Illuminating the Garden with Festival of Lights

Lovely reflections make for great photos

With a friend visiting Vancouver for the first time, it was apt to take him to an annual Vancouver tradition -- the Festival of Lights at VanDusen Botanical Garden to get into the Christmas spirit. 

It's a clever way to get people to visit the garden during the winter months by decorating it with hundreds of thousands of lights which makes it a stunner for pictures. Many families go with senior members to the littlest ones for family photos, or young couples take selfies. 

After dark the lights make the garden stunning

The previous years I've gone the low temperatures meant we had to really bundle up -- including wearing long underwear to keep warm. But this year it's a very mild 8 degrees and we were very comfortable walking around without the need of gloves or a hat.

Every year the garden is decorated slightly differently to keep it interesting for visitors who come annually. Other years have featured well known cartoon characters like the Grinch and Olaf from Frozen, but this year it was Frosty the Snowman and his family, as there were two other snow people that were slightly smaller. 

Upon entering the garden a security guard made sure people didn't bring in food or drinks because they wanted visitors to shell out at the various food kiosks scattered around the garden. Strangely there were Japadogs, banh mi, arancini risotto balls, and popcorn, as well as hot chocolate and mulled wine. Oh don't forget the mini donuts, made right before your eyes by an automated machine!

We arrived as the sun was setting, so it wasn't until it was darker did the illuminated garden really shine. The pond was particularly amazing with the reflection in the water, and the periodic flashing of lights to the music.

Festival of Lights is an annual Christmas tradition

Also the weather held up and didn't rain which was a big plus.