Here are some fun things you can do with your family in the greater Seattle, Washington area for the month of December. If you see a fun family-themed event non listed please share by leaving a comment.
FREE EVENTS:
12/1-12/24 – Snowflake Lane- 7pm, nightly. Falling snow and costumed characters. Bellevue Way between Lincoln Square and Bellevue Square.
12/1-12/31 -Seattle Center Winterfest – Free and affordable activities, events and entertainment. Seattle Center.
12/1-12/31 -Toyland Village Lighted Holiday Display – 6am-9pm. Waterfront Park 1201 Alaskan Way, Seattle. 206-623-0340.
12/1-12/31 – Gingerbread Village – FREE, donations accepted for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. 206-621-9000 Sheraton Seattle lobby 1400 Sixth Ave. Seattle WA.
12/1-12/31 – Pacific Place Winter Wonderland – Pacific Place 600 Pine St.
12/1 – Menorah Lighting at Westlake – Westlake Park, 4th and Pike Street.
12/1 – Lynnwood Lights Winter Celebration – Lynnwood Convention Center. 3711 196th St. SW. 425-670-5732.
12/2-12/29 –The Lights of Christmas-Stanwood – Warm Beach Camp. 20800 Marine Dr. 360-652-7575
12/3 – Mountlake Terrace Tree Lighting Ceremony – 6:30pm Evergreen Playfield. 22205 58th Ave W.
12/3 – Laurelhurst Holiday Art Fair & Winter Festival – 1-8:30pm. Admission is FREE with canned food donation. 4554 NE 41st ST Seattle206-684-7529
12/4– Home Depot Kids Workshop – 9am-Noon. Aurora Village Home Depot. 1335 N 205th St. Seattle (206 -546-1900)
12/4-12/18 – Lowe’s Build & Grow Clinics – Saturdays from 10-11am. Kids build free wooden train. A different section each week.
12/4 – Merrysville for the Holidays-Marysville – 514 Delta Avenue. 360-659-7700.
12/4 – Country Village Santa Arrival and Tree Lighting Ceremony – 6-8pm 23718 7th Ave. SEBothell. 425-483-2250
12/4: Mill Creek Tree Lighting & Santa’s Coming to Town Parade – 4-5pm. Mill Creek City Hall and 15728 Main Street. 425-921-5737 )
12/4 – Santa Parade & Tree Lighting-Arlington. 12pm. Olympic Ave and Legion Park. 360-403-3448.
12/4-12/24 – Children’s Holiday Arts & Crafts Station – Dec. 4-5, 11-12, 18-24th. Space Needle Observation Deck, 400 Broad Street, Seattle.
12/5 – Coming Home for Hanukkah – 11-2pm. Stroum Jewish Community Center on Mercer Island. 3801 East Mercer Way, Mercer Island, WA 98040.
12/6 – Mukilteo Annual Holiday Program – 4pm Kamiak High School Performing Arts Center. 10801 Harbour Point Blvd. Mukilteo. 425-347-1456 Donate one can of non-perishable food in exchange for ticket. Four tickets per family maximum.
12/7 – Edmonds Christmas Ship Celebration at the Pier. Edmonds Fishing Pier (foot of Dayton Street). 425-771-0227.
12/11-12/12 – Drive Thru Christmas Story – 6-8:30pm. Normandy Christian Church 908 S. 200th Street Seattle.
12/11 – Holiday on the Bay-Everett. 5-6pm. Tree lighting, lighted boat parade. Port of Everett Marina promenade. 15th St & W Marine View Dr. 425-259-3164. (
12/11-Greenlake Pathway of Lights – 4:30-7:30pm Green Lake Community Center 7201 E. Green Lake Drive North
12/11- 2nd Annual Photo With Santa Event – Seattle Red Lion Hotel, 5th Ave Seattle.
12/21- Winter Solstice Candlelight Walk-Snohomish. Riverfront Trail. 425-330-0831.
12/26-12/31 – Celebration Lane -7pm, nightly. Music and performances. Bellevue Way between Lincoln Square and Bellevue Square. (
OTHER FUN EVENTS
12/1-12/27 – Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Nutcracker – Various performance times and ticket prices. McCaw Hall 321 Mercer Street, Seattle. 206-441-2424. (
12/1-12/31 – Zoolights at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium – 5-9pm. $7.50, $6.50 online. Ages 2 and under free. 5400 N. Pearl St. Tacoma WA 98407.
12/4-12/31 – Lyle the Crocodile – Friday-Sunday only. Tickets $17-$37. Seattle Children’s Theatre 201 Thomas St. Seattle WA 98109. 206-441-3322 (
12/4-12/18 – Santa Train 2010 – Dec. 4 & 5, 11 & 12, 17 & 18. Tickets $18 for everyone 2 and up. North Bend Depot 205 McClellan Street, North Bend.
