The best holiday events in New York State

This small town in the Finger Lakes brings 19th-century charm to the holiday season, harkening back to the Victorian-era world of Charles Dickens. Starting with the World’s Smallest Christmas Parade the Friday after Thanksgiving, Dickens enters Skaneateles, as do Queen Victoria, Father Christmas, Scrooge, Tiny Tim and other villagers, setting the scene for the delightful month ahead. Every weekend until Christmas, costumed performers bring the vintage vibe with Mother Goose reading Christmas stories, horse-drawn carriage rides, renditions of A Christmas Carol, local wine and beer tastings, and more. Ever wanted to attend a real Victorian party? Fezziwig’s Christmas Ball is a highlight, with festive English country dancing.

Dates: Weekends from Nov 28–Dec 24

Time Out tip: Don’t be a Scrooge! Show up in costume to fully embrace the theme. Check the website and Facebook for an updated list of events.

Embrace the snowglobe that is upstate New York with the Roc Holiday Village. This event gets attendees outside and enjoying the frosty weather with shopping, drinking and free ice skating. Yep, I said free. What more could you want? It’s a celebration of winter and all the joy that surrounds it. Check out the gingerbread house and get a photo with Santa, or just sit back in an outdoor snowglobe and take it all in. Because true New Yorkers know that snow doesn’t stop the party!

Dates: Dec 5–28

Time Out tip: You’ll find several spots serving delicious cocoa, including the Giving Cup, which donates proceeds to a different local nonprofit each day.

Celebrate Kwanzaa gathers artists, performers and families at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum for a weeklong event. Kicking off the day after Christmas, Kwanzaa honors seven principles of African heritage: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. Known for its meaningful kid-centric programming, the museum rounds out the celebration with daily candle lightings, youth performances, dance, drumming and art workshops.

Dates: Dec 26–30

Time Out tip: While in BK, Crown Heights has a few other prominent celebrations in addition to Celebrate Kwanzaa. There’s the Children’s Kwanzaa Village at the Major R. Owens Health and Wellness Community Center and the Kwanzaa Crawl supporting Black-owned businesses in the neighborhood.

New Yorkers (and all of America, really) have ushered in the holiday season for nearly a century with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. If you’re not spectating on the street, well, you’re watching it on TV. It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving morning without seeing the big Broadway numbers, lip-syncing celebs on floats, orderly marching bands and yes, those massive balloons of cuteness.

Date: Nov 27

Time Out tip: If you can’t make it on the big day, you can see them blow up the balloons in Central Park the day before.

Before we gobble, gobble, gobble on Thanksgiving Day, it’s become a holiday tradition in Buffalo, New York, to Turkey Trot. Established in 1896, the 8K race is the oldest continually running public footrace in North America—held even during the 1918 flu pandemic, Covid-19 pandemic and both World Wars. Other cities have since borrowed the Buffalo tradition, complete with kooky costumes (formal wedding attire and mulleted hockey players are perennial favorites).

Date: Nov 27

Time Out tip: Pace yourself at the beginning of the race. The frigid Lake Erie breeze hurts the worst on the final stretch, so you’ll want to sprint at the end.

If you’ve ever wanted to live inside a Hallmark Christmas movie, enter Corning, New York, one of the best Christmas towns in the United States. It makes complete sense that a town built around glassmaking bedazzles its Main Street in Christmas lights and baubles. Even the cars in the Christmas parade come fully fitted with gleaming lights. Santa entertains kiddos in the town square daily, and during Sparkle weekend, vendors and musicians create majorly enchanting vibes. Before the sun goes down and the lights come on, you can gaze at the Corning Museum of Glass’s 14-foot tree made entirely of ornaments and even make a glass ornament of your own!

Date: Dec 6

Time Out tip: You are welcome to dress to impress, but make sure you’re wearing a woollen underlayer. Bring some toe warmers so you can last the whole day.

