaways and a major prize draw across South King Street.
📆 Sat 6 Dec
📍 South King Street, Newtown

🛍️ Artisans in the Park
Discover a curated selection of handmade goods at this not-for-profit artisans market.
📆 Sat 6 Dec / 10am – 3pm
📍 Dr Foley Rest Park, Glebe

🌿 Picnic to Reclaim Wentworth Park
Bring a picnic blanket, enjoy a BBQ and join the community calling for Wentworth Park to be returned to public use.
📆 Sun 7 Dec / 11am – 1pm
📍 Wentworth Park

🍔 Free Community BBQ
Meet your neighbours over a sausage sizzle with vegan, gluten free and halal options plus a family-friendly seed bomb workshop, hosted by Councillor Izabella Antoniou.
📆 Sun 7 Dec / 11am – 1pm
📍 Darrell Jackson Gardens, Summer Hill

🎵 A Kirtan Journey @ Leichhardt
Join a heartfelt evening of mantra, music and community with a guided kirtan experience.
📆 Sat 6 Dec / 6pm – 8pm
📍 Leichhardt Town Hall

⚡ Energy Efficiency Consultations
Get a one‑on‑one consultation to understand your energy bills, identify savings and explore greener options at the Green Living Centre.
📆 Sat 6 Dec / 10am – 2pm
📍 Green Living Centre, Summer Hill

🛍 Inclusion Festival Art and Craft Fair
Explore a vibrant market showcasing artists and makers with disability, browse handmade gifts and support local talent.
📆 Sat 6 Dec / 10am – 2pm
📍 Marrickville Library and Pavilion, Marrickville

🎨 Studio Sale
Meet the artists, explore their workspaces and browse a range of artworks for sale.
📆 Sat 6 Dec / 10.30am – 2pm
📍 Marrickville

🎵 The Sydney Youth Orchestra presents Lied der Nacht
Experience Mahler’s monumental Seventh Symphony performed by exceptional young musicians.
📆 Sat 6 Dec / 7pm – 9pm
📍 White Bay Power Station, Rozelle

💃 Pollys Dance 6 Dec 2025
Enjoy an inclusive dance party with a DJ, raffles, costume contests and an amateur drag show, raising funds for health and community charities.
📆 Sat 6 Dec / 7pm – 11:55pm
📍 Marrickville Town Hall

🎸 LOUD WOMEN Festival Australia – Sydney/Gadigal (ages 18+)
This intersectional feminist music festival champions female, trans and non‑binary punk and indie artists with a powerhouse lineup to celebrate the organisation’s 10‑year anniversary.
📆 Sun 7 Dec / 2pm
📍 Crowbar Sydney, Leichhardt

🥐 Tonton Bread Opens Newtown Cafe
After four years in Surry Hills, Tonton Bread has opened a cafe and bakery on Edgeware Road. The new spot serves fresh bakes, cheeky pastries, croissants and artisan breads, with coffee from Sample Coffee. Open seven days.
📍 206 Edgeware Road, Newtown

🍺 Operation: Sickie @ The Bob Hawke Beer & Leisure Centre

Hawke’s is celebrating the great Australian art of chucking a sickie with a summer-only special: get 49% off your bill when you book one of their designated “incognito” tables and show proof of the text or email you sent your boss. The deal runs across six specific dates, with bookings available between 12pm – 4pm. See venue for Terms & Conditions. Discretely reach out if you do this and let us know how it went!
📆 Select dates: 9 Dec, 19 Dec, 5 Jan, 23 Jan, 27 Jan, 2 Mar / 12pm – 4pm
📍 The Bob Hawke Beer & Leisure Centre, Marrickville

🎉 Christmas Posada @ San Pancho
San Pancho is bringing a slice of Mexican Christmas tradition to Marrickville with their very first Posada celebration. There will be live music from The Changuas kicking off at 6:30pm, a piñata-breaking session, and tacos, margaritas and micheladas flowing all night. No bookings, it’s first in, first served for this one-night-only festive fiesta.
📆 Sat 6 Dec / From 6:30pm
📍 San Pancho, Marrickville

