While the holidays bring about feelings of love, joy, and celebration, they can also bring about stress and put a strain on budgets. Use this season as an opportunity to focus on the things that matter most in life and spark the holiday spirit in your heart by spending time with the ones you love.
Whether the kids are off from school and feeling restless, you’re looking to spend time with out-of-town family, or you just want to enjoy the season, there’s a local activity for you. Instead of costly holiday parties and extravagant winter vacations, consider going to a local tree lighting, visiting a museum, or volunteering your time for someone less fortunate. Enjoy the holidays in new ways without emptying your wallet.
Holiday events
Local holiday events are abundant this time of year. Create the ultimate Santa Cruz holiday card after catching Santa riding the waves on November 25 at Capitola Beach. Surfin’ Santa will ride the waves on his kayak before taking to his beach chair on the esplanade stage to visit and take photos with all the children. If you can’t make that event, fear not! Santa will be in attendance on December 18 at winter on the wharf, where you can also enjoy snow with Anna and Elsa from Disney’s Frozen.
If extravagant decorations and holiday lights interest you, consider visiting the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Winter Wonderland November 25 through December 31. See the abundance of decorations and lights at no cost, or for a small fee enjoy a select number of rides and get your photo taken with Santa.
See even more extravagant lights at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds Holiday Lights. From November 24 through December 24, enjoy a 3/4-mile drive-through experience at the Fairgrounds featuring spectacular lighted holiday displays and carols.
The annual Santa Cruz Harbor lighted boat parade is happening again this year! Beginning shortly after sunset on December 2, watch as boats circle the harbor boasting their Holiday Harbor Fantasyland decor. This is a fun event for the whole family, with limited viewing from the Murray Street bridge, east harbor launch ramp, and various harbor paths.
Downtown Santa Cruz will be bustling all season with events for the whole family. November 24 through December 23, participate in a reindeer round-up scavenger hunt. Grab a map from the downtown Santa Cruz information kiosk or Pacific Cookie Company before visiting participating businesses to collect hidden reindeer and enter to win a grand prize! If parades are more your thing, let downtown Santa Cruz kick off your celebrations with their annual holiday parade, bringing together the whole community rain or shine on December 2.
History buffs, we’ve got you covered too! December 9 at Wilder Ranch State Park, enjoy holidays on the ranch. Step into Victorian and early 20th-century performances featuring Lyric Victorian Carolers, sample Victorian-era holiday goodies, see live demonstrations, explore historic houses, and participate in wreath and candle making.
Volunteer opportunities
Many Churches, food kitchens, and other outreach centers offer holiday dinners for the less fortunate. Spending some of your holiday season caring for those in need can also help keep your family focused on what’s truly important. The Salvation Army has a zip-code search for local volunteer opportunities near you, including distributing holiday meals.
Second Harvest Food Bank always needs volunteers to help pack and distribute food; just a few hours of your day can help provide healthy food for 65,000 people in the community. Ages 10 and up are encouraged to attend. Find additional volunteer opportunities assisting the Center for Farmworker Families in distributing gift cards they received from a grant, ensuring that hundreds of farm workers will have the opportunity to shop for their families this year.
Help bring a moment of happiness to seniors in care facilities. Reduce some of the loneliness and isolation that residents may feel this time of year with personalized notes and a cheery message. Kids’ homemade holiday cards or crafts, picture cards, or “thinking of you” cards can help brighten a senior’s day and let them know they’re remembered.
The Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County created a Holiday Volunteer Guide including all of these ideas and more! A great resource for finding opportunities the whole family can participate in not only this time of year, but all year round.
Museum specials
Enjoy the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History for two days of free admission this December 2 and 3. The museum highlights the region’s diverse plant, animal, and human communities from the shoreline of Monterey Bay to the summit of the Santa Cruz Mountains. At the same time, you can get some holiday shopping done in their museum store which carries a variety of educational and fun gifts, plus you’d be supporting a local non-profit.
The Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (the MAH) has brought back its annual toy train pop-up event. With free admission to this exhibition, be whisked away into the whimsical world of toy trains, where members of the Golden State Toy Train Operators share their impressive collection of toy trains with the MAH.
The University of California Santa Cruz Arboretum is always free of charge to visitors on the first Tuesday of every month. Take your family to see a world’s worth of flora without leaving the central coast!
On Saturday, December 31, the Santa Cruz Children’s Museum of Discovery will have a timer counting down to noon-o’clock, a disco ball drop, and a blast of paper confetti. A family-fun way to ring in 2024 with your young kids!
Local theater showings
There are many works of theater that are recognized as “classics” despite diminishing returns on audience members throughout the years. If you asked someone to name a ballet piece, most might come up with “The Nutcracker.” It features songs that nearly everyone knows, like “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies.” Yet, despite its fame, many people have never seen it.
Many performing arts schools and amateur dance troupes put on productions of “The Nutcracker” around Christmas time. This can be a low-cost way to see a high-culture event. The ticket price is usually low and some organizations even offer free admission with a donation of canned goods. You and your family can take in a fancy show while supporting young and emerging artists. Check out Santa Cruz Ballet Theare’s iconic annual production that features a live orchestra at the Santa Cruz Civic. Or, Agape Dance Academy’s The Nutcracker at Cabrillo Crocker Theater, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever presented by Scotts Valley Performing Arts, or the Mountain Community Theater’s A Home for Christmas, which includes a community night on Saturday, November 25, where tickets are on sale 2 for $25.
Experiences and time often mean more than anything money can buy. No matter what you do this holiday season, it’ll be made special because you’re doing it with the ones you care about. Have a safe and happy holiday season!
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