The spirit of the season is upon the V&A Waterfront this December, with a packed line-up of festive entertainment. From visits from Santa and Christmas Light Shows, to gift-wrapping stations and extended shopping hours for convenience, visitors are sure to leave in a festive mood, with enough gifts to pack their Christmas stockings to overflowing.

Trading hours at the V&A Waterfront will be extended from Friday, 9 December until Friday, 23 December, ensuring that visitors can shop to their hearts’ content until later in the evenings in preparation for Christmas Day.

Victoria Wharf Shopping Centre will open from 9am to 10pm from Friday, 9 December to Friday, 23 December, and trade on Christmas Day is optional. Visitors who prefer a tranquil shopping experience are advised to visit Victoria Wharf before 10am or after 7pm to avoid the festive rush.

The Waterfront’s home of craft and design, the Watershed, will extend their trading hours from 9am to 7pm from Friday, 16 December through to Sunday, 8 January 2017, with the exception of Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, when it will trade from 9am to 5pm. The Watershed will close on Christmas Day, 25 December.

In keeping with the spirit of the season of giving, a Cape Town charity will benefit from the proceeds of a gift wrapping service that will be available within the Victoria Wharf Shopping Centre from Friday, 16 to Saturday, 24 December.

Shoppers can have their gifts beautifully wrapped in the knowledge that others will also benefit from this. Proceeds from this year’s gift wrapping service will go to the Peninsula School Feeding Association (PSFA), which works to feed hungry children across the Western Cape. 

Check out some cool events below:

Christmas Light Shows

Date:       Friday, 9 to Saturday, 17 December

Time:       8.30pm and 9.30pm

Venue:    Upper Level, Victoria Wharf Shopping Centre

Cost:       Free

The first day of extended trading hours, Friday, 9 December, will be marked by a Christmas Light Show to dazzle Victoria Wharf shoppers with a beautiful display of coloured light patterns, all set to Christmas-themed music, carols and performances to instil traditional Christmas cheer. Light Shows will be held twice daily at 8.30pm and again at 9.30pm, and are sure to delight young and old alike!

Meet Santa at Santa’s Workshop 

Date:        Saturday, 10 to Saturday, 24 December

Time:       10am – 1pm and again from 1.30–4pm

Venue:     Victoria Wharf Centre Court

Cost:         Free

With a ho-ho-ho and a belly full of fun, Santa and his elves will be at Victoria Wharf Shopping Centre this festive season. From 10am to 1pm, and again later from 1.30 to 4pm, from Saturday, 10 to Saturday, 24 December, children of all ages can come down to Santa’s Workshop at the Centre Court where they can meet Santa himself and tell him all of their Christmas wishes.

(Please note that a professional photographer will not be on-site to take images. Parents and guardians are advised to bring their own cameras for photographs.)

FPI-Kaleidscope Christmas Concert

Date:        Sunday, 11 December

Time:       Show 1: 2–2.45pm

                 Show 2: 7–7.45pm

Venue:     V&A Amphitheatre

Cost:         Free

Some of South Africa’s leading Christian vocalists come together on Saturday, 11 December for two festive performances at the V&A Amphitheatre to entertain Waterfront visitors. The Family Policy Institute, in collaboration with the Kaleidoscope Café, presents the Glenn Robertson Band and some of South Africa’s leading Christian vocal artists performing a combination of traditional and modern Christmas carols. The first performance will begin at 2pm, and the second will be later in the evening at 7pm. 

Apostle Choristers: Christmas Special 

Date:       Wednesday, 21 December

Time:       Sound check: 6pm

                 Performance: 7–8pm

Venue:    V&A Waterfront Amphitheatre

Cost:        Free

Families are sure to get into a cheerful, festive spirit with the Apostle Choristers, who will fill the V&A Amphitheatre with Christmas cheer on Wednesday, 21 December from 7 to 8pm. Excited visitors are welcome to stop by a little early and catch the Choristers’ sound check at 6pm. First established in 1995 to promote choral music within the community, the choir is managed by the Ithemba Cultural Society. It is musically directed by well-known Camillo Lombard and is divided into three regions, namely the Cape Metropole, Boland and the Swartland.

Cape Town Gospel Choir 

Date:        Friday, 23 December

Time:       7–8pm

Venue:    V&A Amphitheatre

Cost:         Free to attend

The spectacular voices of the Cape Town Gospel Choir will ring out across the V&A Amphitheatre this festive season, with a Christmas-themed performance at the Amphitheatre on Friday, 23 December from 7pm. Formed in 2010 and currently under the direction of Edinburgh University music graduate Colin Peckham, the Choir “aspires to the best in gospel music in the Western Cape”.

Amaza Ensemble: Carols for African Skies 

Date:        Saturday, 24 December

Time:       7–8pm

Venue:     V&A Amphitheatre

Cost:         Free

Wrapping up the festive season entertainment is the Amaza Ensemble, who will perform for visitors at the V&A Amphitheatre on Christmas Eve, beginning at 7pm. Formed in 2009, Amaza Ensemble is the brainchild of long-time marimba player Banzi Tema, who put together a group of talented individuals each specialising in indigenous instruments, with the goal of taking indigenous sounds to new heights.

Having put together a special Christmas performance for V&A visitors, Amaza Ensemble fuses local instruments such as the marimba and mbira, with Western instruments such as bass guitar, horns and drums – which together will give carolling a local twist this Christmas Eve!

For more information visit the V&A Waterfront website here.