Sgcarmart Explores: 2025 Christmas Edition!

It's that time of the year, where presents are piled under Christmas trees decorated to the nines, bonds are strengthened over mulled wine or eggnog, and those of us who are blessed with perfect pitch go carolling door-to-door.

And if whatever I've just mentioned seems obscure to you, it's because most Singaporeans generally don't celebrate Christmas the way people in the Western countries do. And there's a perfectly logical reason for it: Religion.

You're more likely to catch bigger decorative placements at shopping malls

As history dictates, Christmas is generally the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. And with Singapore being very much multiracial, and the fact that we have many other cultural celebrations such as Chinese New Year, Hari Raya, and Deepavali, Singaporeans generally regard Christmas as just one of 11 yearly public holidays.

But if one wanted to get as real a taste of Christmas as you can get in this city state, how should they go about it? Join us as we try to get into the festive spirit by attempting to recreate a "Western-style" Christmas in our chariot for the day: The Audi Q5 Sportback.

Marche isn't the only restaurant offering a Christmas-themed menu, but according to our research, it's one of the more affordable ones

A season of "digestivities"

Christmas may be celebrated in December, but we headed over to Marche (the VivoCity outlet), our first stop of the day. Turkey is generally eaten during this festive period, and what better way to kick things off than with food? Also, Marche is offering a seasonal Christmas-themed menu until 31 December 2025, so it only seemed appropriate if we truly wanted to get into a "Ho, Ho, Ho!" mood.

Unfortunately, what Marche conveniently forgot to mention on their website or Instagram page is that the Christmas menu only begins at 03:00pm. Having arrived a good two hours before that and with our stomachs vehemently growling, we were in no mood to wait and decided to eat there anyway.

Pasta and sausages don't exactly scream "Christmas" as much as turkey and gammon do

In all fairness, the food still tasted pretty good, although the portion of the carbonara pasta left a lot to be desired, in comparison to its price. Overall, the food was decent, although we left feeling a little disappointed, having failed our first mission.

"I scream, you scream, gimme that, gimme that ice cream"

It's-a-me, Gelato!

With lunch sorted, we headed to VivoCity's Basement Two for our second stop of the day: Birds of Paradise. The gelato boutique does have a few outlets across Singapore, and they offer a seasonal menu too. A post-meal dessert only seemed right, so we decided to try out a few of their presumably limited-time flavours.

Two seasonal flavours were on offer: Valrhona Sea Salt Cookies & Cream and Spiced Pear. We tried both and were pleasantly delighted, with the former delivering a crunchier texture (thanks to the chocolate sea-salt cookies) and the latter offering a light and refreshing taste. And if those don't tickle your fancy, Birds of Paradise also has a plethora of other flavours, covering most bases.

Go for the Spiced Pear flavour if you want something light and refreshing, or the Valrhona Sea Salt Cookies & Cream if you want something more savoury

With the sweet treats improving our mood by a fair bit, we headed over to our third stop of the day.

Christmas trees of all shapes and sizes adorn the nursery's space

Of branches and baubles

Our next stop is a bit of a niche one and probably not something most Singaporeans will have ever considered, as we made our way over to Ji Mei Flowers for some Christmas tree shopping.

Surprisingly enough, when we were doing our research, we found quite a number of nurseries selling Christmas trees. And it wasn't just a handful of sizes either, there were numerous options for the festive shopper to ponder. The idea of standing there and imagining the different ways we'd decorate our tree, if we bought one, got us a little more into a festive mood.

"A little bauble here, a bit of tinsel there.."

And so, with a small skip in our step, we got back into the Q5 Sportback, put on some Christmas tunes, and keyed in our next location into Google Maps.

I'm not sure if Thai milk tea and kebabs will really put me in a festive mood

Cannibalised and commercialised

Our penultimate stop took us to the Bayfront Event Space, where the 2025 iteration of the Togetherland by World Christmas Market event is located.

Having just returned from Europe not too long ago, I thoroughly enjoyed the vibe of the Christmas markets over there. We would stand around drinking mulled wine, eating hot food, and just chilling. It was an entirely new and warm experience, and I guess in that sense, I had some hefty expectations for the local Christmas market to live up to.

If you're on a budget, you can always just check out the Christmas decorations on show. And in this economy, who can blame you?

Alas, it was nothing like the ones in Europe. No mulled wine, just Thai milk tea. No hot dogs, just a plethora of pretty pricey food options. Personally, it felt like a glorified pasar malam. Then again, events like these will always be geared towards our local tastebuds. I guess a small part of me was hoping it would feel a little more authentic and a little less commercialised. Fat chance.

Also, thanks to the finicky and unpredictable weather we're having at the time of this story, the organisers have decided to do away with paid admission and are instead offering free entry. That's something, at least.

A community initiative on Christmas. Now that's what it should be about

"Ready? One, two, say trees!"

Our final stop of the day took us to the Botanic Gardens, where the Trees of the World festive event is held annually, which is a community programme that raises funds for the Give to the Gardens initiative, which supports the maintenance of the garden.

And it's pretty wholesome too. There's a trail that stretches from Tanglin Gate to Bukit Timah Gate, littered with potted trees decorated with various Christmas ornaments - all recycled, of course. While there may be a slight irony in putting recycled plastic amongst nature, we're sure the intended message is more positive than our scepticism.

Sustainability should be the word of the century if we want to keep this planet healthy for generations to come

This was also probably our most "Christmassy" stop of the day, as it came from the heart, which is what this festive season should be about. Some handmade ornaments bore positive, handwritten messages, giving it a more personal touch.

And as the trees were only lit up after 07:00pm (lights off at 12:00am daily), it was a pretty heartwarming end to the day once one realises that countless volunteers offered up their precious time to make all this work.

All things considered, we still managed to have a pretty fun time!

Hope or cope?

Well, there you have it. Our somewhat futile attempt at recreating a "proper" Christmas in Singapore. In fairness, it wasn't all doom and gloom; we did enjoy perusing Christmas trees and taking a walk amongst nature.

And I guess that with Chinese, Malays, and Indians making up the majority of Singapore's population, a Christian holiday wouldn't really be celebrated that much, although we do appreciate the efforts to spruce up our otherwise gloomy streets.

From the Sgcarmart Editorial Team: We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!

The main takeaway from all this? Don't get your hopes up. There are also other "Christmassy" attractions at places like Jewel and Gardens by the Bay, but those require paid admission.

On a much lighter note, the Sgcarmart Editorial Team would like to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas, and hope that you do find some time to celebrate this festive season with friends and family!

Check out more of our Christmas-related features here:

Chasing Christmas joy with the Editorial Team!

Sgcarmart Explores: 2023 Christmas Edition!

What the Singaporean petrolhead should and shouldn't do this festive period