🌮 Farewell to La Tamalería
After six years of serving up Rosa Cienfuegos’ beloved Mexican comfort food, La Tamalería has announced its final day will be Saturday 20 December. The Dulwich Hill favourite opened in 2018 with a mission to share a piece of Mexico with everyone who walked through the door, creating a loyal community along the way. There’s still time for one last visit, and one last tamale.
📆 Final day: Sat 20 Dec
📍 La Tamalería, Dulwich Hill, Marrickville

🐶 Santa Paws at Willie the Boatmen!
Celebrate the festive season with your pup at this lively brewery event featuring Santa photos, gift bags for early arrivals, live music, market stalls and a big Christmas raffle supporting the local school.
📆 Sun 7 Dec / 12pm – 3pm
📍 Willie the Boatman, St Peters

🍻 Red Lion Locals Christmas Party
Enjoy a festive evening with Santa visits, nibbles and drinks, live music, a meat raffle, Christmas giveaways and more.
📆 Thu 11 Dec / 6pm
📍 Red Lion Hotel, Rozelle

🍺 The Annandale Hotel Annandale | Thursday | All day | Local Day All Day Happy Hour – see venue for terms and conditions.

🍸 Corridor Newtown | Friday | 4pm – 7pm | $7 Pints of Young Henry’s and $14 Cocktails – see venue for terms and conditions.

🍻 Three Weeds Rozelle | Monday to Friday | 5 – 7pm | $7.50 schooners, $10 pints of select house beers, $7.50 house spirits, $7.50 house wine, $15 Aperol spritz & $18 cocktails – see venue for terms and conditions.

Sydney Prepares for Its Biggest New Year’s Eve Fireworks Yet

Sydney is set to welcome 2026 with its largest New Year’s Eve fireworks footprint to date, featuring nine tonnes of fireworks launched from the Harbour Bridge, Opera House, city rooftops and eight harbour platforms. New made-for-Sydney pyrotechnics will form native species such as cockatoos, koalas and waratahs, while VANDAL’s projections, created using the DNA of native plants interpreted through Artificial Intelligence, will transform the Harbour Bridge pylons at 9pm and midnight. Festivities include a harbour smoking ceremony, the Calling Country show, a 10pm tribute for Beyond Blue, and a 12-minute midnight spectacular expected to draw more than a million spectators.

👉 Read more

City of Sydney Moves to Make Outdoor Dining Easier and Permanent

The City of Sydney has proposed major updates to its outdoor dining program, aiming to make the popular post-pandemic dining spaces permanent and reduce red tape for businesses. The changes would allow venues to set up dining areas more flexibly — including outside neighbouring properties and on both sides of a clear access path — while converting temporary roadway dining areas into permanent footpath extensions. Five-year approvals, simpler processes, and more greening options are also proposed. If endorsed, the guidelines will go on public exhibition from 12 January to 12 March 2026 to gather community feedback.

👉 Read more

🐯 Rally Announced to ‘Save Wests Tigers’ This Month

Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne has convened a public rally in response to the sacking of all independent directors from the Wests Tigers board. The event will be held on Saturday 13 December at Pratten Park, a former home ground of the Wests Magpies, before a planned march to Wests Ashfield Leagues Club. Mayor Byrne is calling for the NRL and Liquor and Gaming NSW to intervene, saying the governance changes put the future of the club at risk. Fans and members are encouraged to attend.

👉 Read more

🏛️ Sydenham Road Strategy Onsite Pop-up
Stop by to view the concept plans and chat with the project team about the draft Sydenham Road Strategy.
📆 Wed 10 Dec 2025 / 4:30pm – 6:30pm
📍 Outside Sydenham Metro Station, Marrickville ♿️

🏘️ Building Our Community Pop-up
Chat with Council staff and share your priorities for future Inner West infrastructure at this community pop-up session.
📆 Tue 9 Dec / 11am – 1pm
📍 Loyalty Square, Balmain

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Reminder: Please verify that details are accurate with venues, event providers, restaurants, and pubs by clicking through to their websites. Events are occasionally cancelled at the last minute, and specials can change.

Have a fun weekend!

Jess