This is my review on the 2012 Christmas OOAK show. As my rating shows, "Meh. I've experienced better." - better being the past summer show.
Everything at the Christmas show just seemed incredibly overpriced and everyone was selling similar items. All the dresses, jackets, leather goods, jewellery, screen prints, paper craft seemed like rehashed versions of everything else. Nothing overly unique. My friend and I managed to get through the whole show in around 2 hours - while the summer show, we were thoroughly enticed for an entire afternoon. I must note that the Christmas show is geared more for gift giving, so the items are a bit more... indulgent and kitchy (??? - not sure the best way to say "priced to impress" and something to give someone who has everything).
The shining point, like always, were the food aisles! There was a decent array of different food artisans. Cookies, jams, tapenades, spreads, caked, OH MY! My friend and I had a dinner's worth of food just sampling the different vendors. Highlights were Mad Hatter Bakers (http://www.madbatterbakers.com/) who make some of the best gingerbread I've had and Monkey Butter gourmet peanut butter (http://www.monkeybutterpb.com/ or http://www.yelp.ca/biz/monkey-butter-peanut-butter-vancouver) - both of which I made my only purchases of the day at.
I probably won't go to the Christmas show again, but I can't wait until the summer one!
** TIP - If you can make it after work on a weekday, try going to the show then. The site is so much quieter and less busy. You'll actually be able to leisurely walk around and talk to the vendors