The Christmas Season is here! It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and there are so many ways to celebrate the season in Birmingham. Birmingham Mom Collective has put together our Birmingham Christmas Bucket List that is filled with fun things to do in Birmingham for the holidays. We hope it helps your family soak in all the joy of the season together! To help you keep track of the fun, we’ve made you a free printable list of these 20 ideas.
1. See Christmas Lights
Christmas lights are a family favorite of ours. While I love the soft glow of white lights, my children love colorful, bright lights! You can find something for everyone around Birmingham. The Vulcan Holiday Experience lights up a favorite Birmingham icon high above our glowing city. In Childersburg, Noccalula Falls displays millions of lights that will impress your little ones. For nights when it is too cold to get out of the car, Birmingham is home to two drive-through light displays, Alabama Adventure’s Magic of Lights and Lights of Noel at the Birmingham Race Course. Both are known to be spectacular experiences.
For something in a neighborhood nearby, check out Birmingham Mom Collective’s favorite spots to view Christmas lights around town.
2. Experience a Living Nativity
A living nativity brings the true meaning of Christmas to life. This is a fun and meaningful tradition that I have carried over from when I was young, and some years we go to more than one. Many of my family’s favorites have lots of live animals that will entertain even small children who may not be able to follow along with the Christmas story.
3. Get a Picture With Santa
You can still snap a picture with everyone’s favorite guy in a red suit at a mall, like the Galleria or the Summit, but in the past few years, he seems to be everywhere at Christmas time! Keep an eye out for Santa at local events, and you may even get to see him more than once this season.
4. Watch a Christmas Movie at the Alabama Theater
Each year, the Alabama Theater shows iconic Christmas movies in their beautiful theater. Choose one that the whole family will love, and add the Alabama Theater to your list of Christmas traditions.
5. See a Show at the BJCC
This year the BJCC has an amazing holiday line up! You family will love the Muppet Christmas Carol film with with Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Alabama Ballet’s The Nutcracker, Pentatonix, and Cirque Dreams Holidaze.
6. Bake or Decorate Christmas Cookies
Who doesn’t love a Christmas cookie? Whether you are using your grandmother’s recipe or a store bought dough, the memories being made are more important than the cookies. If you don’t want flour all over your kitchen, Itty Bitty Bakers hosts fun Christmas cooking classes and camps that allow your kids to enjoy creating in a cooking instructor’s kitchen.
7. Attend Glow Wild at the Birmingham Zoo
Admire HanArt Culture’s holiday Chinese-inspired lanterns. The art pieces rotate around zoos across the country, but there are custom-made lanterns just for Birmingham, featuring some local landmarks! Each year the Glow Wild experience gets bigger and better, with new and larger lanterns, fresh entertainment, hot chocolate stations, great photo ops, and more. Don’t miss the decked-out Red Mountain Express Train!
8. Make Ornaments
I love decorating my tree with my children’s handmade ornaments or ones with special pictures of them from when they were little. Over the winter break from school, making an ornament is a great craft activity for your kids. In the past, we have invited friends over and made a mini Christmas party out of it.
9. Ride a Christmas Train
The Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum has a Christmas at the Station daytime train adventure. For even more magic, your family can ride the North Pole Express at night! Santa will board their train for photos, and your kids will enjoy crafts, snacks, and Christmas carols. The North Pole Express tickets go quickly, so make your reservations early.
10. Buy and Decorate a Christmas Tree
Does it even feel like Christmas without a Christmas tree? There are several local places to search for and chop down your own tree, but you an also just buy a great one that is ready to make your house its home. Whether you like more traditional ornaments, handmade creations, or a new theme each year on your tree, decorating your Christmas tree as a family is something your kids are sure to remember fondly.
11. Go to a Christmas Market
Christmas Markets are a great way to kick off the holiday season with shopping, food, and fun. There are many in the Birmingham area where you can support small businesses and artists while checking items off of your Christmas list!
12. Watch The Nutcracker Ballet
For a classic Christmas show, get tickets to see The Nutcracker Ballet. There are several choices in town, and all are amazing! The Alabama Theater hosts Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet. Alabama Ballet dances to George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker at the BJCC, and Magic City Performing Arts performs The Nutcracker at The Lyric theater.
13. Visit Cullman Christkindlmarkt
Visiting Cullman Christkindlmarkt feels like taking a trip to an authentic German Christmas market. Your family will love the parade, snow, ice skating, Alpine tubing, delicious food, fun crafts, and more!
14. Give Joy to Someone Who Needs It
I still have fond memories of choosing a child on the “Angel Tree” and shopping for her, and my children have enjoyed carrying on a similar tradition. Whether you find an Angel Tree, donate money or toys through your local church or school, give to the Salvation Army, or help a family in need down the street, you will be spreading hope and joy not only to others, but also to your own family.
15. Go to a Christmas Parade
I remember marching and twirling my baton in a Christmas parade as a kid, and I felt like such a big deal! Support local kids and community organizations who get a chance to shine in a Christmas parade near you.
16. Wear Matching Christmas Pajamas
Every Christmas Eve when I was younger, each family member could open one present. Every Christmas Eve, the present happened to be Christmas pajamas. While the surprise wore off quickly, my sister and I still look forward to picking out Christmas pajamas for our kids to carry on the family tradition.
17. Visit Majestic Caverns
In Childersburg, Majestic Caverns puts on an amazing laser lights show that depicts the story of Jesus’s birth. Your family can enjoy beautiful Christmas lights and music with the magical backdrop of the caverns.
18. Be Entertained at the Red Mountain Holiday Spectacular
In the Red Mountain Holiday Spectacular, 75 performers star in a one-of-a kind musical theater act that you will not want to miss.
19. See a Christmas Tree Lighting
A Christmas tree lighting is a great way to kick off the holiday season and get in the Christmas spirit.
20. Attend a Christmas Candlelight Service
To me, nothing feels like Christmas more than singing Silent Night at my church’s candlelight service with my loved ones gathered near. There are many churches in the Birmingham area that offer Christmas services throughout December. Check with a church near you for dates and times.
