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From giant menorah lightings to New Year's Day hikes, check out our picks for how to spend the holidays in NYC!
With December fast approaching, the holiday season is in full swing. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or other holidays, there are dozens of holiday events and activities across New York City to get into the spirit. This year, be sure to check out the lighting of the largest menorah in Brooklyn at Grand Army Plaza, or take a trip through the NYC Winter Lantern Festival. If you’re in the mood for shopping in person, stop by the Bryant Park Winter Market to purchase all the gifts you need. Read on for more holiday events happening throughout NYC’s five boroughs.
Every year since 1985, the largest menorah in all of Brooklyn has stood atop Grand Army Plaza, overlooking Prospect Park and the Central branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. In Judaism, the menorah symbolizes the ideal of universal enlightenment and wisdom. Each of its nine (and sometimes seven) lamps alludes to the branches of human knowledge, with the outer six lamps inclined toward the central lamp symbolically by the light of God.
During the eight nights of Hanukkah — which ends on December 5th — the menorah will be lit by Rabbi Shimon Hecht, community leaders, philanthropists, and special guests using a 60-foot boom lift. Accompanying each lighting will be a series of festivities, including live music, latkes, and gifts for children. Open to Jews and non-Jews alike, the lighting of the menorah invites community members and visitors to come together to celebrate the city’s rich Jewish heritage.
Beginning December 4th, the newly reopened Paley Center for Media will host its classic holiday extravaganza, PaleyLand, bringing back visitors for its first in-person event since it began virtual programming in March 2020. Visitors to PaleyLand will be able to watch exclusive screenings of holiday classic films such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and A Charlie Brown Christmas, among others. Additional screenings at PaleyLand will include a sneak preview of Disney’s Christmas Again — with a guest appearance from actress Scarlett Estevez — and Dreamwork Animation & Netflix’s children’s television series Gabby’s Dollhouse, featuring an in-person appearance from Gabby herself.
Besides film and television screenings, visitors at PaleyLand can enjoy a live holiday-themed LEGO demonstration from LEGO Masters Season 2 contestant Richard Dryden, Christmas carolers, and gaming stations with a 2022 “Just Dance” interactive showcase. In addition, visitors can enjoy the Paley Express, a winter wonderland holiday train display, and can take photos with the Paley Express conductor. PaleyLand will be open until January 6, 2022, from 12 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday through Friday and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets are free for Paley Center members, $20 for non-members, $16 for students, teachers, veterans, seniors, and first responders, and free for all children aged 12 and under.
On December 1st, check out the Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center. For more than eight decades, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree has stood as a holiday beacon for New Yorkers and visitors alike. The annual tradition began in December 1931, when a group of workers at the center pooled their money together to buy a 20-foot balsam fir tree decorated with handmade garlands from their families. Over the years, the tree’s decorations have changed to fit the political climate of the United States. During World War II, the tree remained unlit due to blackout regulations and was modestly decorated with patriotic red, white, and blue globes and a wooden star. Years later, in December 2001 following 9/11, the tree was again painted in patriotic colors.
Rockefeller Center hosted its largest-ever tree in 1999. Hailing from Killingworth, Connecticut, it was over 100 feet tall. This year, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is a 79-foot-tall Norway Spruce from Elkton, Maryland. About 50,000 LED lights adorn the tree, and its three-dimensional Swarovski star, designed in 2018 by architect Daniel Libeskind, features 70 spikes covered in three million crystals.
If you’re in the mood for another Christmas tree lighting, head down the following day to the South Street Seaport. Leading up to the lighting, there will be various live music performances and holiday craft activities. At 8 p.m. an ugly sweater party will take place at Pearl Alley at Pier 17 and from 7 to 9 p.m. visitors will be able to take photos with Santa at 8 Fulton Street.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary is the Origami Holiday Tree at the American Museum of Natural History. Measuring at 13 feet tall, the tree is made from more than a thousand origami pieces and will feature 50 specialty gold-colored models. Its theme for the year will be Gems of the Museum, with the tree decorated with specimens from the Allison and Robert Mignone Hall of Gems and Minerals, which recently reopened this past June.
Other decorations included on the tree take inspiration from the museum’s Blue Whale, Titanosaur, Tyrannosaurus Rex, and new special exhibition, Sharks. Produced in partnership with OrigamiUSA, hand-folded paper models created by local, national, and international origami artists also adorn the tree. It will be on display through January 9th, 2022.
