If COVID has put the kibosh on your holiday plans, you're most definitely not alone. And while we're sure nothing beats a flight back to your hometown, there are still plenty of ways to zhuzh up your Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year's celebrations here in Portland, whether you want to get outside or do something fun indoors. See all our picks through the new year below—including non-holiday-related options—from places to get champagne for New Year's Eve (like Pix Patisserie's Bar Vivant Like List ) to free state park admission Past Event Like List for your First Day Hike, and from Jupiter's Holiday Movie Sleepover Past Event Like List with Movie Madness to Gather:Make:Shelter's Community Weaving Project Past Event Like List . For even more options, read our guides to the best online events Like List through January 3.

Jump to: Food & Drink | Arts & Music | Shopping | Lights & Spectacles | Outdoors | Other Picks & Happenings

FOOD & DRINK

Try some of the year's most noteworthy restaurants. Opening a restaurant is a truly impressive feat even during the best of times. Despite the fact that this year was unbelievably challenging for the restaurant industry, many bold restaurant owners found creative new ways to survive or even did the unthinkable and opened a restaurant in the midst of a pandemic. As you're reflecting on the year, why not take a chance to celebrate some of these unlikely additions to the Portland food scene? The plant-based pop-ups Mirisata Like List and Mama Dút Like List , which both cropped up during the pandemic this year, were both such big hits that they each spawned permanent locations. Plus, the wildly popular Hawaiian food cart GrindWitTryz Like List became a full-fledged brick-and-mortar restaurant, and the bar Tropicale Like List brought Mexican, Caribbean, and South American cuisine and piña coladas served in pineapples. Some Portland favorites came up with savvy quarantine-friendly concepts: Gado Gado Like List opened the Indonesian takeout spot Oma's Takeaway Like List , and Naomi Pomeroy's acclaimed Beast Like List closed and was replaced by the community market Ripe Cooperative Like List . Pick one or a few to try and raise a glass to these small businesses' admirable fortitude in the face of adversity.

Get Chinese food for Christmas. Portland Mercury restaurant critic Andrea Damewood writes, "This year, in the name of public health, I propose all of us gentiles make like a huge swath of Jewish-Americans who already know Christmas is just another day and celebrate the time-honored tradition of Chinese takeout." She's shared eight of her personal time-tested favorites, ranging from Beaverton to the Jade District. If you're looking for other restaurants open for the holidays, check out our guide to holiday takeout Like List .

Pick up some champagne for New Year's Eve. In a time where merriment is hard to come by, the departure of 2020 calls for an extra-decadent sendoff. If you're looking to go big, pick up some suitably festive bottles of fizzy wine. Stem Wine Bar Like List has holiday packs of cookies and bubbles available for pickup or delivery, the natural wine bottle shop Bar Diane Like List has a wide selection of low-intervention sparklers, and Pix Patisserie's Bar Vivant Like List has received Fine World of Wine magazine's award for having the world's best sparkling wine and Champagne list every year from 2014-2019. For food to pair with your bubbly, check out our list of places to grab takeout for New Year's Eve Like List .

Celebrate Haitian Independence Day with soup joumou. On January 1, Haitians will celebrate the anniversary of Haiti's independence. The festivities often include a pumpkin soup dish known as soup joumou, independence soup, or freedom soup. The dish is extremely culturally significant for Haitians, as Haitian slaves once made it for their French masters but were forbidden to eat it, and then ate the soup after independence was achieved to celebrate their freedom. Notably, Bon Appétit recently faced backlash for publishing advisor and guest editor Marcus Samuelsson's recipe for joumou, which was criticized by many for misrepresenting and white-washing the sacred dish and has since been edited to be called "Pumpkin Soup with Spiced Notes." If you'd like to learn more about the dish, Creole Me Up founder Elsy Dinvil is now offering an online class Past Event Like List on December 30 and 31 to teach the proper way to make the soup, as well as kremas, a coconut-rum elixir. In addition, Top Chef star Gregory Gourdet is serving joumou at Kann Winter Village Past Event Like List , the pop-up "yurt winter village" preview of his upcoming Haitian restaurant Kann, available by reservation exclusively for American Express cardholders.

