Our Favourite Places' Guide to Christmas arts and markets in Sheffield
Bring a little creativity to your Christmas with this guide, from Our Favourite Places, to arts and crafts markets, workshops and events coming up in Sheffield.
Take a detour from the high street and pick out something truly special, straight from the person who made it. Make your own gifts and cards with a little guidance from local artists. And enjoy exhibitions with a festive twist.
Arts & crafts gifts
Get an early start on your Christmas shopping on 19 November when Endless Love Creative bring contemporary art and design to the Workstation and Craft & Flea fill Sheffield Cathedral with vintage bric-a-brac. Over at Yorkshire Artspace that weekend, artists and craftspeople will show people their workspaces and sell their wares at Open Studios. Meanwhile at Millennium Gallery, their Handmade for Christmas shop is open now, showcasing one-off gifts from talented makers from Yorkshire and Derbyshire. And, of course, the city centre will once again become a browsers' wonderland as the Christmas Markets line Fargate, the Peace Gardens and The Moor from 18 November.
Food & festive shopping? The perfect mix!
Tuck into something tasty while you work your way through your gift list, at one of the many events that mix street food and creative stalls. Peddler is going out with a bang for their final event of the year on 2–3 December, with family fun, fizz and local musical talent. Around the corner at Kelham Island Museum on the 3rd and 4th, the fabulous Victorian Christmas Market returns, complete with gas lamps, fairground rides and a Snow Queen. On the 10th, browse stalls down by the water at Quayside Christmas Market and get old school with the Vintage Christmas Market at Hideaway over ‘posh pie and peas.’ For their Christmas edition, flower market Pollen are relocating to Peddler Warehouse on 17–18 December, taking everything from pizza to pots, plus all things botanical.
There's plenty going on all round Sheffield
Heading further out of the city centre, Gathering Ground Makers’ Market is bringing locally made treats to the pavilion at Hillsborough Park on 3 December. Hagglers Corner will be packed inside and out on the 4th with stalls, crafts workshops and live music. Set within the beautiful Ecclesall Woods, there’s the Collier’s Market on the 17th and 18th. Pop these dates in your diary for December too, and do a market crawl around the city: Saw Grinders Union on the 1st to the 4th, Fox Valley on the 3rd and 4th, and Walkley Millennium Green on the 18th.
Make your own gifts
Get crafty and make your own treats for your loved ones this festive season at one of the creative workshops on offer. Printmaker Fiona Wilson is leading a day-long workshop in Paper Collage Characters at Millennium Gallery on 3 December. And the folks at Carousel Print Studio are running card making sessions, introducing you to the art of Paper Marbling on the 3rd and Linocut Printing on the 4th.
A festive art experience unlike any other
For a festive art experience unlike any other, see Sheffield Cathedral lit up both inside and out with The Manger. The illumination exhibition uses abstract images and music to tell the traditional tale of the origins of Christmas.
Or try something a little different…
After the bustle of the markets and all that shopping, a Christmas-free moment to recuperate may be in order. Take some time to connect with everything from photography to sculpture in the city’s many art galleries. Or explore the evolution of videogames, the history of the Steel City and more in Sheffield’s museums. See the Our Favourite Places website for a guide to Sheffield’s museums and galleries, and find out what exhibitions are on now and coming up in our Art Picks.
