Here’s a little something to start kindling the holiday spirit: A chance to win a pair of tickets to The Washington Ballet’s production of the The Nutcracker! Below is an official description of the show. And this KFDC review of a past performance has more details.
This celebrated production has become DC’s perennial holiday favorite! Set in historic Georgetown with historical figures and whimsical touches. This sumptuous production showcases the grandeur of The Washington Ballet’s international roster of dancers and majestic Tchaikovsky score. Replete with swirling snowflakes, cherry blossoms and historic characters including George Washington as the Nutcracker and King George III as the menacing Rat King! Join us again with family and friends or start a new holiday tradition with your loved ones.
The Nutcracker is running at the Warner Theatre December 3-27. Tickets prices are $30-120, and you can also look for a deal on select seats here. Or you can try to win them!
Giveaway: For a chance to win a pair of tickets to a performance of The Nutcracker, simply leave a comment below telling me your favorite holiday activity in the DC area. Performance options for the winner are any date Wednesday – Friday, December 3-12. To be eligible to win, you must like KidFriendly DC on Facebook and subscribe to the blog (see sign-up to the left). The giveaway will run through this Sunday, and a winner will be drawn at random and announced shortly thereafter. Good luck!
Ice skating in the sculpture garden!
I love the Christmas tree lighting, ice skating and the Nutcracker!
This year, we are going to check out Mt. Vernon. I’ve heard wonderful things about their holiday displays.
We love going to Meadowlark’s Winter Walk of Lights!
Our favorite activity is go to the model train show at Wheaton Park’s Meadowlark garden.
We like ZooLights and the Bull Run lights/carnival.
It used to be visiting Santa on the Ellipse, but since that is sadly not happening anymore then I would have to say our favorite is the trains at the Botanical Gardens and then visiting the Capital tree.
The lights at Brookside Gardens.
Our favorite holiday activity in DC is the model train exhibit at the US Botanic Gardens.
We love Zoolights!
Every year we find a local farm to take our family to and cut down our own Christmas tree. This year we would like to try ice skating.
We love zoo lights!
We love the miniature train exhibit at Brookside Gardens. This year we are most excited to check out some of the seasonal shows.
We love seeing handel’s Messiah at the Kennedy Center!
Our favorite holiday activity is the Symphony of Lights in Columbia.
Watching A Christmas Carol at Ford Theater is the best!
The train exhibit at the Botanic Garden is just one of them.
Carols by candlelight at the National Cathedral
Our favorite Christmas Eve tradition is a run to the White House to look at all the decorations, beautiful! We warm up at home with a delicious German meal of bread sausages various cheeses followed by dark chocolate and eggnog or maybe red wine. Turn off the lights afterwards and watch the tree, remembering Christmas past and all the special places we found ornaments.
I love baking Christmas goodies with my grandson and then sharing with his great grandad
We love to go to the U.S. Capitol tree lighting ceremony. Different state every year, with new traditions and feeling. It’s a wonderful way to learn about the cultures of other states!
I love going to the white house to see the tree and walking around with my family
Seeing the state Christmas trees near The White House.
My favorite holiday event is driving around the city looking at all the Christmas decorations…the White house tree, Union Station, Zoo lights, Watkins’s Park and my neighbors houses across the city. I’m so looking forward to this. I just love my city.
So much to do! We love going ice skating on any of the many rinks in the DC area (Wheaton Regional Park, Cabin John, Georgetown) and seeing a movie and having chinese food on xmas day!
Seeing all the lights and holiday decorations around town.
We love to go to the Zoo lights!
Hands down, ice skating on the Mall.
This is our first winter here in DC and I am really looking forward to seeing everything there is for our family to do! It’s our favorite holiday time and we love the nut cracker!
My favorite holiday activity in DC is visiting the national Christmas tree by the White House. I also enjoyed the Christmas tree lighting event at CityCenter.
A holiday must-do for us is the Botanic Gardens Season Greenings, we’ve been going for 7 years!