ARTS & MUSIC

Sing holiday carols on Zoom. Opera on Tap's Yuletide Zoom Bomb Past Event Like List brings up to four professional opera singers to your Zoom room, whether you want some live festive entertainment for your quar-pod holiday party or you're in the mood for a sing-along (even though you'll be on mute). You'll get to pick your three favorite seasonal songs when you register, with options like "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" and "Oh Hanukkah."

Other notable events:

2021: A Space Disco // PHNM & BERGMÖNCH Past Event Like List
Cozy up by outdoor heaters and a fire pit with your pod while local DJs PHNM and Bergmönch spin a live set to take you into the new year.
The Big Legrowlski, Northwest (Thurs Dec 31)

Jupiter NEXT's 2nd Annual Holiday Movie Sleepover Past Event Like List
Want to get out of the house for the weekend? The Burnside hotel Jupiter is hosting a holiday staycation experience that includes DVD players, holiday movies from Movie Madness (including the Festivus episode of Seinfeld, and all the essential festive snacks and drinks your heart desires (plus a hotel room to enjoy such activities in, of course). 
Jupiter, Southeast (Dec 23-27)

Kwanzaa (Kujichagulia) Celebration and Food Drive Past Event Like List
Snag some free limited outdoor seating and learn about Kwanzaa from local drag entertainers. Plus, don't forget to bring non-perishable food for a drive.
Local Lounge, Northeast (Sun Dec 27)

Winterland PDX Past Event Like List
Check out wintery window art displays all around Portland made by local artist Mike Bennett and a team of local BIPOC makers. 
Various locations (through Dec 26) 

SHOPPING

Hit up local shops for last-minute holiday shopping. Christmas is here, and the shipping deadlines have passed to get gifts online from many Portland retailers in time for the holiday. Luckily, even in this weird year of COVID-19, many local shops are open for in-person shopping, so you can stop by and get your hands on the perfect gift. (Note that shop hours are subject to change and some places require appointments before you can shop, so it's always a good idea to call ahead before heading out.) Some ideas: Powell's (which, as you probably know, has lots of little gifts that aren't books), Music Millennium (which has rounded up their favorite albums of 2020 if you need some inspo), Jackpot Records, Providore Fine Foods ("a food lover's playground"), quirky furniture shop Lounge Lizard (and clothing store Lizard Lounge, for that matter, if you're after a very high-quality sweater), and MadeHere for a plethora of locally made goods. We could go on (House of Vintage Like List , insect specimen emporium Paxton Gate, cool lightbulb palace Sunlan), but this should give you a head start. For more inspiration, check out our holiday gift guide Like List —online orders may arrive after Christmas, but in the times we live in, we don't think it'll hurt to extend the festive season.

Other notable events:

Ping Pong's International Holiday Bazaar Past Event Like List
The Olde World Puppet Theatre and the Portland Puppet Museum's annual holiday bazaar is back open for all your eccentric gifting needs. 
Portland Puppet Museum, Southeast (Dec 24-Jan 3)

Voodoo Catbox Annual Holiday Show & Sale! Past Event Like List
Need to up your music poster game? Local printmakers Voodoo Catbox will sell their screenprints through Christmas Eve. If you buy two, you get the third free.
Music Millennium, Southeast (Dec 22-24)

LIGHTS & SPECTACLES

See holiday lights. If the string of bulbs you have hanging over your window cheers you up in this particularly dreary time of year, imagine the SAD Lamp-adjacent power of the millions of LED lights arranged in the likeness of wild animals at the Oregon Zoo's drive-through ZooLights Past Event Like List display (open daily through January 10, with the exception of Christmas Day). Other COVID-safe options this year include the Winter Wonderland at the Portland International Raceway Past Event Like List , which has also moved its operations to drive-through only and opens this Friday through January 2. The Portland Christmas Ships Past Event Like List have also returned to the Columbia and Willamette rivers to cheer up on-shore bystanders and lucky people who live on houseboats. 

