Looking for a good way to unwind after you’ve finished wrapping your gifts? Haven’t started wrapping your gifts and looking for new ways to procrastinate? Read up on these 8 great holiday happenings in the Twin Cities. Click the headings for links to each event.
Macy’s Santaland
Nothing says Christmas like taking the kids to see Santa Claus and Macy’s remains the quintessential place to do it. The trip through the magical elf village on the way to Santaland will only have the kids more excited to meet Saint Nick and share him in on the Christmas lists they’ve been drafting for the past month and half.
Holidazzle
The Holidazzle has filled Minneapolis streets with floats, costumes and lights since 1992. Sadly, this 22nd year will be Holidazzle’s last. So to those who have never been, this will be your last chance to see Holidazzle before its finale bow Saturday night. Organizers are promising a successor though and it’ll be exciting to see what they have up their sleeves for next year.
Ugly Sweater Crawl
Four downtown Minneapolis bars will play host to the fashionably heedless looking for drink specials this Saturday night. The ugliest best sweater will walk away with a cool $100 in cash.
Ugly Sweater Party
Looking for something a little more stationary than a crawl but still want to show off that turtle-necked atrocity you call a sweater? Well, you’re in luck. The Living Room Bar in the Foshay Tower is hosting an Ugly Sweater Party that will be a little more refined than the nearby crawl. Classy bars and ugly sweaters: two great tastes that go great together.
Winter Solstice Celebration
Celebrate winter’s longest night around a bonfire in the Enchanted Forest at the American Swedish Institute. If that doesn’t sound like a fun time, your name probably rhymes with ‘Drooge’ and you have a sibling with children (your Uncle Scrooge is what I’m getting at here). Tours of the Turnblad Mansion’s holiday exhibit will be available as well a festive dinner featuring glögg, a Swedish mulled wine. Translation? Zero bah humbugs.
Wells Fargo Winterskate
Get the skates out of the attic (and knee pads) and head to Saint Paul for some free skating at Landmark Plaza. Skate rentals are available and, for those less enthusiastic about any activity preceded by waiver signing, so is the option of heading to the warming house for hot chocolate and significantly fewer concussions.
Holiday Lights in the Park
See more than 50 holiday sculptures and animated displays in Saint Paul’s Phalen Park from the comfort of your warm car in this drive-through holiday experience. Pro tip: hot chocolate can also be consumed in a moving car.
Holiday Flower Show
Trick your mind into thinking you’ve fast-forwarded into Spring by surrounding yourself with the sights and smells of blooming flowers at the Como Zoo Conservatory in Saint Paul.
Just don’t forget about all those gifts that still have to be wrapped.
