How to spend Christmas in NYC with kids

The Rockefeller Christmas Tree (NYC’s pride and joy) is a beaming and brilliant symbol of the holiday season. Tourists and native New Yorkers alike sure do love this towering tree.

The tree will be lit daily from 5am to midnight daily after a special light-up night ceremony on Wednesday, November 29. On Christmas Day, the tree is lit for 24 hours and on New Year’s Eve it is lit from 5am to 9pm. The tree goes dark for the season at 10pm on January 13.

More than 50,000 multi-colored LED lights wrap around the branches. It's topped with a three-dimensional Swarovski star that weighs 900 pounds and sparkles in 3 million crystals. Architect Daniel Libeskind designed the stunning star in 2018.

The Dyker Heights Christmas Lights display has definitely earned its stripes as one of the best New York attractions. What’s not to love about all that razzle-dazzle to get you in the Christmas spirit?

The Brooklyn neighborhood is home to the most over-the-top Christmas light decorations with life-sized Santas, sleighs, snowmen and some houses even bump Christmas carols from loudspeakers. Crowds of all ages flock to the Kings County neighborhood to wander down the multiple blocks and avenues.

Most houses are decorated starting the weekend after Halloween through early January.

You can walk through on your own, but a tour might be a little easier. Bus tours are back from A Slice of Brooklyn, Dyker Heights Christmas Lights and many more. There's even a Spanish language tour—vamos!

The Winter Village at Bryant Park is back in all its holiday glory. On the grounds you can peruse more than 180 shopping and food kiosks—all at one of the best NYC parks. Expect loads of handmade, unique and New York City-specific gifts for your family and friends. Work up an appetite at the 17,000-square-foot ice-skating rink and then fill up at the rinkside pop-up restaurant called The Lodge for festive cocktails and hearty food.

Don't miss the Small Business Spotlight booth, which features local minority-owned businesses.

The Winter Village will be open through March 3, 2024.

GingerBread Lane—the world's largest gingerbread village—will return to Manhattan with NYC-inspired designs. Artist Jon Lovitch has been working on the detailed gingerbread display all year long. 

Year after year, Lovitch whips up thousands of pounds of icing and bakes hundreds of pounds of gingerbread to create massive gingerbread towns. Expect to see about 1,000 gingerbread houses, stores, breweries, dance studios, pizzerias, bakeries, ice cream parlors and more at the display. Look for pink nutcrackers drawn from the decor at Essex House, an ice rink as a nod to Rockefeller Center, a few homes that resemble those in Forest Hills, Queens, and lots of other NYC-inspired details. 

Find GingerBread Lane at Chelsea Market in Manhattan from November 26 to January 7 near the hallway with the twinkling lights. It'll be on view during market hours, 8am-9am daily.

Rockefeller Center, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Bronx Zoo, the Apollo Theater and more iconic New York City landmarks have been shrunken down and sugar-fied into gingerbread re-creations. Twenty-three gingerbread houses comprise this year's "Gingerbread NYC: The Great Borough Bake-Off" at the Museum of the City of New York.

The display will be on view from November 10 through January 15 at the museum on the Upper East Side. The exhibition is included with general admission, which costs $20/person. Local judges awarded honors to the top-placing entries, but everyone can vote on their favorite for the People's Choice award.

The latest skating destination takes over a pretty iconic local landmark: the Oculus shopping mall inside the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan.

Starting November 24 through January 2024, folks with a penchant for skating will get to do so beneath the beautiful architecture that defines the legendary structure while also enjoying live musical performances. 

The Winter Whirl roller rink will also host a wide selection of local food and beverage vendors—Eataly! Gansevoort Liberty Market! Épicerie Boulud!—and retail options, making holiday shopping easier.

Tickets, which can be found right here, include a 45-minute skating session and a rental pair of roller skates.

The Oculus is getting into the holiday spirit with a new activation called Christmas House NYC. Visitors can walk through more than a dozen themed rooms featuring snow, holiday movies, karaoke and more. 

This all-ages walk-through experience opens on November 24 with tickets available through January 2 priced at $40/adult and $35/child. 