Other notable events:

The Cinnamon Bear Holiday Show Past Event Like List
Instead of hosting a Portland Spirit cruise like previous years, the Cinnamon Bear, Portland's Santa alternative of more than 80 years, will entertain audiences from the safety of their cars with a drive-in concert and sing-along with the Cocklebur Cowboys. Joining the party will be Chipper the Squirrel and Santa Claus.
Oaks Amusement Park, Southeast (through Dec 31)

Clackamas County Winter Fair Past Event Like List
Escape from reality and into a brief quarter-mile wonderland in the form of a sparkly light tunnel that you can drive through in your car. Christmas sounds and visits from socially distanced Santa will sweeten the deal.
Clackamas County Fairgrounds, Canby (through Dec 31) 

Drive-By Christmas on the Campground Past Event Like List
Enjoy thousands of lights, a life-sized nativity scene, and towering Christmas trees from the safety of your car.
Christmas on the Campground, Southeast (through Dec 31)

Gnome for the Holidays Past Event Like List
Pick up a "gnome card" from one of five participating Alberta Street locations and go on a hunt for hidden gnomes hanging out in store windows. When you're done, drop it in the "gnome post mailbox" at 1722 NE Alberta to be entered in a raffle.
Alberta Street Gallery, Northeast (through Dec 26)

OUTDOORS

Start the new year with whale watching or a First Day Hike. The eternally popular resolution of spending more time outdoors is easier when you don't have to worry about whether or not the stranger next to you in the park is carrying a deadly virus, but two New Year's Day traditions endure in social distancing-friendly settings. While they won't be led by rangers or volunteers, this year's First Day Hikes encourage participants to mask up and go alone or in their quarantine pods, and Oregon's 25 state parks will waive admission Past Event Like List on January 1 to give you plenty of new options. Whale watching, another Oregonian tradition on the first day of the year, will also continue without staff or guides—the Whale Watching Center in Depoe Bay is closed, but its viewing dock remains open, and you're likely to spot some orcas there. As you know by now, be vigilant about keeping at least six feet of distance from others and wearing a mask if you leave home.

Other notable events:

Outdoor Skating with the Skatemobile! Past Event Like List
The Rose City Rollers will make your winter wonderland dreams come true with ice-skating in an open-air parking garage. Their Skatemobile will be on site with all the gear you need.
Lloyd Center Mall, Northeast (through Jan 3)

OTHER PICKS & HAPPENINGS

Participate in a community weaving project. Created in 2017 by Portland artist Dana-Lynn Louis, Gather:Make:Shelter provides those experiencing houselessness with art-based skills and community, and its brand-new space in the Pearl District allows for socially distanced workshops and a place for participants to sell and display their wares. For Portland Textile Month, the organization is hosting Interlace: A Community Weaving Project Past Event Like List , which invites housed and houseless folks alike to contribute five-inch squares by December 31 that will be used to create a giant tapestry—a perfect project if you've run out of quarantine crafting ideas. If you don't have a loom, they have instructions on how to make one out of cardboard.

Play video games with a local connection. There's something to be said for fighting off wild cougars and unlocking hidden treasures in the valleys of the Old West (that's the gist of Red Dead Redemption 2, right?), but there's a whole world of video games set in the Pacific Northwest that you might not know about, and seeing as self-isolation remains paramount this long winter, now is the perfect time to add them to your rotation. In the Portland-set (and Portland Mercury-approved) exploring game Gone Home, praised by the New York Times as "the greatest video game love story ever told," you arrive at your childhood home after a year abroad to find that your family and most of their belongings are nowhere to be found, leaving you to rummage around and pick up the pieces. Ever had the black forest cake at Regent Bakery Like List in Redmond? You'll get a pixelated version of it as a reward in 2007's Portal. Taking place in the same sci-fi cyberpunk Seattle universe as the Shadowrun tabletop RPG, Shadowrun Returns takes you to Pike Place, the South Seattle docks, and other familiar sites in pursuit of the Emerald City Ripper. There's also the zombie survival game Days Gone and the supernatural Life is Strange, both set in Oregon, the Seattle-set Coffee Talk, and the Seattle-designed Among Us. For more ideas, The Stranger's resident gaming expert Matt Baume is a valuable source. Also, while it's not local, we'd be remiss not the mention the Animal Crossing winter update. So many glowing reindeer!