How To Do Christmastime in NYC Like a Pro (2019 Edition)
/Christmastime in New York City!! It really IS “the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!” I absolutely love the holiday season and NYC really does the season well. Read on for my favorite ways to get festive in the city this winter!
Let The Holiday Spirit Wash Over You In Midtown
Rock Center Tree
Everyone MUST go see the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. Yes, it will be VERY crowded and NO, I wouldn’t advise bothering to join the crowds ice skating below. But you must see the tree if you truly want to celebrate Christmas in New York.
If you’re really feeling brave, come by for the official tree-lighting ceremony the evening of Wednesday, December 4th. Otherwise, I recommend doing a fairly quick stop over - day or night - en route to viewing the beautiful holiday windows on Fifth Avenue. No matter when you go, it WILL be crowded.
Fifth Avenue Window Shopping
Right near Rock Center, don’t miss the decorated windows all along Fifth Avenue - particularly at Saks or Bergdorf Goodman, as both luxury department stores curate gorgeous holiday displays every year. This year the holiday windows at Saks are Frozen 2 themed! And tickets are available ($5 per person) for an immersive Frozen 2 Enchanted Forest Experience inside the store.
As you walk up Fifth from Saks to Bergdorf, you’ll see plenty more festive decor (and crowds). For example, each December, the Cartier Flagship Mansion gets decked in a huge red bow.
Bounce Between NYBG and the Bronx ZoO For Can’t Miss Holiday Events
NYBG Holiday Train Show
The New York Botanical Garden delights hundreds of thousands of visitors each holiday season with their world famous Holiday Train Show. Timed entries to the show are offered daily through Sunday, January 26th. Guests of all ages will enjoy seeing the beautiful working toy trains and NY-centric scenery. My favorite part of the show are the models of famous New York City buildings.
Bronx Zoo Holiday Lights
Back after a 10 year hiatus (I didn’t have kids 10 years ago, so I wasn’t hanging out at the Zoo much in December then), Holiday Lights returns to the Bronx Zoo. Sort of like a winter version of Boo at the Zoo, there will be plenty of fun and festive activities at Holiday Lights, but this time all taking place after regular zoo hours (5pm to 9pm weekdays and until 10pm on weekends). Sing along with Roaming Carolers, board the Holiday Train, watch professional ice carvers do their thing and of course, because it is 2019, witness illuminated animal shaped lanterns and lights.
Holiday Lights takes place daily through Sunday, January 5th, excluding Christmas and Christmas Eve. But I suggest trying to plan your visit for the week of Friday, December 20th so you can also experience Ice Jubilee, a week-long winter celebration that includes, among other things, a 20 foot ice slide for kiddies and a 12 foot ice cocktail bar for adults.
Check Out A Brooklyn Neighborhood Known For ItS Christmas Lights
Dyker Lights
If MASSIVE Christmas lights displays are what you’re after, head to Dyker Heights, Brooklyn for the neighborhood’s famous holiday light displays (aka Dyker Lights). For the past 30 years, tons of visitors flock to this section of Brooklyn in the month of December to gawk at the crazy Christmas lights and decorative displays put on by homeowners and professionals in the area. Each year, neighbors aim to outdo themselves and their fellow neighbors. There is even bus transportation and guided tours nowadays. Many houses shut off their lights around 9pm so try to arrive on the earlier side to ensure you’ll see everything and to get a head start on the massive crowds.
We’re finally making it there this year. Can’t wait to see it!
Make a Magical Holiday Wish For Those In Need
Brookfield Place’s Luminaries
Beginning the evening of Tuesday, December 3rd and going into the new year through Friday, January 3, visit Luminaries, a gorgeous multi-colored canopy of suspended lanterns in the Winter Garden at Lower Manhattan’s Brookfield Place. Light shows will play every half-hour throughout the day. And from 10am through 8pm daily, guests can send a wish to the lanterns via three touch-activated “Wishing Stations” that will cause the lanterns above to magically change color. For every wish sent up this holiday season, Brookfield Place will donate $1 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. The installation will kick off at 5pm on Tuesday, December 3rd with a “Light Up Luminaries” show and festival.