Like a scene out of Gilmore Girls, carolers serenade this small town’s Main Street every year with holiday songs. Started by Girl Scouts in 1971, the gathering has grown to over 2,000 people. The event spans multiple blocks, with the central hub being Vidler’s, the iconic 5 & 10 shop. Fill up on hot chocolate and doughnuts, and don’t forget what Buddy the Elf says: “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.”

Date: Dec 20 at 7pm

Time Out tip: Wear a Santa hat. If you don’t have one, don some sort of Buffalo Bills apparel; you’ll fit right in.

It’s kind of hard to avoid this New York holiday tradition—what with 14 tons of piney boughs decked 80 feet tall with twinkling lights. The tree lighting at the Rockefeller Ice Rink in New York City is the mother of all tree lightings. The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is often sourced from upstate New York and draws crowds from around the world, including celebrities who help ring in the holiday season with its legendary lighting ceremony. If you miss the lighting ceremony, you can catch it on TV. But it’s definitely worth braving the crowd to see the year’s massive tree in all her glory.

Date: Dec 3

Time Out tip: If you like a little more free-range motion, skip the event and visit the tree in the following weeks (it stays lit as late as midnight during the holiday season). It is still just as beautiful and is right across the street from Saks’ massive light show.

A special thing about living in New York State is knowing that the North Pole is nearby. No, really. The small town of North Pole, New York, is located just outside Lake Placid and is home to the country’s oldest continuously operating theme park. Attendees can have dinner with Santa during the holiday season and even visit Santa’s reindeer, send mail with the North Pole postmark and snap a pic with the big man year-round (after all, Santa lives and works there!). Each December, the North Pole turns up the holiday charm even more with its Village of Lights, a nighttime celebration featuring caroling, lots of lights and Santa himself, of course.

Dates: Weekends from Nov 15–Dec 14 (plus Fri Nov 28)

Time Out tip: You’re making the trip up to the top of New York State, you’ll need some lodging. North Pole offers all-inclusive Yuletide Family Weekends that are worth checking out.

The Brooklyn neighborhood of Dyker Heights would surely put Clark Griswold to shame. Each maximalist display seems built to outdo the neighbors. Houses dressed in millions of bulbs, blowups and plastic figurines draw tour buses and party limos. Others slowly stroll, mouth agape at the sheer amount of effort and electricity powering a few blocks of Clark Griswold-level Christmas lights.

Dates: Every day in December

Time Out tip: Some houses start decorating the day after Thanksgiving, but we suggest mid-December through New Year’s to see the full neighborhood lit up.

To be a child in the backseat of your grandparents’ car, eyes unblinking as scene after scene of twinkling lights passes slowly out your window… that’s the kind of long-lasting nostalgia the annual light show at the Erie County Fairgrounds brings (speaking from experience). The Festival of Lights is western New York’s largest holiday light show, with more than 70 displays along a drive-through route. This year marks its 20th anniversary. Get out of the car to meet Santa and his animal friends. Explore a European winter market or visit the bar if you’re inclined. And make sure the kiddies ride the Whoville express train and shake it out at the all-new Christmas Tree Comedy Jamboree show.

Dates: Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays between Thanksgiving and Christmas 

Time Out tip: Tickets are sold by the carload, so pack up all your pals and get the bang for your buck.

Yeah, Christmas music is great, but who really needs all those pesky instruments involved? The holly jolly annual TubaChristmas concert puts only low brass in the spotlight (sorry, woodwinds!). The very first TubaChristmas bellowed from the Rockefeller Center ice rink in 1974 with 300 musicians playing arrangements by Rochester-born composer Alec Wilder. The event has since grown into a worldwide festive phenomenon, and New York cities like Rochester and Binghamton wholeheartedly keep the tradition alive, complete with ugly sweaters.

Dates: Throughout December

Time Out tip: If you’re playing, check the website to find a TubaChristmas near you. Sheet music is available at registration. Most importantly, deck out your instrument with as much garland and battery-powered lights as possible.