This is our first winter here and we loved the tree lighting at National Harbor last weekend! Looking forward to the Botanical Garden and other light displays around DC. We see the Nutcracker every year and would love the opportunity! Thanks for hosting!
We love driving around looking at light displays. We no longer enjoy the National Christmas tree as it isn’t kept very well and the crowds are just too much. Still, we’ll probably do it anyhow! 😉
We always take a few week nights after dinner to drive around and check out the light displays. IceSkating on the Mall and G-town too
train exhibit at the Botanic Garden
I’m not sure we’ve been here long enough to have a DC favorite, but in general going to the Nutcracker has been one of my favorite holiday events.
Every year we pack popcorn and drive through the Bull Run Festival of Lights. The kids love it!
I love exploring the city to see all of the Christmas tree displays!
Tuba Christmas at the Kennedy Center (with ear plugs)!
We haven’t been around this area that long and I’m so looking forward this to this years KFDC’s post of all those wonderful things to do but our favorite activity so far would be zoo lights. Last year my then 2-year old had a blast at the tubing, train and of course music and lights show.
A tie: Visiting Santa in the log cabin at Gulf Branch Nature Center in Arlington and the Merry Tuba Christmas concert at the Kennedy Center.
The trains at USBG!
We love going to the Zoo on Thanksgiving Day when it is very, very quiet. Also the trains at the Botanical Gardens.
We love Zoolights and the Middleburg Christmas parade!
Zoolights
Zoolights
We love cutting down our own Christmas Tree. We also have enjoyed going to see The Puppet Co. version of the Nutcracker.
The trains at the Botanic Gardens are our favorite. As are viewing the Christmas trees at the Capitol and White House.
We love going to see the trains at the Botanical Garden. We have been going for 9 years!
Last year our favorite holiday activity was ice skating at Canal Park, getting hot Chocolate and then joining a group of neighbors to sing at a retirement home in the neighborhood. The kids loved it and you could tell it really made the day for the people who lived in the retirement home. Fun for all.
My favorite DC holiday event is visiting the National Christmas tree on the White House lawn and warming up by the fire.
Evening concerts at the Botanic Garden’s Seasons Greenings!
We love the Christmas Tree Lighting at the Fairmont Hotel.
We actually love hiking with our baby in the carrier during the winter! Thanks for a fun event. 🙂
Too many favorites, but we always love the Botanical Garden display.
Botanic Gardens!
Pentagon Ice Rink
Zoo Lights and the train at the Botanical Garden!
We love taking the kids to the Mormon Temple to see the lights. It’s such a majestic sight when you’re driving on 495!
Our favorite DC winter activity is definitely the Holiday Sing-a-long at Wolf Trap. We’ll be going for our 6th year this year!
My daughter and i enjoy ice skating at the Georgetown waterfront then grabbing a hot chocolate!
We love to see the lights! We usually go to Watkins Park and Annmarie Gardens, but are planning to see Zoolights this year too!
My favorite holiday activity in the DC area is Zoo lights. We also enjoy seeing Santa and all the Christmas tree decorations near the National Christmas tree.
We love the train display at the Botanic Gardens!
My favorite holiday activity is visiting the Botanical Gardens and then the Capitol Christmas tree. Thanks!
I love Christmas tree lightening in DC!
Brook side gardens lights
Seeing Santa at the National Harbor
Visiting the National Christmas Tree!
One of our favorite holiday traditions is making gingerbread houses, the easy way. Use graham crackers and icing, and forget having to bake the gingerbread house shapes. My family has been doing this since I was a little one, and now my son is carrying on the tradition – although he is more interested in eating the candy than making the house at this point…
Oh – and I forgot to mention – this is after the Botanical gardens where we tour the holiday houses (monuments) on display!
Meadowlark Gardens
My favorite holiday activities are: Kennedy Center Family Choral concert (the venue brings out the awe and “fancy” for my kids), the DAR Constitution Hall Holiday event, and Adventure Theater’s annual holiday shows (looking forward to “Lump of Coal” this year!
I love taking my family to zoo lights. Its starting to become a bit of a tradition.
