It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
Believe it or not, December is almost here. Between the holiday shopping, decorating, eating, and more eating, there awaits a splendid assortment of magical things to do in the city this holiday season.
Read on to discover 22 fantastic festive things to do in Dallas this December!
1. Astra Lumina
Embark on a magical walk amongst the stars this holiday season at the debut of Astra Lumina in Dallas! The celestial experience takes place at Trinity Forest Adventure Park, where visitors can follow cosmic pathways through a forested area among awe-inspiring light installations, astral projections, combined with ethereal sounds. Tickets are now on sale!
🎁 Get an Astra Lumina gift card here
2. Lektrik: A Festival of Lights
This holiday season, the Texas Discovery Gardens will be inundated with over a million lights for the debut of Letrik: A Festival of Lights. Here, visitors can witness the wonder of over 40 carefully-crafted lantern installations as well as artisan vendors, live acrobatics, food, drinks, and more. Tickets are now on sale!
3. Coca Cola Classic Christmas
Coca Cola Classic Christmas has returned to Dallas. Here, the iconic company have teamed up with Enchant, the bright minds behind the largest Christmas light maze in the world, to take over the Choctaw Stadium with over 55,000 square feet of holiday cheer.
Featured events at Classic Christmas include snow tubing, ice skating, Yuletide markets, live performances, and enough lights to win over the most stubborn Grinch.
4. Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue
Gather resources, ward off mobs, and chop down trees on your rescue quest at Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue in Dallas! The blocky new interactive experience allows Minecraft fans to immerse themselves in the iconic game come to life complete with biomes, pandas, dolphins, skeletons, creepers, and more. Get your tickets here!
5. Experience the Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Make this holiday season extra magical with a visit to Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest experience in Austin. Embark on a captivating adventure along a mysterious forest path brimming with enchantment and awe, where delightful surprises await at every turn.
Prepare your wand for spellcasting, encounter Hippogriffs and Nifflers, and relish breathtaking moments inspired by the magical worlds of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films. Following the exhilaration, a charming village awaits, inviting you with hearty meals and a crackling fire.
6. Enjoy a Concert by Candlelight
Experience the enchanting Candlelight concerts in Dallas, where the brilliance of hundreds of candles combines with breathtaking musical tributes to both contemporary and classical musicians. Your evenings in the city are set to be warmed by live musicians performing beautiful classical renditions of the world’s most recognizable and influential artists.
Immerse yourself in the intimate atmosphere as the music of Beyoncé, Pink Floyd, Hans Zimmer, Bad Bunny, and more comes to life, surrounded by the flickering glow of candles. Prepare to be dazzled by these captivating performances.
7. Pay homage to tallest indoor Christmas tree in the country
The monolith tree, which is decked out with roughly 10,000 colored ornaments and nearly half a million lights requires the work of 50 employees at Galleria who come together and spend days building the five-ton steel frame before installing more than 1,700 branches and decorating the enormous evergreen.
8. Revel in Christmas cheer at the Arboretum
One of the picks of the bunch can be found at the esteemed Dallas Arboretum. One of the top botanical gardens in the world and one of the city’s top attractions, the 66-acre arboretum transforms each year for its popular “Holiday at the Arboretum” event.
9. Dine in the Dark
Ever wondered what it would be like to eat in complete darkness? Experts say that as much as 80% of individuals rely predominately on sight when eating. When this is eliminated, the theory is that senses such as taste and smell are elevated, resulting in a heightened dining experiences.
10. Enjoy Dallas’ Spectacular Zoo Lights Experience
The 106-acre zoological Park is once again hosting its beloved mile-long walk-thru experience inviting guests to wander beneath millions of twinkling lights between dazzling 3D lighted sculptures and installations.
11. Gift a loved one a Candlelight Concert
Can’t decide? Or struggling to think of a present for somebody? Gift somebody an exclusive concert illuminated with thousands of candles with a Candlelight gift card.
Choose from concerts featuring jazz, rock, pop, classical music, and even movie soundtracks in spectacular venues around Dallas.
Candlelight gift cards are really easy to use and valid for any Candlelight event making it a unique and exciting gift for friends or family!
Get your Candlelight gift card valid for any Candlelight concert in Dallas or any other city in the U.S. here.12. Enjoy Yuletide Libations at Tipsy Elf
The cheerful Christmas pop-up returns to Bishop Arts District this holiday season! Here eager elves can enjoy themed drinks, holiday mischief, off-key karaoke, and all sorts of festivities!
13. Travel back in time with A Very Sinatra Christmas Special at The Artisan in Dallas
This December, The Artisan in Dallas is hosting “A Very Sinatra Christmas Special” to get you in the holiday spirit. Paying homage to the legend himself, these cozy concerts include a catalog of tunes that Sinatra loved to sing during the holiday season, plus a full bar and light bites available for purchase! Grab tickets here to save your spot.
