Deck Your Home With The Christmas Spirit
Are you in the festive spirit? We sure are! Being away from home doesn’t mean you have to skip out on Christmas and all the trimmings. Shanghai is chock-full of places to pick up those yuletide classics.
Yuyuan Bazaar
Brush up on your bargaining before venturing to Yu Gardens – this is a great place to get items on the cheap. They have everything from tinsel, ribbon, fake snow, lights, faux pine trees to wooden carved reindeer and dancing Santas.
Yuyuan Bazaar. 137 Anren Jie, near Fuyou Lu
Party Stores
Holiday House is overflowing with Christmas knick-knacks, ornaments and decorations – and if you want to dress as Santa this year, they have costumes too! If Holiday House doesn’t have everything you are looking for, check out Ruby’s Party, which has two stories of festive bits and bobs to sift through.
Holiday House. 1,188 Fanyu Lu, near Kaixuan Lu. Tel: 5119 1310; Ruby’s Party, 3,333 Hongmei Lu, near Huaguang Lu. Tel: 6401 6323
IKEA
Stock up on fake trees, wrapping paper and decorations, as well as the containers in which to store them year-round. It’s best to do your holiday shopping early because items fly off the shelves quickly.
Ikea. Multiple locations around town. 126 Caoxi Lu, near Sanhui Lu. Web: www.ikea.com
Carrefour
The French big box store has been catering to expat needs in Shanghai for years and Christmas is no different. Fake trees and ornaments, wreaths and lights are all reasonably priced. The Gubei branch has the most goodies for one-stop shopping.
Carrefour. Multiple locations around town. Gubei Carrefour. 268 Shuicheng Nan Lu, near Yan’an Xi Lu
Catholic
ST IGNATIUS CATHEDRAL
Also known as the Xujiahui Cathedral, St. Ignatius was designed by English architect William Doyle and built by the French Jesuits between 1905 and 1910.
St Ignatius Cathedral. 158 Puxi Lu, near Nandan Lu. Tel: 6441 2211
DONGJIADU LU CATHOLIC CHURCH
Built in early Spanish baroque style in 1853, the gorgeous St Francis
Xavier Church, better known as Dongjiadu Lu Church, was the first
foreign built church in Shanghai.
Dongjiadu Lu Catholic Church. 185 Dongjiadu Lu, near Wanyu Jie. Tel: 6378 7214
ST. PETER'S CHURCH
St Peter's Church, in the heart of Xuhui, was first built in the 1930s as a Byzantine style church with a central dome and five chapels.
St. Peter's Church. 3/F, 270 Chongqing Nan Lu, near Hefei Lu. Tel: 6467 0199
DIY Christmas Dinner
Christmas in Shanghai can be tough for expat ‘orphans’ stuck in the city over the holiday period and far from family and friends. If you’re looking for a way to recapture that traditional Christmas dinner you remember from home, but not sure where to start, here are a few tips to get going.
If, like most people in Shanghai, you don’t have an oven or just can’t be bothered with such extreme DIY, then you might be looking for a more cooked version of a turkey. The BLOCK butcher shop at the Kerry Hotel has a holiday turkey-to-go deal with hampers including a whole fire-roasted turkey, honey-roasted sweet and baby potatoes, festive cookies, minced pies, and more. Three-day advance reservation is required for the bird. Turkeys a la carte are available from RMB 880 and the turkey hampers are available from RMB 1,180. A delivery service is also available.
The BLOCK. 2/F, 1388 Huamu Rd, near Fangdian Lu. Tel: 6169 8886 or 6169 8884
Another important festive element for any Christmas dinner is the booze, and this year it will be easier than ever to have the world of fine wine and spirits at your fingertips. Visit leading online wine platform, yesmywine.com, for the best deals and recommendations. You can safely buy wine in the knowledge that it will be safely delivered to you door.
Web: www.yesmywine.com
Christmas Church Services
If you are staying in the city for Christmas, and want to find a local church service for the festive celebration, here is a rundown of the most popular places of worship.
Non-Denominational
MU'EN CHURCH
The Moore Memorial Church, also known as Mu’en Church, is located on Xizang Lu, across from People's Square. This church was a Christian Church established by American missionaries in 1887 and has built up a local membership that numbers in the thousands since reopening in 1979, after its closure during the Cultural Revolution.
Mu'en Church. 316 Xizang Zhong Lu, near Hangkou Lu. Tel: 6322 5069
Protestant
HENGSHAN COMMUNITY CHURCH
Shanghai's best-known Protestant church, otherwise known as Guoji Libai Tang or the International Church, Hengshan Community Church was established in 1925 and is popular among expats.
Hengshan Community Church. 53 Hengshan Lu, near Wulumuqi Lu. Tel: 6437 6576
