Thursday, November 29
DONATE & DRINK: Time to clear out all that doomsday food you stocked up on for Hurricane Sandy: Pizzeria
Paradiso is hosting a
Give a Can, Get a Can drive, and it’s the best deal ever. Every canned good you donate gets you a can of premium
beer. Try to do better than SpaghettiO’s, please. All day at all area locations.
MUSTACHES: Movember is all but over, but you can show off your stache at
Kangaroo Boxing Club tonight—it’s raffling off an Xbox, various gift cards, and a free bocce league registration
for this winter. A portion of all food and drink sales will be donated to charity.
Free. 6 PM.
Friday, November 30
SHOP: The
Downtown Holiday Market kicks off this weekend near the National Portrait Gallery. As always, you’ll find
more house decorations and ornaments than you could possibly know what to do with,
hot desserts and drinks to warm your body and soul or whatever, and live music. Noon
to 8. Free.
DANCE: Turn back the clock at 18th & U Duplex Diner for the Breakfast Club
’80s Dance Party, featuring, ya know, ’80s music. You won’t get ’80s prices, but the specials are
still pretty good: $3 Champagne and $7 orange squeezes. Free. 9 PM.
BURLESQUE: Expect a lot of
Red Palace events in the next few weeks: In case you hadn’t heard, one of the city’s most unusual
bars is closing at the end of the year, so if you haven’t checked it out, do it now.
Billtown Burlesque rolls into town one last time—they perform old-school, vaudevillian
burlesque, if you’re into that kinda thing. Tickets ($10) are available online. 8
and 10:30 PM.
Saturday, December 1
GREETING CARDS: It’s Christmas card season, that horrible time of year where you actually have to
purchase stamps and go to the post office. Instead of grabbing a prefab card from
a Hallmark store (do those still exist? Do they still sell Beanie Babies?) like everyone
else, head to the
National Postal Museum, that giant building by Union Station you’ve always kinda wanted to go in but haven’t,
for a free holiday card workshop. There’ll be all sorts of supplies, including several
styles of paper and pens, and different typewriters so you can give your X-mas card
that ransom note feel you’ve always craved. Free. 11 to 3:30.
SOCCER: Finally, a place that opens early enough to get you drunk during the European
soccer games. Drafting Table is launching its new futbol brunch menu, starting at
8 AM. If you show up early Saturday, you’ll get a free egg sandwich and $5 Bloody
Marys. West Ham takes on Chelsea at 8 AM; Arsenal plays Swansea City and Tottenham
plays Fulham at 10.
ART: The Smithsonian’s
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery turns 25 this year. Celebrate a quarter century of the best Asian art with its book
fair and birthday party, featuring free treats from Georgetown Cupcake. Free. 1 PM.
SKATE/EAT CHOCOLATE:
Georgetown’s skating rink is here, and it’s pretty awesome. To celebrate, it’s hosting a couple of hours of
people who can actually skate before you hop out there and fall on your face a few
times. Performers include Montana Ignacio and the Gardens Figure Skating Club. Before
or after, head over to the Swedish Christmas Bazaar—which features baked goods, arts
and crafts, and sooo much chocolate—at the nearby House of Sweden. Performances are
free; skating is $9. 4 to 7 PM.
DANCE: If you wanna skip all this daytime holiday nonsense and just let off some steam,
Black Cat’s
Moon/Bounce Dancing Affair has you covered. Unfortunately there’s no moon bounce, but you’ll get tons of ’90s
pop, hip-hop, and house music, so at least there’s that. Tickets ($7) are available
online. 10 PM.
Sunday, December 2
BASKETBALL: So the Wizards haven’t given fans much to cheer about, but there’s still some good
basketball being played at the Verizon Center: The annual
BB&T Basketball Classic pits GW against Manhattan, followed by Maryland vs. George Mason. One ticket gets
you into both games. Tickets ($25 to $45) are available online. 12:15 PM.
TOURS: Walking around DC, you get to see lots of gorgeous houses, but unless you’re rich
and/or popular, you rarely get to go into them. Luckily there’s the annual Logan Circle
Community Association
Holiday House Tour. You’ll learn about the histories and architecture of ten of the neighborhood’s iconic
houses. Many are centuries old and feature art collections and holiday decor. Oh,
and by the way, you’ll also be caroling. Hope you’re not shy. Tickets ($25) are available
online. 1 PM.
Know of something cool going on around town? E-mail Jason Koebler at jasontpkoebler@gmail.com,
or find him on Twitter @jason_koebler.