12/4 – An Old Fashioned Christmas in Stanwood. Homemade crafts, holiday treats for sale. 10-2pm. Floyd Norgaard Cultural Center. 27108 102nd Ave NW. 360-629-0562.
12/4 – Lake Stevens Dickens Fair-Everett. 10-4pm. Cavelero Mid High School Commons. 8220 24th St SE. Everett. 425-335-1500.
12/4 – 3rd Annual Country Craft Fair-Monroe. New Horizon Christian Church. 23515 Old Owen Rd. 425-335-4624.
12/4 – Sultan’s Winterfest & Craft Bazaar 10-4pm. Sultan High School Commons. 301 High Ave. 360-793-2400.
12/4 – Toys for Tots Airport Run-Arlington. 11am. 5k/10k. Stillaguamish Athletic Club. 4417 172nd Street NE.
12/4 – Visit Santa at the Gehl Pioneer Home. 10-4pm. $10 donation to the Marysville Historical Society. Jennings Park Barn. 6915 Armar Road. Marysville.
12/5 – Tis the Season at Snohomish Station Holiday craft Bazaar – 2727 Bickford Avenue. 360-563-1112.
12/7 – Day of Remembrance-Arlington. 1-4pm. Stillaguamish Museum. 20722 67th Ave. NE.
12/10-12/12 – The Nutcracker-Everett. Sat. 2pm and 7pm, Sun. 2pm. Ticket prices: $30 Adults, $25 Seniors / Students, $20 Child. Everett Performing Arts Center. 2710 Wetmore. 425-774-7570.
12/11-12/12 – The Gingerbread Boy – Featuring Banraku Japanese-style puppetry. Magnuson Park Theatre 7110 62nd Ave NE Seattle . Tickets $7-9
12/11 – Christmas Bazaar-Monroe. Evergreen State Fairgrounds. Highway 2. 360-805-6700.
12/17- Hometown Hootenanny: An Old Fashioned Country
Christmas-Everett. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors/students/military,
$5 for kids 12 and under. Available at www.brownpapertickets.com or at Historic Everett Theatre. 2911 Colby Ave. 425-258-6766.
12/17-12/19 – The Nutcracker-Edmonds. Sat 2pm and 7pm. Sun 3pm. Tickets $30 Adults, $25 Seniors/Students, $20 Child. Edmonds Center for the Arts. 410 4th Ave N. 425-774-7570.
12/20-12/29 – Winter Celebration at Woodland Park Zoo – Free with zoo admission. 11am-2pm.
12/22 – Santa’s Lights Tour -$5; children 5 and under free. 3-hr. tour of Seattle’s best Christmas lights. Pioneer Square, Second Avenue S. and S. Main Street. 206-684-1618
NEW YEARS EVE EVENTS:
Fireworks at the Space Needle – 6pm-1am. Free from ground, $125/person from observation deck. 400 Broad St. 206-905-2100
New Year’s Eve with the Machine (part of Winterfest) – Free event. 8pm-11:45pm. Seattle Center, Center House Stage/Dance Floor 305 Harrison Street. 206-684-7200
Festival of Lights at Seattle Children’s Museum – Mexican / Christian celebration “Las Posadas” honoring Mary and Joseph’s trip to Bethlehem. 10am-5pm. 305 Harrison Street, Seattle. $6.50-$7.50. 206-441-1768
These deals were compiled just for you by specialist Denise, a married homeschooling mom of 3 crazy kids ages 15, 12 and 10. She works from home for a local dancewear company and enjoys blogging, reading, working out, drinking borderline dangerous amounts of chai tea, and receiving gifts of the pink and sparkly variety.
About Karrie
Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...
Comments & Reviews
Maegen says
For your south sound readers, I have a big list up.
There are free open houses at fire stations this weekend (with Santa), a bunch of free tree lightings and parades, and a whole lot more!
http://www.soundsfunmom.com/?p=1019 Hope it’s o.k. to mention!
The Santa Train is an Awesome deal! The site Tomina mentioned isn’t updated anymore, although I’m sure most of the info. is the same.
Great post! Love that it’s organized by price!
Tomina says
If you are going to check out the Zoolights at the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, you should also check out the Santa Train put on by the camp six logging museum. It is very close to the zoo in the Point Defiance Park and train rides only cost $1 as opposed to the $18 North Bend Santa Train. For more info go to: http://www.tacomakids.com/?p=69
Courtney Holcomb says
Haggen stores, 12/4 1- 4pm free make-your-own (for kids) graham cracker “gingerbread” houses
Erin R. says
This is great, many thanks!!!
One question… maybe other readers know?!?! I have heard about the lighted boat parade in Seattle (info here: http://www.queencity.org/event/lighted-boat-parade-2) but we live south of city and are not natives, so I’m not sure where the best places to view are. Is there somewhere you can park alongside a road and still see the boats cruise by? (I grew up in the Tri-Cities and we did that every year, I miss it now that we’re over on the western side).
Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!!
— Erin