With Christmas fast approaching Sheffield is getting ready to party hard and what better way than with your city socialising friends! Coming up on Wednesday 16th December is our bi weekly Bronze and Silver drinks so why not grab that Santa hat or Rudolph antlers you’ve had stashed away and join in the festive fun!

Maybe you need to get some last minute Christmas shopping in or you just fancy a wonder round the Christmas market with a nice warm mug of mulled wine, whatever your reason come join city socialising Sheffield for our Christmas Market visit on Saturday 19th December!

To celebrate Christmas, we have decided to go on a bit of a pub crawl on 23rd December- The End of Year Pub Crawl. So expect lots of laughing, dancing and many many drinks as we take a festive tour of the city via our most loved pubs.

Finally to top off a brilliant City Socialising year in Sheffield we will be heading to Embrace for our New Years Eve Drinks, an early NYE drinks amongst new friends you’ve made throughout the year. Toast to the good time had and the many more to come!

A big thank you to the members who have decided to put on their own socials throughout December, its great to see members being active on the site and spreading the Christmas good cheer!

Merry Christmas everyone,

Jenny
Leeds & Sheffield Editor

Grace

That’s right – it’s all about Christmas at the moment here in Birmingham! We’re getting into the festive spirit, making the most of all the seasonal attractions here in Birmingham and having fun meeting new friends all at the same time…

Speaking of Christmas spirit, we’re looking forward to welcoming members to our two-weekly Bronze and Silver drinks event at a brand sparkling new venue on Thursday 10th December for a few beverages.

Next, we’ll be partying the night away at a chic subterranean bar in the city centre at our Christmas Spirit Party Night - why get drunk with your boss at your office party when you can let your hair down with an exciting new crowd?

Finally, we’re meeting up to explore the German market, pick up some bargain prezzies at the original little crafts stalls, eat Bratwurst, take a ride on what has been dubbed the Birmingham Eye and finish off with a candlelit outdoor carol service. You might even want to pick something up for Secret Santa Sunday Drinks the following afternoon…

Sandrine

Christmas is knocking on our doors and what a great feeling it is! Everyone’s looking forward to opening their (carefully recommend – if you’re like me anyways) Christmas presents, rushing out for that last bit of shopping and looking forward to winding things down towards the end of the month.

Before the post Christmas tranquillity kicks in however we’ve got a few socials up our sleeves that should keep your buzzing, starting with our ever popular ‘New Members Night’ on the 9th, ‘Christmas WinterWonderland’ on the 10th, a mouth-watering ‘Christmas banquet’ on the 20th and our ‘CS Christmas Drinks night’ on the 23rd – our last social of the year which you must attend!

It’s all happening here at CS Glasgow, and we hope you’ll join us in celebrating the great tidings of joy this month brings…

Sandrine

December’s finally here and in Edinburgh everyone’s in high spirits, partly thanks to mulled with and mince pies on Princes street and wait … it gets better… the roadworks which have been taken off, giving us that long lost, breathtaking view of the Castle once again!

At CitySocialising we’ve got lots of wonderful things to do and enjoy, and it’s fantastic to see the enthusiasm at our socials this month. Last Wednesday we had our new members socials and everyone had a glorious time… plus there were lots of new faces which was great! We hope this continues into the New Year.

This month we’ve got lots of goodies just for you, starting with our ‘Vibrant Latin night’ on the 11th December, our ‘Gingerbread and Mulled Wine’ social on the 22nd, followed our ‘CS Christmas Drinks night’ on the 23rd – our last drink night of the year so you must be there…After that we’ll all be free to relax with a tranquil Christmas, before kicking things up a notch in the New Year!

The Christmas season is perfect for meeting up with new people as there’s such a wide variety of things to do. And as we head into party season, it’s the perfect opportunity to get together and take advantage of what this great city has to offer!

Tomorrow we have a very special Xmas-themed walk through the great films of London, we have a Portobello walk & xmas shop next Saturday and a Southbank Chocolate Festival next Sunday. The festive cheer continues with a visit to the German Xmas Market and an alternative to this year’s xmas office party (an absolute must!) the following week.

Also keep your eye open for the chance for some ice-skating with member’s events coming up.

And don’t miss our pre-xmas and pre-nye drinks, the perfect chance to celebrate the party season with fellow CitySocialisers.

Have a happy festive season!

Carla (London Editor)

Come and join in the pre-Christmas fun with CitySocialising Cardiff! We have lots of lovely Christmas-themed socials throughout the month of December, so check the Socialise in your City page regularly for further info.

Whether it’s relaxing over a Christmas cocktail at our Bronze & Silver Christmas Tipple, socialising more energetically with ice skating at our Cardiff Winter Wonderland, or seeing in the New Year early with fellow CitySocialisers in the Countdown to New Year’s Eve, there’s plenty going on to get the Christmas party started, CitySocialising-style!

If you’re looking to beat the winter blues and forget the stress of Christmas shopping, we still have places left for our Friday Comedy & Socialising on 4th December – book your place now to avoid disappointment.

Our New Members group is also growing rapidly – why not break the ice by joining and say hi to other new CitySocialisers?

Merry Christmas and happy socialising!

