🥐🤑 How to get a box of FREE pastries

It’s Tuesday, Boston.

✈️ But not just any Tuesday … It’s Travel Tuesday! A.k.a. the Black Friday of travel. And there are some great deals to go around. Condé Nast Traveler has a roundup, including up to 50% off Booking.com stays and 30% off some PLAY flights out of Logan.

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Bostonians are balling out

• Where to get an X-mas tree in the city

• Downtown Crossing looks … different

Up first…

DECEMBER FREEBIES

All I want for Christmas is a freebie

It’s the most wonderful time of the year … except for your wallet. 

So we rounded up some of the best Boston freebies to give your bank account a much-needed break this month:

🥐 Take selfies in the name of free pastries. Flour Bakery’s annual holiday window challenge is officially underway. The rules are simple: 1. Take a selfie in front of each of the holiday windows at all nine bakeries. 2. Post your pics on IG and tag @flourbakeryandcafe and #holidaywindowchallenge. 3. Email [email protected] by Jan. 1 with your IG handle. The reward? A box of free pastries.

🥳 Trade your holiday work party for an ugly sweater party. Bundle up with the most heinous one you own at Dorchester Brewing’s Bears, Brews, and Boys night (the fugliest and naughtiest sweaters get a $50 brewery gift card). Or come dressed in your PJs to Boston Landing’s free holiday bash with complimentary cocoa and popcorn, followed by a screening of “The Polar Express" and a Patriots watch party.

🦌 See if you’re faster than Dasher or a leisurely Prancer. You’ve got two runs to pick from: The Runna’s Santa Run is a relaxed 5k and the dress code is FESTIVE (think: Santa hats and Christmas sweaters). Want a cannoli as your running reward? This 5-mile run with Marathon Sports takes you through the North End and wraps with a cannoli-judging contest featuring Mike’s and Modern.

🥶 Baby it’s cold outside, so stay inside. If you’re more of an indoor cat, head to Sam Adams Brewery to test your Buddy-ism knowledge with a night of Elf movie trivia. Or cozy up at Trident Booksellers for a screening of the ultimate Christmas rom-com: “Love Actually.”

⛸️ Watch the pros skate circles around you. On Dec. 14, you’ll find all-day free admission to hit the ice at Canal District Kendall’s skating rink, including a free show starring local elite skaters (bonus: you can skate with the pros post-show). Also, here’s your friendly reminder that some of DCR’s indoor ice skating rinks always offer free admission.

👯 Need a buddy to celebrate the holidays with? Enter: The Make Friends After College Facebook group. This 20- and 30-somethings group is hosting two free holiday outings this month: First, a holiday party at Scorpion Bar, where you better come dressed in your ugly Christmas sweater best. Second: A group walk around the city to take in Boston’s best holiday lights.

🎊 Ring in 2025 at Boston’s biggest NYE party. A.k.a. First Night. This New Year’s Eve celebration is basically Boston’s version of NYC’s Times Square extravaganza (minus the Andys and suffocating crowds). Expect ice sculptures, live concerts, arts and crafts, the Frog Pong’s live skating spectacular, and most importantly, a fireworks display when the clock strikes 12. You can see the full event schedule here.

THE B-SIDE AWARDS

Welcome to the first-ever B-Side awards! 

A.k.a. our new year-end awards show that aims to recognize the best, worst, silliest, floppiest, and wildest things we covered in the newsletter in 2024. 

We’ll be asking you to vote for the best of the best in each category through Dec. 19 (and reveal the winners Dec. 20). So without further ado, our first category is:

“Biggest slay of the year.” 

MEDIA SPONSORSHIP

Give a little. Help a lot.

This Giving Tuesday, join us in spreading holiday cheer by supporting Globe Santa, a program of the Boston Globe Foundation. Globe Santa provides toys and books to children in need across our community. Your donation ensures that every child experiences the joy of the season, no matter their circumstances.

Donate now.

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🤑 Bostonians are balling out for the holidays. According to a new spending survey by Deloitte, the average Bostonian will spend $1,955 this holiday season — up 4% over last year. That number breaks down to respective 17% and 9% upticks in buying gifts and experiences (like concerts or eating out) over last year, and a 17% decrease in buying non-gifts (like clothes or holiday decor). Unsurprisingly, 72% of that shopping is happening online. As for what Bostonians are buying, the biggest categories are clothes and food and drink.

🚚 Local officials are coming for broker fees’ throats. Not-so-fun fact: Greater Boston is one of the only places in the country where tenants are expected to cover “broker fees,” a.k.a. the cost of a landlord hiring a broker (often totalling around one month’s rent). But since NYC recently nixed the practice, city councilors in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville have tried to use the momentum to follow suit, each filing separate hearing orders about the issue to put some pressure on the State House. Consider our fingers crossed.

❄️ Don’t get your first-snow-of-the-year hopes up juuust yet. From Wednesday night into Thursday morning, much of New England is projected to get a few inches of powder. Western Mass. looks to be in the 1-3” zone, while Boston’s coastal location puts us riiight on the line of where the storm will present as mostly rain (per usual). So while it’s technically possible we might see some flakes, don’t expect a winter wonderland Thursday morning. Keep up with the latest forecast here.

🌲 Yes, you can get a real Christmas tree in the city. You just have to know where to look. Lucky for us, Boston.com put together a guide to all the best spots for a tree in and around Boston. Within city limits, there are options in the Fenway, Allston, Roxbury, Charlestown, and more. For Christmas tree purists who want to cut down their own, they cover that, too, you’ll just have to travel a little farther. But if we may: We’d also add this company, which delivers trees by bike within two hours of your purchase.

ONE LAST THING

What’s going on in Downtown Crossing? 

It’s a nutcracker, it’s a horse, it’s a … giant nutcracker with a horse head? 

If you’ve walked through Downtown Crossing lately, you might’ve noticed some unconventional holiday decor: Twelve giant, light-up nutcrackers with the heads of animals. The new exhibit is called “Holiday Kingdom,” and it’s meant to “inspire a child-like awe for seasonal shoppers, diners, and visitors.”

If the animal selection — including an eagle, a horse, a polar bear, and a unicorn, among others — seems odd, it is. The featured animals were chosen by kids in a local daycare based on their favorite animals. 

Whether you think they’re cute, scary, weird, or all of the above, they’ll be available to view through Jan. 2. 

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

🐴 Thanks for reading! First the giant clown heads, now this? We need to meet DTX’s art guy.

🪩 The results are in: B-Side Certified is heading to Desnuda Cafe, with 32% of the vote from polled B-Siders. One reader said: “I need to know if the vibes are worth the wait!!”

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected] or [email protected].