Take in a Festive Holiday Show
The Rockettes Christmas Spectacular
The mother of all Christmas shows is right in our backyard - The Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. It’s a must do activity at least once in a child’s life, but since tickets are fairly pricey, it’s probably best to wait until your kid reaches at least age 5 to attend. Performances are offered daily (dark Tuesdays and Thursdays in November) through Sunday, January 5th. Catching a performance and then walking over to Rock Center to see the tree, and up Fifth Avenue to see the holiday windows, is a perfectly spent NYC holiday day.
The Nutcracker Ballet
If ballet and dance is more your speed, then New York City Ballet’s Nutcracker is also a holiday must. Even if you’re not a ballerina, go for the breathtakingly beautiful costumes and overall elegance of the performance and Lincoln Center, generally. Performances begin on Friday, November 29th and run through Sunday, January 5th. This two hour experience is best suited for older children who can sit still and be quiet for the full show.
Slava’s Snowshow
Lose yourself in a blizzard of joy, says Slava’s Snowshow, now back on Broadway for just 8 weeks. The show, which debuted in America back in 2004, “offers a dreamlike vision that overflows with magical dynamism and humorous antics, set within an absurd and surrealistic world.” The show is recommended for ages 8 and up and it will be in town through Sunday, January 5th.
Hit A Holiday Themed Museum Exhibit
Holiday Express at New York Historical Society
Now through February 23 the always family friendly New York Historical Society is hosting its annual Holiday Express train show. But this year, in honor of the 100th birthday of famous children’s author, Richard Scarry, the exhibit is reimagined to showcase Scarry’s artwork and beloved characters like Lowly Worm! On December 14th and 15th, Richard’s son, Huck Scarry, will be visiting the exhibit!
The Origami Holiday Tree at AMNH
Every kid loves a visit to the American Museum of Natural History. And if you plan your visit for this holiday season, your family will get the added perk of viewing the Origami Holiday Tree, decorated this year in honor of T. rex and Friends. The always beautiful tree will be on view through January 12, 2020.
Enjoy a Holiday Themed Meal or Drink
Rolf’s German Restaurant
Make a reservation ASAP for a holiday lunch at Rolf’s, an old German restaurant in Gramercy Park that leaves its insanely ornate holiday decor up through May of each year. The extremely festive ambiance is just perfect to get you in the holiday spirit. When we did this a few years ago, I probably reserved our table in October and managed to snag a prime time reservation for a Saturday in December.
Miracle on 9th Street
This is one of many “Miracle” Christmas themed cocktail bar pop-ups across the US and globe this season. Miracle on 9th has been kicking it for a few holiday seasons in NYC now (there are actually two Manhattan locations, at 649 East 9th and 505 East 12th). The festive Christmas decor is awesome and the holiday themed cocktails are pretty legit. Both Manhattan locations are open for the season!
Tea With Eloise at the Plaza
At the Plaza Hotel, you can have Tea with Eloise in the Palm Court daily between noon and 4:45pm this holiday season. The menu of sandwiches, sweats and teas or cold lemonade is $60 per child.
Madeline’s Tea At Bemelmans’ Bar
And over at the posh Carlyle Hotel, you can ogle Ludwig Bemelmans’ famed Madeline murals while enjoying a chi-chi Madeline’s Tea at 10:15am or 1pm every Saturday and select Sundays. The cost is $75 per person.
Get Your Shopping Done Along with Some Holiday Cheer
Urbanspace Holiday Markets
The weather is usually still perfectly crisp and warm enough in November and early December to be outside. On one such nice day or early evening, it’s lots of fun to roam through one of the three Urbanspace Holiday Markets that pop up in Manhattan during the holiday season.
Located at Columbus Circle (Wednesday, December 4th through Christmas Eve), Bryant Park (through Sunday, January 5th) and Union Square (through Christmas Eve), these markets feature artisan merchants selling festive gifts for your holiday shopping list, as well as all kinds of delicious eats to give you the fuel you need to shop.
My favorite of the three markets is the one in Bryant Park, because that park is also home to the Bank of America Winter Village. The Winter Village includes a FREE pop up ice skating rink, and rink-side food court and a whole lot of winter themed events and activities.
And if you’re checking out the Columbus Circle Holiday Market, don’t skip the beautiful Holiday Under the Stars display at the Shops at Columbus Circle, featuring Swarovski crystal illuminated and color changing stars hung from the ceiling of the indoor shopping complex’s lobby area. They are on view through Sunday, January 5th.