Interactive activities include The Snowball Fight Room, where visitors can revel in snowfall and even toss snowballs. Inside the Snow Lodge Movie Theater, Elf plays on repeat on a 25-foot screen. The Blockbuster Video Room stirs nostalgia with its lifelike movie counter and VHS tapes. Other rooms include the Christmas Karaoke Party Room and The Holidays Inn Hotel, all decorated in Christmas splendor. 

As far as immersive experiences go, this one is bound to be delicious: Now through January 2, 2024, Rockefeller Center will be home to a Candy Cottage of Christmas Magic—which is exactly what it sounds like.

Ticketed guests will basically get to pluck candies off walls before setting off on a scavenger hunt through Rockefeller Center following instructions on an exclusive map handed out to all visitors. Upon completion of the game, folks will return to a transformed cottage to grab some more sweets. 

Tickets, which range from $25 to $45 depending on the day of the week and time you plan on attending, are available for purchase here.

An institution housing a colossal blue whale, massive dinosaur skeletons and thousands of glittering gemstones couldn't display just any ordinary holiday decor, of course. Instead, the American Museum of Natural History proudly presents a spectacular origami holiday tree each year. 

About 2,000 colorful origami animals decorate the 13-foot-tall tree, a tradition dating back more than 50 years. Volunteers from around the world carefully fold the intricate ornaments, focusing on a theme that relates to the museum. This year's theme, "Proboscideans on Parade," was inspired by the new exhibit "The Secret World of Elephants."

See the Origami Holiday Tree at the American Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side throughout the holiday season. Find it in the Ellen V. Futter Gallery on the first floor. Visiting the tree is included with museum admission.

The impressive gingerbread creations on view at the Seaport right now may look like any other saccharine Christmastime display, but they have a much deeper meaning. This gingerbread village offers a model for how our warming world can deal with climate change.

Fifty NYC architects and designers worked to create The Gingerbread City, and it's on view at The Seaport through January 7 with a lighthouse, a bridge, a stadium and lots more to discover. Tickets for the exhibition at 25 Fulton Street cost $18/adult and can be purchased here.

Designers used gingerbread, frosting and candy to create houses, train stations, bridges, airports, museums and parks on the theme “Water in Cities.” Participants were asked to think about how we can design and build water-sensitive cities and protect this vital resource.

Inside a nondescript red brick warehouse just outside of New York City, the staff of American Christmas bring holiday magic to life. They're known for creating the renowned displays at Macy's, the Cartier mansion, Radio City Music Hall, the Rockefeller Center Channel Gardens and more.

Now, they're opening their doors to the public for a holiday extravaganza featuring 100,000 lights, 100 captivating animatronics and figurines in nine uniquely themed areas. Given their holiday decor expertise, this larger-than-life display is going to dazzle. Tickets are on sale here.

This is the third year that American Christmas has hosted its public Holiday Lane event, and this year promises to be bigger and brighter than ever. Twice the size of last year's display, this iteration of Holiday Lane at American Christmas begins with a chance to write a note to Santa. Then, meet some reindeer, visit a land of sugar plum fairies, peek into the elves' quarters and explore the icy beauty of the Arctic.

Turns out, getting to the North Pole isn't so tough after all. "The Santa Clauses' Winter Wonderland," a portal to Santa Claus' hometown, has opened at The Rooftop at Pier 17 in the Seaport. 

Typically a concert venue, the rooftop has been transformed into an immersive holiday experience inspired by Disney's "The Santa Clauses." Expect hot cocoa, skating and plenty of fun photo opps.

Find all the fun at 89 South Street through January 7, 2024. Tickets start at $25/person. Most activities are hosted outdoors, so be sure to bundle up in your coziest winter attire. 

It's time to lace up your skates—the best ice skating rinks in NYC are waiting for you. As one of the most beloved cities to spend the holidays in, NYC has plenty of indoor and outdoor rinks where you can glide and practice your toe jumps. To help narrow down your options, we’ve ranked the top places to go, from the renowned Rink at Rockefeller Center to the iconic Wollman Rink in Central Park.