Belfast Christmas Market, Santa Parade and big lights switch on all take place this weekend

A Santa Parade - organised by Castle Court - will sing, dance and cheer down Donegall Place and Royal Avenue to begin the party, starting out at Belfast City Hall at noon tomorrow.

The spectacle will be made up of animated floats and more than 40 characters from Disney, Marvel and the North Pole.

The Christmas Market at City Hall also opens at noon, with the council billing it as "an authentic feast of quality Christmas international cuisine alongside a carefully curated mix of handcrafted goods and bespoke artisan products".

And starting at 6:30pm at Belfast City Hall, Lord Mayor Councillor Ryan Murphy will join Cool FM breakfast presenters Pete, Rebecca and Paulo, and a host of local performers and artists to illuminate the city and begin the countdown to the big switch-on itself!

Joining them will be leading NI soul band Makunahoney, characters from the Lyric Theatre’s Christmas pantomime Hansel and Gretel, and a range of other top music and dance performers to ramp up the atmosphere before the big light-up.

Santa already paid a surprise visit to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children on two afternoons this week, with a sleigh full of presents, also organised by CastleCourt, where he is now residing in his Winter Wonderland Grotto.

But perhaps first to launch the celebrations this week was Ballymoney - with a full-on Christmas parade led by Santa on Thursday night.

The man in red his also holding a follow up event in Limavady today.

Today, lights were switched on in Larne and the Guildhall Craft Fair opened in Londonderry and tomorrow, festive switch-ons take place in Bangor, Ballymena and Lilian Bland Park in Glengormley.

The first lights to go on in Newry Mourne and Down will be in Newry City on Thursday 23 November, the same date as for Lisburn, with Coleraine the day after.

Enniskillen, Omagh and Kilkeel join the celebrations on 25 November.