Spitalfields Winter Festival
Battling against the monotony of the identikit Christmas concert, the Spitalfields Winter Festival embraces the cultural and artistic plurality and openness of East London with one of the season's more intelligent line-ups on offer. Collaborating with local communities and musical professionals alike, the performances on offer cross geographical and historical boundaries equally with everything from the tales of Sinbad (Fri Dec 14) and T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets (Thurs Dec 20) to bell ringing (Fri Dec 14), Brahms (Wed Dec 19), and the delightful medieval ensemble, Joglaresa (Fri Dec 21). Whoever reduced East London to skinny jeans, foolish haircuts and nu-rave queens clearly missed this annual adventure.

Secret Cinema
Future Shorts have been around for just a wee while now, unleashing their brand of cinematic experimentation on the UK from all possible angles. Their new project, however, does a pleasing job of reinserting the mystery into it all. Combining the tactics of the incessant Secret Warehouse Party with cracking films, you only get to find out the location on the morning of the screening and only if you've signed up on their site. Guaranteed, the location will be somewhere odd and doubtlessly perfect, and the flick is set to be a piece of groundbreaking cinematic mastery. Which sure beats shelling out twenty quid on a mediocre movie and a small popcorn anywhere else.

Design Grotto
So there you are at the local WannabeMall, waiting patiently in line to sit on Santa's knee and tell him what you really want for Christmas, and what a good girl you've been, when suddenly some unruly security guard pulls you aside and informs you, with stern stare, that this grotto is for children only. Well screw him. Pop down to Somerset House instead and not only will there be tonnes of gift ideas from independent designers like Beyond the Valley's Christmas Fondle, Tatty Devine's Snowed In, and Mrs Kibble's Olde Sweet Shoppe, but they've even scheduled an adult-friendly Santa just for you (though not in a suspect stripper kind of way).