Any train displays – but specifically the trains at the Botanical Gardens. Last year, our youngest was only a few weeks old, so I’m sure we will all enjoy this Christmas season much more! 🙂
We have only been here since last year, but we did love the national Christmas tree and all of the Christmas trees down near the monuments. After reading these comments, I’m excited to try the Botanical Gardents this year, and maybe the nutcracker!
Taking a walk at night through a snow-covered Capitol Hill – seeing candle lights and Christmas tree lights twinkling in the windows, smelling the wood smoke of fires in fireplaces
Love the boat show on the Potomac!
We loved touring the White House last year and enjoy
local sing along concerts.
I always love ZooLights. Hoping to make a new tradition this year through a mentoring program, with my mentee. She would love to go to this!!
We are a military family of four who moves every 2 years, so this is our first Christmas living in the DC area! I do remember as a kid coming to see the National Christmas Tree and all of the state trees with their beautiful, unique decorations. I’m looking forward to sharing that tradition with my kids now. And a date night with Hubby to The Nutcracker sounds heavenly! I’m so glad I found this wonderful website–talk about a great resource for things to do with our kiddos. Liked, subscribed, commented. Thanks so much!
Just wanted to clarify as I typed my email a bit incorrectly for the comment. Obviously the last bit should have been “.com” not “.cin.” It is correct for the blog subscription. Thanks! 🙂
Botanic Gardens.
There are a lot of holiday activities that we love this time of year! DC is a beautiful place to be. It’s a tradition that we make a big batch of hot cocoa in a thermos and bring it on our walk to Zoolights. We used to also head down to visit Santa at the Ellipse, visit the National Tree and go out for dinner with the family. We miss visiting Santa there!
So much to choose from in this area but our favorite is ZooLights!
We love ZooLights!!
Zoolights!
This is our first Christmas in DC and we can’t wait to try out everything on your holiday blog
With two young toddlers, we’re still exploring new holiday traditions, so this is an awesomely helpful post! Currently, our favorite holiday activities are the trains at Botanical Garden, the horse drawn carriage ride at Reston Town Center, and the lights at Meadowlark.
Thank you KidFriendlyinDC for facilitating the sharing of these ideas!
zoo lights
Garden of Lights at Brookside Gardens!
My favorite holiday activity in the DC area is going to my sister’s house and me, my daughter and nieces put up and decorate the Christmas tree and Christmas lights and decorations outside.
We love our neighborhood visiting Santa on the Firetruck. All of the families with kids are outside, its a nice neighborly event.
Oh this is a question for a full essay. “It’s the most wonderful time of the year”, my favorite in the DC… despite the weather 😉
I love American lifestyle, it’s been 5 years since we came here and experiencing the season (and your country at the same time) by attending different kinds of activities (read LOTS of activities) is something that I’ve learned during my emigration in USA.
Americans love to have fun all year long. I’m amused with the amount of customs you have here. Christmas time is the precious one.
Every November I seat with my calendar and plan all of the events for my family to get most out of this festive mood.
And first comes always Botanical Garden with its Holiday train display. My kids are always crazy about it and I love the plant art they perform. Every year it’s a different theme. Last year the exhibition was about ocean and seas, this year it’ll be about Pollination Station “where you can visit over sized flowers, bees and butterflies in this year’s scenic wonderland”.
There are like 20 more activities. Carrolling in the National Gallery of Art, visiting Santa at the Gulf Branch Wooden Cabin, Skating, Building a birds’ feeder at Home Depot’s Workshop, watching The Nutcracker (usually on youtube), reading lots of winter books, delivering “secret cookies” to our neighbors’ door on Christmas Day are only some of them.
Ice skating is a must to do for our family!
I like to go ice skating with my kids at the rink near the ice sculpture
Wolf Trap sing-a-long!
Going to see the Nutcracker!!
Xmas tree lighting
We can’t wait to attend the Scottish Christmas Walk Parade in Old Town Alexandria. It’s a must!!!
This is our first Christmas in the area, so we don’t have a favorite…yet!