Holiday Lights – Family Events In Denver
The Denver Zoo Lights span 70 acres of Denver Zoo’s campus. The illuminated animal sculptures are all over the zoo. Some in trees, some hiding in the bushes and some out on the grass. The best time we have there is trying to find our favorite animal in lights! There is always nightly entertainment, some animal encounters, and pictures with Santa!
This Littleton tradition is a festive evening of holiday lights and music for the whole family. Sip hot cider, listen to holiday music and see reindeer! Santa Claus and his sleigh will start down Main Street at 6:30pm magically illuminating more than one million lights in the trees as he passes each block. When he reaches the end of Main Street, Santa throws the switch on the big Christmas Tree in the plaza. After that, he will make his way to Town Hall Arts Center for photos and to listen to the first wishes of the season.
If you have ever driven downtown during the holidays you will see the City & County Building beautifully lit up. The colors are simply amazing. The official kick-off to the largest lighting display in Denver happens on November 24 at 6 p.m. at the City & County Building, where 600,000 lights deck the neo-classical building. You can enjoy fun, food, and live music in the light of the City and County Building, this is a great family friendly event. If you cannot make the kick off event you should make a point to visit sometime during the holiday season.
The 9NEWS Parade of Lights is the signature event of the downtown Denver holiday season. The sparkling lights, marching bands, giant balloons, floats and fun characters will wow hundreds of thousands. Viewing along the parade route is free, and grandstand tickets are sold for seating in front of the beautifully illuminated City & County Building.
Estes park has a great day event that then turns into an evening parade. Sounds great for all ages. Kick off the season in Estes Park on the day after Thanksgiving with carolers, pony rides, hay rides, shopping and, of course, Santa and his elves. When dusk falls, the magical Catch the Glow Parade begins. It’s a 45-minute lighting ceremony with bands, floats and dancers.
Embrace the holidays with thousands of colorful lights draped in elegant designs at Blossoms of Light. The 2017 event features new elements, including the return of the grand illuminated O’Fallon Perennial Walk and the Romantic Gardens. Warm drinks and tasty treats and seasonal entertainment will be available, and thousands of lights in the Gardens’ amphitheater are synchronized to your favorite holiday tunes.
Locations – Denver Botanic Gardens
Dates – Nov. 24 – Dec. 24, 2017
Christmas is my favorite time of year because of things like holiday decorations!I've always wanted to attend a holiday lights show, but never had the opportunity to.I'd love to try to make one this year.
The Zoo Lights must be so incredibly pretty! It is lights events like these that I like making a part of our family's holiday traditions. They are all so fascinating and impressive!
I absolutely love looking at holiday lights and we have several traditions each year. But one we never miss is driving around looking at Christmas lights and driving through the local displays. Denver just his my list of places I need to visit over the holidays.
I love driving around the city during the holidays just to look at the Christmas lights display! I'm going home for Christmas (they don't do this in Italy!) so I can't wait to see all the lights!
I love Christmas lights. We have a joke in our family to leave Dad home because he gives us whiplash trying to look. I have wanted to go to Denver just on a regular day but now I want to go during this season. We have a festival of lights at our zoo but these activities look amazing.
This makes me want to see how many of these I can go see this holiday season!! We love Christmas at my house 🙂
Oh that looks so wonderful. I wish I lived close enough to take my family. We went to something similar in Arkansas a few years ago and it was fantastic. So festive!
We have some beautiful light shows in our area. However, Denver seems to be booming with the lights. We may have to make a special trip to Denver.