Holiday Celebrating & Gift-Making (with Special Guest: Freeattle!)

Cookie image above & in sidebard via VisualPanic on FlickrWell, I think I jumped the gun with my early September holiday event listings, because here it is November, and there's so many new ones, I need to do a new post. 

So here's one big mondo listing of them all! 

And I'm bringing in some of the gift-making events posted on sister site Freeattle, but more on that in a second.

First, though, here's a recap of some of the holiday links and resources from my earlier posts:

RESOURCES 

• The Cookie Decorating Shop in Ballard has more than 1000 cookie cutters!
• Here’s a report by Seattle Bon Vivant about Home Cake Decorating Supply Co. in North Seattle.
• Author and pastry chef Julie Usher's book Cookie Swap was recently released and she made the rounds of the Seattle food book scene recently.  Check it out for more ideas.
• Several of the chocolate and confection events below are with Bill Fredericks, who I've mentioned a lot because I have taken a Chocolate 101 class with him.  I have not taken his confection classes, but based on how much I enjoyed the class I did take, I can bet they are great. You can also order confection supplies from him at his site Chocolate Man.
• Excellent bulk chocolate can also be found at a good price at PFI.
• Image via Essential BakingOne of my favorites, Essential Baking Company, will be featuring many special treats throughout the holiday season, like Stollen, Peppermint Swirl Cookies and the Creole, South Indian or Mexican holiday cakes to the right there.
• And here are some posts from my cooking blog Three-Bowls:
  • Link round-up for homemade gifts.
  • Desserts and gifts section of my blog.
  • Better baking on a budget.
  • Cookie recipe round-up.

EVENTS

I'm including events from the Freeattle calendar: free classes on gift-making for the holiday season. While these classes are not food-related, I figured if you are reading this site, you just might be a crafty sort who'd like to know about other ways to celebrate the holidays with something specially handmade for your friends and fam. 

So there are four different kinds of events in the below calendar: Holiday How-To (which focus on learning and tasting opportunities for your holiday entertaining), Gifts from the Kitchen (baking, chocolates/confection and herbal gifts), Holiday Celebrations (community events, festivals and special nights out for Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa) and the Freeattle Homemade Non-Food Gifts.  Color key up there lays it all out for you.

Also check out the Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau's new holiday event website for even more Seattle celebrations!