Christmas in New England — Getting Lost Together

Christmas in New England is a magical time. With a large variety of activities and places to visit it can feel a little overwhelming. I have compiled a list of the Christmas activities my family and I have enjoyed over the years, along with our todo list.

Cut Your Own Christmas Tree: This is a popular holiday activity in New England. There are many Christmas Tree Farms, but our favorite is Windswept Mountains View Christmas Tree Farm in Richmond, NH. This Christmas Tree Farm is located on the side of a hill. Once you walk to the top, you get sweeping views of the Monadnock Region. They also have a wide variety of Christmas Trees, some species I had never heard of. There is also a small gift shop.

Enchanted Village at Jordan’s: Located in Avon, MA this holiday favorite is fun for all ages. With games, an indoor tube slide, indoor skating rink and 4-D Polar Express adventure this is a fun place to spend a magical afternoon.

Gift of Lights at NH Motor Speedway located in Loudon, NH this has been a family tradition for several years. Bring a group and drive the 2.5 miles around the motor speedway admiring the various holiday lights. in 2024 they added a 2 mile race/walk around the track. Hopefully I can do it one year.

Holiday Light Spectacular at Roger Williams Zoo in Providence RI. With over 3 million lights this light show is amazing. Tickets are required in advance. Walk around the zoo and enjoy a variety of Christmas light displays. Even though we were in the zoo we only saw a couple of the animals. It took a little over an hour to see all the lights. Highly recommend checking out this spectacular light show.

Holidays at Newport Mansions: Our first visit to the Newport Mansions was the weekend after Thanksgiving and I am so glad this was our first visit. We visited The Breakers and the Elm’s. The Christmas decorations in both mansions were beautiful. If you can just do one mansion I would do The Breakers. There are three you can visit, but we opted for two. At night they have an outdoor light show, which is an additional cost.

Holiday Parade: Parades are always a fund way to kick off the holiday season. We have enjoyed the Manchester Parade. The parade usually starts out with a Santa Shuffle race where runners dress in holiday costumes and run down Elm Street. After the race is the parade with a large variety of floats Find a spot on Elm Street to enjoy the show.

Holly Jolly Journey at Mel’s Funpark is located in Litchfield, NH. In 2024 this is a new exhibit for Mel’s. They have transformed their fun park into a Christmas wonderland with thousands of lights to walk through, a visits with Santa, warm drinks, alcoholic beverages, snacks, elves to snap photos, a wagon ride and overall just an amazing light display. With a little over a two thirds mile of a walk you are transformed into the magic of Christmas with different scenes, lights and the magic of Christmas. The path is stroller and wagon friendly. I did see wagons for rent. I also saw they are hoping to expand the lights. We loved walking through this magical display.

LaBelle Lights at LaBelle Winery located in Derry, NH. Opening in 2021 LaBelle has turned their golf course course in a winter wonderland that you walk through. Tickets are required, but once you purchase them you can use them any day. You can also get dinner on site at Americus. If you don’t want to get dinner there is a Tasting Room and Labelle Market available.

Night Lights at Tower Hill Garden located in Boylston, MA. This is one of my favorite gardens to visit in the spring and summer months. The last few years they have added a holiday light show that is just beautiful. They decorate their gardens with a variety of lights creating a beautiful winter wonderland.

Nutcracker Play: This has been a tradition since I was a young child. Almost every year my mom took me to the Nutcracker Play and I have continued this tradition with my daughter. We usually go to the Palace Theater in Manchester for the show. Several other theaters in New England run this play as well.

Santas Village: A is a popular New Hampshire amusement park in Jefferson. Many think it is just a summer destination, but they are open through New Years Eve. What’s more magical then visiting Santa’s Village at Christmas time.

Snowport Holiday Market: Located in the Seaport of Boston is this fun holiday market. Park in one of the Seaport garages and walk down to the market where you can shop local artists, enjoy a variety of food trucks and drinks. There is also a variety of shops and restaurants in the area if you want to explore further. If you are not a fan of crowds I highly recommend going in the off times, like during the week. We went on a Friday night and it was so busy we could barely walk around.

Strawberry Bank If you are looking for an old fashion Christmas you need to visit Strawberry Bank in Portsmouth, NH. The village is transformed into Christmas of the past.

Tour Christmas Light Displays: Many towns have list of houses decorated for Christmas One of our favorite course is on Intervale Drive in Wilton, NH. This private home allows guests to wander the property and enjoy the decorations this family has put a lot of time and effort into.

Winter Wonders at Sandy Hill Farm located in Elliot, Maine is an amazing light display with well over one million lights to walk around and explore.

Yankee Candle in Deerfield MA is an indoor winter wonderland. Yes this is a candle store, but it is so much more. There is a Bavarian Christmas village and a Nutcracker Castle both fun to explore. I remember being so impressed with the Christmas village and how big it was. No matter the time of year, it feels like Christmas year round at Yankee Candle.

ZooLights Stone Zoo Stoneham MA, this zoo is transformed into a winter wonderland with several thousand lights and festively decorated sections of the zoo. The Animals are not available for viewing during the light display. Out of all the light displays we have been to, this was our least favorite. We are glad we went, but did not feel it was as spectacular as some of the other display in New England.