Christmas Activities in the Seattle/Tacoma, Washington Area

This Christmas there is a whole list of things to do that are fun in Western Washington. Tacoma and Seattle respectively have their own Ballet companies that have productions of the Nutcracker. Tacoma City Ballet has its performances on Fridays at 7:30 PM and on Saturdays and Sundays at 1PM. Pacific Northwest Ballet will be showing performances of the Nutcracker from November 23 - December 29^th at MacCaw Hall.

Tacoma has two great Christmas light venues. Zoolights is located at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium and it is great fun walking around seeing the lights. Zoolights runs through the holidays every evening from November 23 - January 1, 5-9PM. If that is just too cold for you to then you can try a drive-thru version of Christmas lights with Fantasy Lights in Spanaway. Fantasy Lights runs from November 22 - December 31^st, 5:30-9PM.

Across the road from Fantasy Lights there is Sprinker Park and if you are looking for fun and exercise you can ice skate with the family. For skate hours and prices you can call 253/798-4040. If you are low on funds you can ask them about their "cheapskate" prices. If you like to ice skate and you are closer to Seattle you can try out the ice-skating at Seattle Center's Winterfest. They have a beautiful ice skating rink at the Fisher Pavilion with WiFi for those that need it.

Speaking of Winterfest, you will definitely want to check this out. Ice-skating isn't the only attraction here. There is also a Classic Carousel ride for the little ones and it only costs a dollar. Seattle Center makes a strong effort to keep Winterfest family friendly by keeping all its rides and features as low cost as possible. You won't want to miss the train and village display. You can operate the train yourself and this is great fun for the kids.

Christmas 2006 brought us a wonderful boat parade in Seattle and try as I might I could not find one this year. For the second year in a row there will be no boat parade in Tacoma as well. I did find boat parades in Gig Harbor, Everett, LaConner, and Olympia so if you are in those areas you might want to check them out. Bundle up though because it will be a bit frosty especially near the water.

Argosy Boat Tours in Seattle has Christmas boat tours that are great fun. The Christmas boat sails every night from December 1^st to the 23^rd and each night there is a Christmas Chorus that sings which can be heard all over the boat with speakers. There is a special activity corner for the kiddies and while there are a few brunch trips with Santa they are sold out. Check out the Santa boat tour next year.

KWJZ the Smooth Jazz station has jazz tours for 3 Tuesdays in December. For an evening filled with local jazz greats give Argosy Boat Tours in Seattle consideration for that special holiday outing and don't forget your camera.

If you are in the south sound you might want to check out the Victorian Country Christmas Festival 2007 at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. They will have Christmas music, rides, gifts to purchase, and many exhibits to look at. While these are just a few suggestions the Puget Sound is a great place for having Christmas fun, so check us out.