The best Christmas events in Los Angeles

Stroll through a garden illuminated by celestial-inspired lights during this year-end event at South Coast Botanic Garden. There’s admittedly nothing Christmassy nor even wintry about this hour-long Palos Verdes trail, yet its nine stellar installations are the most cosmically mesmerizing of the budding after-dark botanical garden shows that’ve come to blanket L.A. toward the end of the year.

The annual L.A. Kings ice skating rink once again returns to L.A. Live. Skate around the dazzling Christmas tree that stands in the middle of the outdoor rink, and take in an LED holiday light show on the huge screens around the plaza. Choose from four nightly skating sessions. Note: Tickets, which include skate rental, are only sold on-site, and can’t be purchased online.

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Located just blocks from the ocean, Ice in downtown Santa Monica brings a bit of winter to the comfortable coastal city. The 8,000-square-foot outdoor rink runs daily from November to mid-January on the corner of Fifth Street and Arizona Avenue (less than a 10-minute walk from the E Line). Tickets for an hour-long slot ($22) include skate rentals, and you can book private parties and cabanas if you’re looking for something a bit more premium. Look out for treats for sale, plus themed nights on Wednesdays.

Stroll across the grounds of King Gillette Ranch as the Santa Monica Mountains hideaway is illuminated during Holiday Road, which returns with a nearly mile-long walking trail. The event, which comes from the same team as Nights of the Jack, includes thousands of lights, festive decor like a small Christmas village, larger-than-life holiday displays and lit-up archways. Look out for Santa and Mrs. Claus, and fill up with food trucks and a holiday bar while you’re there. Prices start at $25 before fees and go up depending on the day and time you visit.

Riverside’s stunningly beautiful Mission Inn is bathed in 4.5 million twinkly lights during the annual Festival of Lights. The free six-week-long holiday tradition runs from late November to early January and typically features more than 400 animated figures. Having been voted the “Best Public Lights Display” by USA Today, the festival attracts over 500,000 visitors each year.

Even the grumpiest of list-makers at yuletide has to include a production of Dickens’s most beloved tale of becoming a better person. Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott direct this merry and music-filled production, starring Elliott and his fellow resident artists of A Noise Within theater company—all ranking among L.A.’s best classical actors—staged in ANW’s spacious house with perfect sight lines from every seat, even for the kids.

You can’t seem to get more a stone’s throw away from a huge festive light display in Los Angeles come holiday season. Well, except for this new entry to the scene, which is making its L.A. debut all the way at Raging Waters. If you feel like making the trek out to San Dimas, though, Lektrik looks like quite the impressive display, boasting over 1,000,000 LED lights and larger-than-life lanterns through miles of illuminated trails. Adding to the experience are acrobatic performers, artisan vendors, food trucks and even some stone-carving.

The beloved Bob Baker Marionette Theater is back with its annual holiday production, which dates back to 1969. This year, it’s taking the stage at the Sierra Madre Playhouse for the first time. From just after Thanksgiving through the beginning of the year, you can see the charming play, with its large-scale marionettes and intricate sets, on most weekends and, around Christmas, select weekdays. 

It’s always Christmas at this charmingly kitsch amusement park outside of Lake Arrowhead. But it’s extra Christmassy toward the end of the year at Santa’s Village—especially if we’re lucky enough to have had some fresh mountain snowfall. Swing by from November 14 to January 5 for lighting displays, a train ride, a magical nighttime walk through the forest, seasonal snacks, breakfast with Santa and tea with Mrs. Claus (those require a separate ticket) and ice skating.

Ah, the joys of Christmas in a Mediterranean climate, where boat owners can deck out their ships in holiday lights and set sail without the impediment of icy weather. For the 115th year, the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade is doing just that as over 100 decorated yachts and ships parade around a 14-mile circuit in the Newport Harbor. You can see the parade for free during each of the five nights from any bay-facing point along the harbor (Marina Park, which also hosts a holiday market, is the go-to spot), but there are also reserved seats, dining packages and cruises available for purchase. 

Relive your childhood theatergoing experiences this Christmas with Uncle Drosselmeyer, Clara and her beloved Nutcracker at the L.A. Ballet. The timeless show—which gets a SoCal twist here—will travel all over L.A. for the holiday season, bringing classic pirouettes and Mouse King battles to Pasadena and Westwood, as well as 10 performances in Hollywood, where the show will be backed by an orchestra (a rarity among Nutcracker performances).

Strike the harp and join the chorus with the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Holiday Sing-Along at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The family-friendly seasonal program offers two performances hosted by Melissa Peterman with performances from a choir, a jazz combo and on the massive pipe organ. Lyric sheets for the holiday classics will be provided, just in case you forget how many fa-la-la-la-las are in “Deck the Halls.”

The beloved Bob Baker Marionette Theater’s year-end production, Holiday on Strings, is back onstage at the puppet troupe’s new-ish Highland Park location. The hour-long show, which follows the Wizard of Fantasy and his sidekick, Demetrius Nova Twinklestar III, on a tour of the holiday galaxies, covers every festive angle: It’ll transport audiences to Santa’s workshop, the world of Charles Dickens and a Hanukkah celebration. For a sensory-friendly version, book tickets to the 10:30am show on Saturday, December 14.

Like an Angelyne billboard on Sunset Boulevard, the Hollywood Christmas Parade is an essential part of L.A. kitsch. The nine-decade-old parade will feature floats, balloons, bands, equestrians and celebrities as they ride in a U-shaped route that begins at Hollywood and Orange and ends up at Sunset and Orange. Reserved grandstand seats can be purchased, with proceeds going to Toys for Tots, but free curbside seating is also available.

Not to be confused with A Noise Within’s A Christmas Carol—though the talents involved are equally stellar—here we have the chance to see the story up close. Now in its 20th year, the show finds David Melville displays his classically trained, beautifully polished craft to bring the famous writer to life as he tells his classic tale of Christmastime redemption; Melville also performs the tale’s many iconic characters, all in the intimacy of Independent Shakespeare Co.’s indoor theater space.

This Christmas-themed Costa Mesa event is celebrating 10 years of turning Orange County into a winter wonderland. Expect a North Pole walk-through, snow play, ice tubing and photo ops, plus an all-new holiday light show twinkling with more than 2 million lights. Upgrade your experience with an expanded carnival, ice skating, VIP arctic cabanas, “polar putt putt” golf, and fireside igloos. Hot cocoa and seasonal treats will help keep things cozy. Winter Fest OC’s extensive hours make it one of the rare holiday events you can enjoy on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day themselves.

Long Beach Ballet’s The Nutcracker is one of the only area productions of the holiday classic that includes not only a live full orchestra, but a horse, a flying sleigh and pyrotechnics. Sure, the story may be the same, but this production pulls out all the stops to entertain audiences year after year.