With the gourds mostly picked clean from last month’s Hello Kitty pumpkin patch, it’s time to set our sights on a supercute Christmas at Tanaka Farms. As was previously announced, the long-running Irvine farm will host a year of Sanrio takeovers, and now we have our first hint at what that’ll mean for the holiday season.
In addition to the farm’s Christmas tree lot, you’ll find “Sanrio Village,” a hilltop area decorated for the holidays with Hello Kitty and co. photo ops as well as pictures with Santa. Now, if it’s anything like the pumpkin patch, we would expect something closer to oversized freestanding illustrations than a proper Christmas village, but even that sounds perfectly adorable to us.
The village is one of a couple of stops along a holiday wagon tour, which takes guests through the 30-acre farm’s rows of winter crops, as well as to a holiday market stand with arts and crafts and family-friendly activity. Tickets cost $18 for the one-hour experience, and each person will receive a limited edition Sanrio button and holiday crown (plus a mini Hello Kitty storybook if you donate a can of food).
October’s pumpkin patch proved so popular that it gridlocked the local streets, so this time around Tanaka Farms is requiring timed tickets for the holiday tours. Tickets are available now, and we encourage grabbing them while you can if a trip to a Hello Kitty Christmas village is all you want this holiday season.
In addition, Tanaka Farms will host their annual holiday boutique on Saturday, December 2 from 10am to 3pm, including a Sanrio booth and appearances from Hello Kitty between 10am and 1pm. Admission is free, though guests are required to register for a parking pass for entry. Beyond this winter, you’ll find Sanrio-themed strawberry picking in the spring followed by a melon celebration in the summer.
The Sanrio Village tours begin on Friday, November 24 and continue every Saturday and Sunday through December 17 from 9:30am to 3:30pm.
