Soon, the days will be getting longer, and then the number on the year counter will suddenly change. Some of you have already brought your Christmas tree home, others are waiting for the last day. You may be planning to head to the South for the holidays, or you are returning home to Kaunas. Whatever your plans, you’ll want to make sure you’ve got a present for yourself. Of course, we have ideas for the biggest group of friends and family. So, what is Kaunas offering for Christmas this year?
It’s time for our tasty news! This year, we invite you to bake a Kaunasian Christmas - or share it with a friend. Our festive baking kit includes a mix for butter cookies and moulds in the shape of Iljinienė’s house, Kaunas Central Post Office or the Pink Elephant. You can buy this kit at the Kaunas IN Tourist Information Centre - as well as stylish socks, bags, badges, T-shirts and other Kaunas souvenirs. Find them online, too.
Photo by R. Juonytė-Karalienė
Foodies will be delighted by the locally produced kombucha (Acala or Tealure) and the devilishly spicy sauces of Kaunas Sauce. An invitation to a tasting dinner at Monte Pacis is a great treat, even for those who have it all.
Photo by Acala
Tickets to the Pažaislis Music Festival or Kaunas Jazz concerts are a wonderful gift for both loved ones and business partners. Have you heard that the Venice Biennial golden lion winner, contemporary opera ‘Sun and the Sea’, which has travelled worldwide, will finally be performed in its authors’ native Kaunas? From 14-18 February, the stage-beach will be in the BLC Business Centre. Tickets are still available, and for more concerts and performances next year, for which tickets are already on sale, visit the Kaunas theatre websites and the calendar at kultura.kaunas.lt.
We’ll let you in on a secret - the Film Noir candle from Romuva Cinema has the power of a nostalgia-driven time machine. We have already burned several of them, and we recommend you do so if you have friends who can’t live without cinema. You will also find a pair of cinema socks or a gift voucher at the Romuva box office. And if you go to Forum Cinemas or Vaga bookstore, you’ll be able to get festive sets of Kino Pavasaris tickets. The biggest festival in Lithuania is scheduled for March 2024!
Photo by Romuva
A ticket to a Euroleague game is a more significant deficit than any citizen indifferent to basketball might think... Although, of course, there are not so many of those uninterested in Kaunas. On the day of a popular game, a table reservation in one of Kaunas’ bars is a great gift! Just kidding. Lithuania’s favourite sports team has recently revamped its image, so a fan will be delighted with something from the new merchandise collection. Have you checked out the just-released street fashion collection yet? This is how a new generation of Žalgiris fans is raised. Classical watches have been designed for their parents.
Photo by Žalgiris
The Maironis Lithuanian Literature Museum has worked hard for you and prepared a mountain of delicate collections for book lovers. Meanwhile, the institution preserving the legacy of Čiurlionis on V. Putvinskio Street offers valuable art albums and quality souvenirs. Čiurlionian motifs are particularly suitable for sending abroad but don’t delay the latter.
Photo by MLLM
One of the most wished-for gifts in Kaunas is a voucher for a visit to the Art Deco Museum and the Amsterdam School Museum. Their owners, heritage enthusiasts Karolis Banys and Petras Gaidamavičius, invite you to plan next year’s trips to Kaimelis Manor... in the Šakiai district!
Every month, we rush to the Kolibris bookshop, which has just celebrated its second birthday, and wonder what new it has in store. Right now, it’s a great spot for Christmas elves. Maybe your relatives don’t have any books published by the Kaunas City Museum? ‘Kaunas: stories of the city and its people’ consists of 700 years of amazing stories leading up to today and is available in English.
Photo by Kolibris
Although many people consider art collecting a costly hobby, this is only partially true. Of course, it would take many years and investments to build up a collection like the one at the MoMA. But you can start this festive season... If you have a photography fan among your friends, check out the Photography Salon at the Kaunas Photography Gallery during the festive season. This exhibition-fair features a rich collection of photography, from the classic works that have shaped the history of Lithuanian photography to contemporary photographic experiments that go beyond the boundaries of traditional media.
If not a vast canvas, maybe a limited edition high-quality print for your walls? For example, the Hands on Press print shop will have something to recommend to you, including unique calendars for 2024.
As we approach the festive season, there will be the big Christmas markets and some smaller art and handmade goods fairs. The next one - already on 9-10 December - will take place in the beautiful studio “Vynvytis” in Petrašiūnai, and on 17 December, we’ll see you in the Kaunas Artists’ House.
