While Southern California doesn’t have the snow and cold that ushers in the Christmas spirit for most of the United States, there are still a ton of great events that allow you to get into the holiday spirit. While I cannot speak for the epic celebrations in Northern California, here are my favorite ways to enjoy the holiday season in Southern California.
The Mission Inn Festival of Lights
The Mission Inn is one of the premier holiday light events in Southern California. Every year this famous hotel gets wholly decked out in Christmas lights, and it is a unique and free night for the whole family to enjoy called The Festival of Lights. You can walk through the hotel and see their inside decorations or simply walk around the outside and up Main Street to enjoy pictures with Santa, and all of the festive food treats you can eat. This is a great holiday tradition to create with your family as it is a free event that you can make as long or as short as you would like. I believe this is still happening in 2020 but that there are not going to be any vendors or other things to do around the lights.
Disneyland
Disneyland is especially fun during December as the park goes all out with lots of different Christmas decorations. The Haunted Mansion gets transformed with Nightmare Before Christmas add ons and It’s a Small World becomes very festive as well. Go early in December to avoid the lines though. You can read more here. Unfortunately, Disneyland is still closed.
Ice Skating at Pershing Square in Los Angeles
Usually open from mid-November to mid-January, this large ice rink right in the center of LA is in its 17th season of bringing a little cold weather fun to sunny Southern California. This is a great place to hang out with friends, enjoy Christmas Concerts and events, and ice skate. I love making the trek down here as it’s a fun way to pretend like you live in a city where ice actually does freeze on the ground, without having to drive in it. I believe this is closed for the 2020 season.
Hotel Del Coronado – Ice Skating & Upside Down Tree
In San Diego, you can ice skate overlooking the beach and ocean at the famous Hotel Del Coronado. It is a very California Christmas thing to do to combine the beach with ice skating. Again, there is not an ice skating rink this year.
They also have a beautiful upside-down tree in the lobby that you should check out as well.
Griffith Park Holiday Train Ride
For a small fee, you can head over to the Griffith Park Trains and take a 10-minute ride around the 1-mile track. The track is filled with Christmas lights and other things to look at, and the train goes slow, providing a lot of time to look around. The train is a super fun thing to do for the whole family that is less than the price of a movie ticket. Check out the video below of the entire train ride so you can see what it entails.
Read more about the train ride here. According to their website this is not running currently.
Christmas Tree Lane in Altadena
North of Pasadena, in the town of Altadena, Christmas Tree Lane is a holiday tradition that has been running for over 90 years. This street comes alive every Christmas with its massive cedar trees getting beautiful lights strung on them for people to drive under and see. Read more about it here.
Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios celebrates Christmas with an entire area dedicated to the Grinch called Grinchmas. It is a lot of fun as they have a Who-biliation celebration at night where the Grinch comes out and the light the tree. Harry Potter’s Wizarding World also has Christmas decorations and there is a Christmas light show as well. Read more about it here. Universal Studios is still closed in 2020.
Logan’s Candy Cane Making Demonstration
You have eaten a candy cane I am sure, but have you ever seen how they are made? Logan’s Candies is a unique shop with 80 years of history that is still making candy canes the same way they were in 1933. During the Christmas season, they have excellent free demonstrations that will show you how the candy cane is made from start to finish. After the presentation, for $1.50, you can even get a warm candy cane that you can mold however your heart sees fit, it is sure to be a fun adventure for the whole family and may also become a new tradition. More information here. According to their website, it seems like they will still be doing demonstrations.
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