A tradition for New Yorkers who love to travel in their jammies, the Adirondack Railroad offers a Polar Express train, complete with cookies and cocoa. Santa visits every family during the two-hour trip and gifts them a silver bell from the Polar Express story. The train sells out yearly, which isn’t surprising given it’s one of America’s best winter train rides.

Dates: Nov 14–Dec 21

Time Out tip: Get there 20 to 30 minutes before the train is scheduled to leave. Santa is very punctual.

Syracuse is home to the family-favorite Lights on the Lake, a dazzling drive-through display along two miles of waterfront in Onondaga Lake State Park. Massive twinkling scenes—think Santa, his elves and the New York State Fair hot air balloon—light up the night sky, soundtracked by holiday tunes. For those who would rather travel on foot, there’s a 5K that starts at 6am so runners can experience the lights as the sun comes up.

Dates: Nov 17–Jan 12

Time Out tip: There are two iterations of the Lights on the Lake 5K: a walk on November 22, 2025 and a run on November 23, 2025. Both start at 6am and are capped at 750 entrants each, so register ahead! 

Bedford Falls isn’t a real place, but many speculate that the quaint town featured in It’s a Wonderful Life is actually based on Seneca Falls, New York. The town hosts a three-day festival in December to celebrate that connection. Events include the ringing of all the church bells in town (remember, “every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings”), a 1940s cabaret with swing dancing, a scenic railroad ride and screenings of the iconic film, of course. This year, the actors who brought the characters of Zuzu, Tommy and young Pete Bailey to life will be at the festival to celebrate the beloved film.

Dates: Dec 12–14

Time Out tip: Come with an open heart. Art shows, performances and gatherings tie back to the heartwarming ethics of the film, and it just might change you.

Step into the days of Christmas and Hanukkah past at the Genesee Country Village & Museum, New York’s largest living history museum. Stroll through the 19th-century village, lit up with candles (and most likely some snow—it is upstate, after all), and the historical “residents” will show you holiday traditions of the past, including festive dances. The museum also hosts special Yuletide dinners you can add on to your tour.

Dates: Dec 5, 6, 12–14, 19, 20

Time Out tip: Old-timey garb is definitely not a requirement to enjoy the celebrations, but it sure is fun to cosplay as a 19th-century villager—especially for the holidays!

Menorahs come in all shapes (i.e. this dinosaur menorah) and sizes. And we mean really, really big sizes. In New York City, you can find two menorahs duking it out for the biggest menorah title. During the eight days of Hanukkah, Manhattanites head to Central Park near the iconic Plaza Hotel for their menorah lighting. Brooklynites go to Prospect Park. After our investigation, the biggest menorah stands in Manhattan at 32 feet, but both traditions are favorites in our book.

Dates: Dec 14–22

Time Out tip: The Brooklyn menorah features nightly lighting ceremonies with live music and hot latkes. 

A time-honored New Year’s Day tradition, the Coney Island Polar Bear Plunge invites the brave-hearted (or cold-blooded) to tempt the icy water. People have been braving the weather to jump into the Atlantic Ocean since 1903, making this the largest off-season event at Coney Island. Whether you’re a cold diver or a friend standing by on shore with a warm towel, it’s the most invigorating way to start the year.

Date: Jan 1

Time Out tip: Bring friends who aren’t plunging to help wrap you in towels and then head to Freak Bar for a beer and the Sideshow after!

For those of you who enjoy Christmas cheer in the liquid form, this tree lighting is for you. Every year, Genesee Brewery in Rochester, New York, stacks over 500 empty kegs, strung up with 30,000 lights and topped with a rotating brewery sign. The lighting ceremony outside of the attached Genesee Brew House has drawn crowds of 7,000 people who like weird and wonderful Christmas trees and usually features special release beers and food trucks.

Date: Dec 5 5–9pm

Time Out tip: It’s fun to toast to the season with the classic Genesee Cream Ale, but peep the taproom to see if there’s any specialty holiday releases.