More than 150 artisans come together in the Tri-Cities for the annual crafts show, spread over three days in the region's convention center. Featured gifty-type items include jewelry, pottery, and nice-smelling soaps, plus unique holiday decor so your house doesn't look like you went to the same big-box store as everyone else on the block.

The annual Orcas Island beer festival provides a multitude of reasons to take the ferry all the way into the San Juans for the weekend. Market Street in Eastsound closes to cars to fill with a big tent, and more than 30 brewers set up shop alongside local bands. Though the event proper only lasts a day, local restaurants often do beer-related events in the surrounding weekend.

Competitors vie for the prize for best chili (and, because this is a Salish Sea island, best chowder) in an annual event that goes back more than a quarter century. Tickets score tastes of 10 chef creations; choose wisely and you'll sample a winner. Music and a roaring fire with s'mores round out the festival, and an art auction benefits a local park. 

Folk groups spanning Celtic, bluegrass, blues, African, Asian, and Middle Eastern traditions join forces for two days of free musical discovery in Spokane. Don't miss the commemorative festival buttons to show off your folky taste. 

Bellingham's Mount Baker Theater remixes the holiday classic, overlaying hip-hop choreography on Tchaikovsky's classic score. The reimagined show plucks Clara from nineteenth-century Germany and deposits her in modern-day New York City, accompanied by a DJ and lit cityscapes. 

What's under the pier? Marine biologists from Puget Sound Estuarium help decipher the sea life in a monthly nighttime event at Zittel's Marina. Organisms can include sea slugs, anemones, and sea stars, kind of like tide pooling but while staying dry. Register in advance and wear something warm.

An elementary school near downtown Olympia turns into a giant collection of booths for crafters and artists, all selling their wares right when we all start panicking about holiday shopping. Students from the school even hawk their own creations, and many perform as live buskers.