Manchester Christmas Markets Challenges: 2,3,16,44,50,72

Getting into the Christmas spirit, and taking advantage of the opportunity to get out of the house and do something different I decided I'd check out the Manchester Christmas Markets. They proved a very fruitful place for finding cool things and completing challenges, as well as a really fun day out :)

Challenge 2 "Eat Something Weird"

For this challenge I ate a cake. Now that doesn't actually sound too weird until you realise it was from Stuart Thornley Cake Design (a crfater I used to go to events with) and he specialises in making cakes that don't look like cakes. And so I proudly present - the Cake Pork Pie!!

Challenge 3 "Buy The Coolest Badge"

As soon as I saw this badge I knew I had the challenge in the bag. I thought my robot badge from the science museum was pretty cool but this hand made Crystal Maze badge featuring the legendary Richard O'Brien is just amazeballs!

Challenge 16 "Coolest Freebie"

You have no idea how hard I tried to get something cool for free, but it turns out it's pretty hard! I kind of cheated with this one, in that I did pay for it but it's also kind of free at the same time. Feeling the chill in the  air I decided to indulge in a lovely warming mulled wine - and got to keep the "free" promotional mug :) I know some will say I paid for the mug, but that probably makes the mulled wine free - so either way I'm claiming it as a cool freebie!

Challenge 44 "Best Street Food"

This one was actually recommended to me by Beth - and she was very jealous i got to try it! Only in the North of England can you turn a side street and be confronted by the wonderful sight of a Yorkshire Pudding Burrito stand!

Challenge 50 "Grow Something"

As soon as a saw the awesome stall selling Cacti planted in really funky real ale cans I knew this was the plant I was going to grow for this challenge!

Challenge 72 "Coolest Socks"

At Christmas time novelty socks are everywhere! I saw some really cool socks with puns, cool characters, adventurer time , Rick n Morty etc. but all of them seemed a bit basic. And then I came across this stall and knew i'd found the socks for me! For each pair sold the company uses the money to help the homeless in Manchester - so not only do they look pretty snazzy, they also help the most vulnerable at a very hard time of the year :)