Sam and Tarek, CitySocialising Cardiff Editors

Dec 2009: As the festive season gets into swing, the latest findings from a nationwide study by CitySocialising, which questioned 2512 of its members from across the UK about Christmas, have revealed that:

• 61% of people are looking forward to Christmas this year, whilst just over one in five of us (23%) aren’t looking forward to the festive season at all. (17% neither).

• Interestingly, more women (25%) than men (21%) said that they weren’t looking forward to Christmas at all.

• Over half of people surveyed said that the thing they were looking forward to the most about Christmas was spending time with family and friends. 28% said they were looking forward to the parties and celebrations the most and just 4% said that presents were the thing they liked the most about Christmas.

• More men (58%) than women (50%) were looking forward to spending time with family and friends over Christmas the most, and more women (12%) than men (8%) were looking most forward to the food and the presents (women 5%; men 2%)!

• 54% of people said they would be spending less this Christmas because of the credit crunch, with more girls (57%) aiming to curb their spending during this period than guys (49%)

• Overall, the average person buys a total of 8 Christmas presents each year, with 35% spending £11 – £20 per present, 27% £12 – £30, 11% spending more than £50 and 11% spending less than £10 per present.

• Unsurprisingly, women were shown to buy an average of 10 Christmas presents compared to men’s average of 7 presents.

• Dads came off the worst in the gift stakes. When people were asked who they spent the most money on at Christmas, 23% said their partner, followed by 21% who will splash the most cash for their mum, compared to just 3% of people who said they’d be spending the most on their dad this Christmas. Even friends came off better, with 11% of those questioned saying they’d spend the most money on Christmas presents for their pals!

• Guys are more likely (19%) to spend the most money on their friends’ Xmas presents than girls (10%), whereas 26% of girls spoiled their mothers the most compared to just 14% of guys. Also, the results showed that girls were twice more likely than guys to spend the most on their father’s Christmas pressie.

Sanchita Saha, CEO & founder of CitySocialising said:

“Christmas can be a stressful and expensive time and economically it’s been a tough year, so I’m pleasantly surprised to see that such a large majority of people are looking forward to Christmas this year and that so many are going to be more careful with their spending. I feel sorry for fathers everywhere however, but glad to hear that at least girls will be spoiling their mums this Christmas!”

-ends-

December is set to be a crazy busy month for us Leeds city socialisers! Last night we headed to the West Yorkshire Play House to see The Secret Garden, a great play which I am sure you have either read or seen the film version. The play did not disappoint, with a great cast and magical set- bravo!

Anyone who loves the cinema should head along to the early Sunday evening cinema trip this on 6th December. The film is still being decided with 2012 and The Twilight Saga: New Moon up as choices.

Our bi weekly new members night is on Tuesday 8th December, which if the last one is anything to go by, will be a blast. Numbers are already high for this so get your place booked in before none are let! Also in the second week of December is the Bronze and Silver social, always popular and always a guaranteed good night, if laughing and dancing is your thing.. The week is rounded up by an afternoon stroll around the German Christmas Market- first established in 2002 and returning to Millennium Square for a seventh consecutive season, Christkindelmarkt attracts many hundreds of thousands of visitors to Leeds city centre each year. A great social to get you into the Christmas spirit!

As its Christmas and everyone is wanting to celebrate, we have festive Saturday night drinks!! So grab your Rudolph antlers or Santa hat and join us for a drink or two and maybe the odd mince pie! Follow it on with a delicious traditional Sunday roast or hair of the dog while we chill out in a quirky, relaxed, fun and friendly pub for a good old catch up and rest from Christmas shopping.

To top off what has been a great year of socialising, we are having a ‘Posh Frocks’ night on Tuesday 22nd December.. which means ladies and gentlemen, dressing to impress for drinks at one of Leeds most glamorous bars. Polish off that suit and black tie, dust off those ridiculously high heels and fabulous dress for a great night to celebrate Christmas the City Socialising way.

If that wasn’t enough, we have our final social of the month- and year, pre New Years Eve cocktails. Held at one of our favourite venues, the cocktails will not disappoint, as wont the company. See you there!

We hope you can join us to share the Christmas good spirit and toast to what has been a great year!

Jenny
Leeds & Sheffield Editor

Kay: Don’t let the cold wet winter evenings get you down. Come and join the CS crowd out on the town!

Warm yourself up one wonderful Indian Thali food in Bristol this Thursday.

Dancing is always a good way to beat the winter blues – if live music is your thing, come out on the 4th or the 12th for a great live band, or if clubbing tickles your fancy we are out in Bristol on the 5th and 11th and in Bath on the 4th.

Our last London Music-Lovers social is happening on Saturday night and we’re going out with a song with a night of drinks and karaoke in Farringdon – so if you’re looking to end the month on a high note, join us and book your place soon!

And next week we’re kicking off the first of many festive-flavoured socials! We’ve got a couple of great ones coming up including a visit to Museum of London’s festive fair and a Christmas themed film walk through the city.

Don’t forget it’s a special night at the London Transport Museum next Friday night – with all manner of entertainment and interactive fun!

Have a great weekend!
Carla – London Editor