Cookie Swaps, Caroling Mobs, and More Boston Events This Weekend

Join staff members and friends of The Baffler magazine for drinks and conversation at their Anti-Holiday Party at the Lilypad in Inman Square. Contributors Astra Taylor and Joanne McNeil will discuss their recent Baffler piece “The Dads of Tech,” which blows up the culture of gender discrimination in the tech industry, but we’d like to pretend it’s about regular dads who think they’re tech geniuses because they figured out how to use Ctrl+A to select all the messages in their AOL email accounts. (7 p.m., $5, all ages)

Running behind on your holiday ​gift list? ​Don’t forget that when you make a gift instead of buying one, people pretty much have to like it because you put in so much time and effort. And you never have to tell them that you only made the gift so you could play with sweet lasers. ​General Assembly is teaming up with danger!awesome​,​ an open-access studio, makerspace and learning center, ​for a free workshop to help you find, or create, the perfect custom laser-cut or 3D gift. Members of the team will guide you through the creation of an ornament or pendant, and local artists will be available to talk about their process and sell their work. (3 p.m., FREE, all ages)

There’s an old saying that if you don’t like the weather in New England, just wait five minutes (unless it’s winter in which case wait six months and then another five minutes). You could say the same thing about the Cheap Seats omni-genre variety show, celebrating its two-year anniversary Friday at the Cambridge YMCA Theater with five-minute sets from dozens of musicians, poets, comedians, dancers, and visual and conceptual artists. All proceeds from the show will benefit Black Lives Matter Boston. (7 p.m., $5-10ish, all ages)

You might remember a few months ago when I wrote about a series of fundraisers to help Cambridge’s Out of the Blue gallery find a new space after their landlord finally realized he owned a building across from Whole Foods and should probably jack up the rent. Guess what? They worked! The new Out of the Blue Too gallery celebrates with a grand opening at the new location on Mass Ave. Stop by during the day for project tables set up with painting, leather crafting, and sculpting, then at 8:30 they’ll turn down the lights, break out the beer and wine, and turn over the stage to local bands and a DJ dance party to close out the night. (12 p.m., FREE/$10 after 8:30, all ages/21+ after 8:30)

How great are cookies? How great is that moment at the supermarket when you realize you’re a grown-up and you can buy and eat as many Milanos as you want? Unfortunately, even Cookie Monster admits that cookies should be treated as a “sometimes food” these days. Fortunately, that time is right now, people! Boston Food Swap’s fourth annual Cookie Swap for a Cause at District Hall raises funds to fight pediatric cancer. You can either bake cookies to sell and swap, or just show up and make a donation in exchange for a container of cookies. Every time one of those cookies makes its way into the mouth section of your face, you helped cure cancer. Nice job, you. (1 p.m., FREE, all ages)

It’s important to find the silver linings to get through a long winter. Sunday is the shortest day of the year, but on the bright side, the days will start getting longer. And the circus is in town, but on the bright side, by “in town” we mean “at T.T. the Bear’s where you can drink and there are no kids.” Speakeasy-meets-freakeasy group Solstice Circus celebrates the changing of the seasons in style, bringing circus arts like trapeze, clowning, juggling, acrobatics, hand balancing, dance, music, and more to non-traditional venues. (9 p.m., $12, 18+)

One of the nice things about the massive 11th annual Merry Christmas Caroling Mob in Jamaica Plain is a lot of actually good singers are involved — some of them have even been practicing all month — so no one will know how bad you are at singing. Like when they put you in the back row of ninth-grade chorus and told you to just mouth the words because your voice was still changing, sure maybe you hit puberty late but oh man when it hit, it hit like a freight train. Meet the carolers outside the Green Street Orange Line station at 4, or fine, show up just in time to sing “Fiiiiiiiivvvveeee goooooolllllddeeeeeen riiiiiiiiiings.” (4 p.m., FREE, all ages)

Photo credit: Kiss My Buttercream/Creative Commons

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This article was provided by our content partner, The Boston Calendar.