Best Date Food's 12 Dates of Christmas

BEST DATE NEWS

Dec. 5, 2024: Best Date News Volume #103

Welcome to Best Date News, your (new) favorite Chicago weekly newsletter! If you are new to this newsletter, welcome! If you’ve been around, thank you for being a reader! Each Thursday, we send this newsletter in hopes of highlighting cool stories and fun things to do around Chicago! Give it a chance, we think you will like it!

Dec. 5: National Holidays

• National Sacher Torte Day

• National Blue Jeans Day

• National Bathtub Party Day

• International Volunteer Day

• International Ninja Day

Sponsored by our friends at Santa’s Secret Treehouse

Santa’s Secret Treehouse

• New Christmas bar: Chicago’s newest River North holiday pop-up bar is Santa’s Secret Treehouse! It’s a magical world of festive surprises, imaginative decor and holiday cheer.

• They have a bunch of different themed-nights taking place including: Under the Pop Stars (12/11), A Sabrina Carpenter Brunch (12/14), Boy Band Bash (12/18), Bieber & Bubbly Brunch (12/21) and Sabrina Carpenter Night (12/26).

• Tickets range in price from FREE to $45 for admission depending on the date and time. If you want some of the free tickets, you need to act quickly! You can see all the ticket options here.

12 Dates of Christmas

• 12 Dates of Christmas: Our biggest giveaway of the year kicked off this week! For the fourth consecutive December, we are hosting our annual Best Date Food’s 12 Dates of Christmas holiday giveaway on Instagram!

• For those unfamiliar, we are giving away a $250 gift card to 12 different winners! And these gift cards are to some of the best restaurants in all of Chicago! Take another look at the image above with all the amazing date-night spots!

• 12 winners will be selected and will be given the opportunity to draft from the available gift cards in the draft order that they were chosen!

• We will announce one winner, and their chosen gift card, each day for 12 days beginning on Dec 12. The entry period runs through Wednesday, Dec. 11 at 5 p.m., so don’t miss it!

Chicago News

• Spotify Wrapped: If you have been on Instagram at all this week, you likely noticed that the 2024 Spotify Wrapped results were released. Did you take part in it? Vote in our weekly poll below! Thanks to Wrapped Mapped, we know Chicago’s most popular artists this year (in order) were Taylor Swift, Drake, Kanye West, Future and Zach Bryan. However, none of those artists produced Chicago’s favorite song of the year. Any guesses? See Chicago’s favorites.

• Holiday Drone Shows: In addition to Navy Pier’s award-winning fireworks as part of their Light Up The Lake programming, they will be also adding in two new holiday-themed drone shows this winter. The first one takes place tomorrow, Friday, Dec. 6, at 9 p.m., and the second one will take place at the same time next Friday, Dec. 13.

• AC/DC Tour: Rock band AC/DC will be touring in North America for the first time in nine years in 2025. The “Power Up” tour was just announced this week and currently has 13 stops, with Chicago being one of them. The legendary group will take the stage at Soldier Field on May 24, 2025. Tickets go on sale tomorrow, Friday, Dec. 6.

• Yuengling: The oldest brewery in the United States is finally expanding to Illinois. Yuengling, which is based out of Pennsylvania and currently available in 26 states, announced yesterday that Yuengling brand beers will be available on draft in bars and restaurants starting in late January of 2025.

• Free Museum Days: With the beginning of December off to such a cold start, maybe you’re looking for an indoor activity?! We’ve rounded up the free museum days taking place this month at Chicago’s biggest museums!

Just For Fun

• Christmas Movies: While it may not be Christmas in the Spotlight, the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce inspired holiday rom-com that is not to be confused with Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story, the Chicago area is getting a spotlight of its own as Mario Lopez stars in Once Upon a Christmas Wish that was filmed in Long Grove, IL this past spring!

• Home Alone Tour: Speaking of Christmas movies, Home Alone is perhaps one of the most iconic of them all, and If you’re a fan of the movie, Macaulay Culkin (Kevin McCallister) is going to be in Rosemont, IL tomorrow (Dec. 6) as part of his A Nostalgic Night with Macaulay Culkin tour. And tickets are still available!

• Aritzia: A new flagship Aritzia store just opened at 555 N. Michigan Ave this past Saturday, Nov. 30. Their Chicago-focused Instagram posts have been really cool, especially this one with The Bean! Speaking of cool, for about one more week, they will have this unique photo booth in store!

• Chicago Bears: Do you have a Chicago Bears fan in your life? If so, whatever you do, do not buy him/her this Christmas ornament. In other Bears news, former kicker Robbie Gould has resigned as head football coach of Rolling Meadows High School after less than one year.

Poll Question of the Week

Last Newsletter's Poll Results

Poll Results: Last newsletter we asked you for your favorite Thanksgiving side dish. Here is how you voted:

• 1st Place: Stuffing

• 2nd Place: Mashed Potatoes

• 3rd Place: Sweet Potatoes

• 4th Place: Mac & Cheese

• 5th Place: Green Bean Casserole

Sunrise & Sunset in Chicago

Here is today’s outlook in Chicago:

• Sunrise: 7:03 a.m. (8 minutes later than last week)

• Sunset: 4:19 p.m. (2 minutes earlier than last week)

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