14. Leela’s Holiday House
The beloved annual pop-up has returned to Leela’s Wine Bar for the holidays! Here, the wine bar has undergone a magical transformation into a decked out Yuletide destination! Complete with an array of seasonal libations, festive decor, and cozy vibes: all three Leela’s locations are ready for you when baby, it’s cold outside.
15. Take a spin in this bowling alley hidden inside an old movie theater
Recently opened, Bowlski’s Lakewood Theater is a live concert venue, candy counter, pool lounge, arcade, bar, and bowling alley. When it came to renovating the historical venue, Bowlski’s owners salvaged what they could of their predecessor.
16. Get your AMC Yellow Ticket
Fever is offering an amazing opportunity! Explore the showtimes and listings at our featured AMC movie theaters, grab your Fever ticket, and enjoy yourself! Whether it’s a gloomy afternoon or a memorable date night, AMC Theatres® has your access to top-notch comedies, action films, and everything in between—all just a click away.
15. Watch one of the Klyde Warren Park’s come alive for nightly light & music shows
For those who have yet to see it, Dallas’ Klyde Warren Park is now home to a majestic new fountain made up of three 15-foot-stainless-steel treelike sculptures that can shoot water up to 100 feet into the air. Opened in September it is dubbed the world’s tallest interactive water fountain and features a 5,000-square-foot splash pad that can accommodate hundreds of children at a time.
The fountain’s design was inspired by the surrounding beloved green space, “with three 15-foot stainless-steel “trees,” 14 “rosebud” bubblers, and 106 small nozzles that create giant “leaves” when they are working in unison” according to the Klyde Warren Park website.
16. Snap your new Christmas Card at SNOWDAY
The ultra festive SNOWDAY and SNOWLAND pop-up has returned to Galleria Dallas with imaginative themed rooms full of holiday cheer. Here, visitors of all ages can delight in multiple photo-ops ranging fro the Polar Express to Santa’s Christmas cabin.
17. Escape the hustle & bustle to these gorgeous woodland cabins
Another wonderful way to escape the hustle and bustle of the big city is out in a Getaway cabin. With a bustling entertainment scene and a wealth of subcultures and interesting neighborhoods, many of us can be guilty of becoming all too comfortable passing week on week in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and forgetting to take a break from the urban monotony.
Getaway House is a chain of tiny cabin hideaways helping people in big, bustling cities like Chicago, LA, NYC, and Dallas, disconnect from their busy city lives with restorative stays in the middle of nature.
Nestled in Larue, just 1.5 hours outside Dallas, 40 tiny cabins offer immersive floor-to-ceiling windows and minimalistic yet comfortable designs to let the stress of routine slip away and focus on being in a flourishing natural environment.
18. Glamp in the stars
New resident Texan, Elon Musk, promises that humans will land on Mars by 2026. If you can’t wait that long, you can spend a few nights at Basecamp Terlingua, an other-worldly glamping experience that integrates the future with the past, giving its visitors the impression of luxury camping in the cosmos.
19. Enjoy the Adolphus Hotel’s rooftop winter village
Dallas’ iconic Adolphus Hotel has had a Christmas makeover and it looks magical. The luxury hotel’s pool deck has been transformed into a winter village complete with snow globes, themed cottages, cozy winter cabins, Croque Monsieur winter soldiers, and festive food and drink options.
Every week Tuesday through Saturday guests can now transport themselves to a chic chalet village and revel in festive cheer.
20. Step Inside the Largest Christmas Store in Texas
Whether you’ve yet started or finished decorating for Christmas, Texas’s #1 Christmas Store, Decorator’s Warehouse in Dallas is worth a trip this festive season.
21. Get Jolly at Dallas’s Most Festive Bars
For those unfamiliar, Miracle is a festive Christmas transformation that completely takes over local bars during the holiday season.
Adorned with an abundance of lights visible from space, offering warm and cold seasonal drinks, and boasting unmatched holiday decorations capable of warming even the Grinch’s heart threefold, Miracle is a must-visit for anyone who embraces the spirit of elf culture.
22. Revel in the Spectacle of the Dallas Holiday Parade
Dallas’ one and only Holiday Parade returns in all of its Yuletide pageantry this December. On December 7, the largest one-day events in Dallas will once again fill downtown streets with a promenade of floats, performances, characters, and more. The event will also find a series of food trucks and vendors at Main Street Gardens and Civic Gardens with seasonal concessions.
23. Enjoy a Tex-Mex Xmas
You can never have enough holiday lights, just as you can never have too many fajitas. Infuse a Tex-Mex twist into your Christmas celebrations by heading to Campo Verde in Arlington for the most joyously festive fajita experience you’ll encounter all year.