Christmas Activities Checklist – How Many Will You Check Off This Year?
If you’re like me, you want to soak in as many magical holiday moments and Christmas events as you can.
This Christmas Activities Guide shows you the best places for Christmas lights, holiday shopping, reindeer visits, and more around Grand Rapids.
Let’s load up your holiday season with fun and maybe create new holiday traditions in 2024!
P.S. Read on to find out you can win tickets to The Nutcracker!
☐ Chase Down the Best Christmas Lights
Chasing down the best Christmas lights is a favorite Christmas activity every season.
All you need is a car, maybe some warm jammies and hot cocoa in a thermos as you go on a light-spotting adventure.
And we’ve made it easy with a handy map of all the best-lit houses and downtowns around!
Or, take the road trip a bit further and enjoy either Drive Thru Christmas Light Shows or Walk Through Christmas Lights Displays all around Michigan.
☐ Visit a “Real” Christmas Tree Farm
Heading out to cut your own real Christmas tree is more than just stomping through the woods, saw in hand. Nowadays, it’s an experience.
Many West Michigan Christmas tree farms offer bonus activities -and maybe hot cocoa – to make your visit cheery and bright.
☐ Get Tickets to a Holiday Show
Are you a Nutcracker person? Or is the symphony more of your thing? Musicals? Improv?
Maybe you think Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
No matter your taste, there’s likely a Christmas production with your name on it.
See What’s Playing for the Holidays →
☐ Win Tickets to the Nutcracker
Are you a huge Nutcracker fan or ready to take your kids for the first (or seventh!) time?
Happy holidays to you!
Grand Rapids Ballet is giving one lucky reader the chance to win five (5) tickets to see The Nutcracker on Saturday, December 14 at 7:30 PM at DeVos Performance Hall.
Enter Here
Fill out the form below for your chance to WIN these tickets.
| FINE PRINT: This giveaway will close on December 6, 2024, at 11 PM and the winners will be notified via email. The winner will have 24 hours to respond by email accepting the prize. No purchase necessary to enter the contest. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. You are providing your information to grkids.com and not to Facebook. Entrants will release Facebook from all liability. Entrants must be at least 18 years of age and reside in Michigan. Only one entry per household or IP address. Grand Rapids Kids’ liability is limited to the value of the prize. |
☐ See Santa & Take Pics, Too
You have a lot of opportunities to find Santa before Christmas. Whether you visit him at Cabela’s (the free photo is a great perk) or you find him at a paid event, he’s not too hard to find.
☐ Bundle Up for a Christmas Parade
Santa Parades, Christmas Parades, Nighttime Light Parades – West Michigan has them all – and quite a few of them!
☐ Go on a Horse-Drawn Sleigh Ride
There’s something magical about horses and snow and sleighs all mingled together.
A horse-drawn sleigh ride is probably the ultimate old-fashioned holiday experience.
Some sleigh rides go through the streets of downtown Grand Rapids while others go through the woods. Both are different, yet equally amazing, Christmas activities.
Here’s where you can jingle all the way around West Michigan.
☐ Visit a Reindeer Farm
While Santa visits are often at the top of the Christmas Must Do List, visiting reindeer should be on it, too.
Visit details vary by destination, but each includes interactions with real, live reindeer. You can even pet the reindeer at some places.
You may see Santa, too!
☐ Find a Christmas Train to Watch or Ride
Trains at Christmastime are a quintessential holiday experience.
Watch the model train round the bends at Meijer Gardens or find the old “Breton Village train” at its new home at the Ford Museum.
Snag a ticket for one of the train rides in Michigan – some are modeled after the famed Polar Express! Tickets go fast, so start looking as early as August to reserve your seats.
☐ Chase the Train, Look at the Trees & Watch the Light Show at Meijer Gardens
1000 E Beltline Ave NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49525
Meijer Gardens deserves a stop at Christmastime. Their Christmas activities list alone is enough to keep many families busy.
Reindeer, Santa, Carolers, a Christmas train, and now a light show are all reasons we want to be first in line at this venue.
☐ Shop for Holiday Gifts
There are so many fun things to do around Grand Rapids – why not gift some exciting outings?
Memberships, gift cards, or tickets make fantastic gifts for everyone on your list – or as stocking stuffers.
Play all day at the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum, sign up for a class at the Academy of Music, or go road trip to LEGOLAND.
☐ Put a Toy Under the Angel Tree
If you are able, giving to a child in need is especially appreciated at Christmastime.
Several local organizations operate toy gift drives to help make the holiday season brighter.
Toys for Tots collects new toys for kids.
Fun Again Toys for Everyone (FATE) collects used ones.
The nationwide Angel Tree program gifts toys to kids while also providing families with a gift card for Christmas dinner.
See if it works for your family to spread joy this holiday season.
☐ Ice Skate at Rosa Parks Circle
135 Monroe Center St NW, Grand Rapids MI 49503
Give it a whirl under the lights. Ice skating at Rosa Parks Circle has become a beloved Grand Rapids tradition!
Ice skating starts for the season in late November. (Last year’s opening date was Nov 24, 2023.) Admission includes free skate rentals.
☐ Grab a Hot Chocolate at MadCap Coffee
98 Monroe Center St NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503
And then head out to shop downtown storefronts. (MadCap closes at 4 most days.)
Get the Checklist Template!
Drop a comment with your ideas for this Christmas Activities checklist – we’re pretty sure we didn’t get them all.
Or, fill out the form below to get access to the template and make the checklist your own (it’s free).