Grand Central Holiday Fair+ ny tRANSIT HOLIDAY TRAIN
If you’re a commuter or crunched for time, head to the Grand Central Holiday Fair in Vanderbilt Hall. The holiday shopping has begun there and will last through Christmas Eve. Shop hours are 10am to 8pm on weekdays, 10am to 7pm on Saturdays and 11am to 6pm on Sundays.
Also in Grand Central through Sunday, February 23rd, do not miss the New York Transit Museum’s 18th Annual Holiday Train Show located in its Grand Central Annex. The Lionel model trains travel through a winter city-scape that includes an adorable replica of GCT - and shout out to my fellow commuters, one of the model trains is a replica of Metro North!
cAMP sTORES
Camp is an interactive toy store bound to excite any little person and most any big person, too. There is a ton going on here this holiday season as part of Camp’s current “Toy Lab” toy-testing theme, including a huge scooter and bike race track that envelopes the center of the store. While you shop for the OTHER little ones on your holiday list, your own little ones will be very entertained by all the toy-testing excitement around the store.
And, since it is the holidays, head to the back room toward the front right of the store to see Camp’s holiday toys on offer and maybe even spot Saint Nick himself! Plus, check the Camp activity’s page for a continuous slew of holiday themed kid activities on offer.
Tis The Season...Of Lantern Festivals?
NYC Winter Lantern Festival
There are so many different lantern festivals happening this holiday season in NYC that I can hardly keep them straight. And I am actually a bit confused on how each one thinks it can outdo the other. NYC is big - but not THAT big.
After spending much of last December ogling the pictures I saw online from the festival's inaugural season, I bought tickets early on for this year’s Winter Lantern Festival at Staten Island's Snug Harbor. This year, the Winter Lantern Festival runs through Sunday, January 12th (closed most Mondays and Tuesdays). Tickets start at $23 per adult and $15 per child age 3-12. There is an extra fee for parking.
LuminoCity Festival; Hello Panda Festival
Besides the Winter Lantern Festival, there are TWO additional lantern festivals new to the NYC scene this year - one happening in Manhattan and one in Queens.
The LuminoCity Festival has come to Randall's Island by way of Houston, Texas. It will run weekends only through Sunday, December 15th and then it will be open daily from Friday, December 20th through Sunday, January 5th. Prices start at $38 per adult and $9 per child age 3-12.
And in Queens, CitiField will temporarily be taken over by the Hello Panda Festival from Friday, December 6th through Sunday, January 26th. Adult tickets start at $25 and tickets for children age 3-12 start at $22 each.
Visit the Most Festive Guy I Know at Macy’s Herald Square Santaland
Sure there are Santa sightings all over the city (Ugh SantaCon) but the real Santa(s) live at Macy’s Santaland! I grew up visiting Santaland each Christmas, so it will forever hold a special place in my heart. But even if it’s brand new to you, Macy’s Herald Square flagship is wonderful around the holidays. Santa arrives at Herald Square this year at 7am on Friday, November 29th!
During the holiday season, the entire 8th floor of Macy’s Herald Square (151 West 34th) is transformed into a winter wonderland called Santaland, that includes a FREE visit with Santa that is like no other. In the past, the lines to meet Santa here could get atrocious, but Macy’s now offers advanced reservations in New York. Santa is only accessible by advanced reservation for a pre-set time slot. And spots can be reserved up to 5 days in advance.
Guests can join the line for Santa at their reserved time. And don’t worry, there are plenty of festive landscapes to enchant you while you wait. The path toward Santa is filled with beautiful holiday displays known as Santaland Village. If you’re in a rush, Macy’s also offers an express line directly to Santa (but I think doing this misses most of the fun).
As mentioned, visiting Santa is totally free, however, professional pictures are available for purchase beginning at $21.99. Macy’s will also do their best to have your children meet a Santa that best matches his or her cultural background - just mention this request to any elf you see.
And while you are at Macy’s, also visit STORY, a concept store within a store (the store being Macy’s) that features small business brands, and that, much like Camp above, changes its theme every few months. Its current theme is fittingly, “Home for the Holidays.”
Wishing you the happiest of holidays!
