It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. If your families are at all like ours, your excitement is building by the day. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, the summer weather and holiday season are the perfect chance to spend party time together. Check out these Christmas events and Christmas lights displays and spread the holiday spirit!
Check out top events such as Hunter Valley Gardens Christmas Spectacular. Credit: Hunter Valley Gardens
Carols in the Domain – Sydney – 21st December
This annual music extravaganza – one of Australia’s most famous Christmas events – is totally free. Bring your picnic rug, some dinner snacks and your singing voices to the Domain, which is right near the Royal Botanic Gardens. An exciting line-up of celebrity musicians will take the stage. You can relax, run around or join in as the night goes on. There are also some food options sold onsite. Paid reservations can be made for seating near the stage.
Hunter Valley Gardens Christmas Lights – New South Wales – starts 8th November
You thought your neighbourhood had the best Christmas lights. Visit the Hunter Valley Gardens for the Christmas Lights Spectacular and you’ll be astonished. Light installations include Candyland, a Princess Castle and icons from around the world. The garden is a relaxed, family-friendly setting made all the more enchanted by the lights.
Crazy combo of Carousels and Christmas lights at Christmas Light Spectacular Credit: Hunter Valley Gardens
Christmas at Fed Square – Melbourne – 24th November to 25th December
This free, ongoing celebration kicks off every night for a month in Melbourne’s Federation Square. The action unfolds under a 16-metre Christmas Tree. Get a photo with Santa, take a selfie inside a bauble, walk the Snow Dome and stay up to watch the light show every night from 9pm.
Christmas Lights, Festive Nights – Adelaide – 13th to 22nd December
Ever seen a Santa sleigh made entirely out of LEGO? Hop in and get your photo taken beside the LEGO Rudolph in Adelaide’s Victoria Square. This Christmas festival includes a spirited calendar of events, from Christmas movies on Friday nights to Christmas markets on weekends. Daily, you can watch the tree light up at 8.30pm, get your face painted, enjoy live music and snack on food-truck treats.
Christmas at Darwin Waterfront – Darwin – December
Temperatures have skyrocketed in Australia’s northernmost capital city by the time December swings around. As the evening starts to cool, from 7pm to 10pm every night in December, head to the Darwin Waterfront for some Christmas cheer. There will be festive Christmas lighting among the Parklands, a gingerbread house standing at nearly 4 metres and decorated in gold, red and green, a giant bauble and a Santa sleigh with grazing reindeer and an enormous star made of 1000 light globes. Pop by on a Saturday night from 7pm to 9pm, and you can snap a photo with Santa.
Walk through a waterfront wonderland in Darwin Credit: Darwin Waterfront Corporation
Lights of Lobethal – Adelaide Hills – 8th to 22nd December
Running for more than 60 years, Lights of Lobethal is the largest community Christmas light display in the southern hemisphere! Follow the Lights Trail map through this Adelaide Hills town, witness the Living Nativity, party hard on Pageant Night and clap along to buskers. Celebrations start with Lights On Ceremony on Sunday 8th December from 6pm, with carols and fireworks.
Santa’s Christmas Carnival – Perth – 8th December
Pay a single entry fee for access to all-day unlimited rides and entertainment at Claremont Showground. Motocross stunt shows, face painting, animal farms, roving entertainers and more launch at 10am. Word on the street is the big man himself – Santa Claus – will skydive into the main arena at 10.50am! Don’t forget your swimmers and towel so you can cool off in the water playground. Check out Perth’s Christmas Lights Trail while you’re at it.
A White Christmas is a distant reality in the peak of Aussie summer. With temperatures well into the 30’s and beaches drawing crowds, we have distinct traditions of our own for the festive season. Have you started wandering your local streets to look at the fairy lights? Are you stocking up on water-balloons and unrolling the slip ‘n’ slide for backyard water fights? Who makes the pavlova? And who brings the prawns?
We know every family has their own rituals or Christmas events at this time of year. Visit our Facebook page and share your family traditions for celebrating summer. Keep your eyes peeled for Christmas events happening in your local area.
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Sophie is a die-hard pasta lover, beach-goer and theatre fanatic hit hard with the travel bug. When exploring new places, Sophie loves straying from the beaten path and chatting with locals about the best places to grab a bite to eat.