From desserts to decorations, Xmas brings bustling business to Chennai

For musicians in the city, Christmas season is when they are jam-packed with holiday concerts, private events, pantomimes and festival-themed plays as well as shows in malls, pubs and corporate offices across town. “This is the most essential time of the year for us. Just like how some animals look forward to the winter, we look forward to our calendars packed with appointments during this period. These days, people in high society throw Christmas bashes, and they want singers and musicians to put on a grand show with instruments, dress code and the whole package,” said singer-songwriter Nadisha Thomas, who is a part of several choir and carol groups in the city, and has been performing for over a decade.

“It’s not just independent artistes–film and playback singers, too, are called for concerts and star nights,” she added.

Perhaps, the city’s most iconic seasonal landmark that comes to the mind of people every December, is the famous Evergreen Christmas Centre that has been supplying accessories, trees and more to homes in the city for nearly three decades. “We have been around for 27 years now. We try our best to be innovative every Christmas. Besides Catholics, pretty much most homes want to sport a tree. We are well-known across the city for our trees; our smallest ones are table-tops and the tallest ones go up to 40 feet. They last up to 15 years,” said Marlena Ann, who manages the store, which is a family business, dating back to a couple generations.

This year is all about innovating the décor further, and people are clamouring about to buy artificial dew or snow drops to give a frosty appearance inside their homes, she explained. “There is also a miniature Nativity set, which we have imported from Italy and it is selling fast besides the usual sales of the different types of Santa caps, pine cones, etc. We travel abroad every year before Christmas to scout the trends so we can bring back the best ones for our customers here,” she added.

And what would the holiday season be without gifts? With today’s generation well and truly aware of how beautiful gifts can be–thanks to social media–hosts are constantly trying to raise the ante when it comes to presents. No party or corporate event this season is complete without hampers for everyone, and that’s where Chennai’s emerging bevy of curated gifting experts come in.

“Hampers contain all sorts of goodies, edibles, bathing salts, etc. Even though Deepavali is when Chennai really takes to gifting a lot, the Christmas season is not too far behind. We customise our gifts as well as the decor to make it stand out,” explained Zeba A Rahman of Paper to Bag, a brand that is renowned for its gifting solutions.

But naturally, busiest of all are home bakers and vintners (wine makers) who are up in their arms fielding requests from patrons. Non-alcoholic wines are in vogue due to the city’s generally conservative nature, and they come in different flavours. Due to the fierce competition online, bakers are constantly coming up with new and more innovative methods of making their desserts look ‘Instagram-worthy’.

Safra Kader of Whisk the Cake Kitchen, said, “Plum cakes and Christmas hampers are the regulars. But this year, cupcakes with a twist is the new favourite trend. We have devised an ice-cream cone on top of the cupcake which is modeled after a Christmas tree. People’s mindsets have changed dramatically in the last few years after watching baking shows and checking out pictures online. They are prepared to spend extra in order to get desserts that aren’t just tasty, but also look picture-perfect.”