Through January 9, 2022, the NYC Winter Lantern Festival will take place in three locations across the five boroughs. The first, A Bug’s Night: Drive Through Adventure, takes place at the Nassau County Museum of Art on Long Island. Featuring over 20 acres of holiday lights, projection mapping, and vivid handmade lanterns in the shapes of flowers, bugs, and animals, A Bug’s Night: Drive Through Adventure is an unforgettable experience. Tickets are priced per vehicle and cost between $35 to $60 depending on the day of the week.
The second installation of the Winter Lantern Festival is Escape, located at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Staten Island. With over 15,000 annual guests, Escape transforms eight acres of the center’s botanical garden into an immersive world of lights featuring a lantern display, live DJ, projection mapping, and food vendors to enjoy on the site. At the Queens County Farm Museum is the third and final installment of the Winter Lantern Festival, Illuminate the Farm, which includes a display of handmade lanterns in the shapes of flowers, tractors, and farm animals. Prices per person for both range from $17 to $30.
This holiday season, be sure to check out Bryant Park’s European-inspired open-air winter market featuring over 170 shops with artisans from around the world. Each shop is housed within a custom-designed “jewel-box” kiosk colored red and green and decorated in the Christmas spirit with string lights. Four New York City-based minority-owned small businesses, with annual revenues of $1 million or less, will be given the opportunity to showcase their products in a free booth thanks to funding from the Small Business Spotlight, a program aimed at showcasing the stories and resiliency of small businesses.
The Bryant Park Winter Market is a must for holiday shopping with stand-out shops including the Forest-Hills-based store Tibet Tree of Life, which sells Tibetan singing bowls, shawls, incense, and metal clutches. Food offerings at the market range from Indian fusion dishes at Mystic Masala to pan-fried buns at Mao’s Bao. For dessert, Doughnuttery sells a number of differently flavored mini doughnuts, with a stand-out being their flower power flavor made with rose hibiscus and honey. The market will be open daily until January 2, 2022.
In addition to the market, Bryant Park also offers free ice skating in its 17,000 square-foot rink for those with their own skates, with skates available for purchase if needed. Sponsored by Bank of America, online tickets are required for entrance. The Rink will be open at Bryant Park through March 6, 2022 — making it the perfect activity to do with friends and family.
From December 10th through January 5th, the Met Opera will present an abridged English-language version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s sublime fairy tale opera, The Magic Flute. First premiering in 1791 at Schikaneder’s Theatre in Vienna, The Magic Flute went on to gain critical acclaim and ended up being the final work produced by Mozart, who passed away three months later.
Moving freely between earthy comedy and noble mysticism, The Magic Flute is told in a singspiel (song-play) format characterized by separate musical numbers connected by dialogue and stage activity — bringing the story’s solemn and lighthearted moments seamlessly together. Its story is set in Egypt, traditionally considered to be the birthplace of the Masonic fraternity, whose symbols and rituals are heavily featured.
The Magic Flute’s cast will be led by tenor Matthew Polenzani as Tamino and soprano Hera Hyesang Park as Pamina. Rolando Villazón makes an exciting debut as Papageno, alongside Kathryn Lewek as the Queen of the Night and Morris Robinson playing her nemesis Sarastro. Conducted by Jane Glover, the performance takes place over 1 hour and 55 minutes, with tickets available online for purchase.
In honor of Kwanzaa, the Apollo Theater will host Kwanzaa: A Regeneration Celebration, an online celebration of music, percussion, and modern and African dance. Kwanzaa is an annual celebration of African American culture that was created by Maulana Karenga in 1966 following the violence of the Watts Riots in Los Angeles. The holiday is based on African harvest festival traditions from across the continent, whose name derives from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza,” which means “first fruits.” In Southern Africa, first fruits festivals are held annually in December and January with the southern solstice. An additional ‘a’ was added to Kwanzaa so that it would have a symbolic seven letters, representing the holiday’s seven principles. These principles include umoja (unity), kujichagulia (self-determination), ujima (collective work and responsibility), ujamaa (cooperative economics), nia (purpose), kuumba (creativity), and imani (faith).
Kwanzaa: A Regeneration Celebration will be hosted by Imhotep Gary Byrd and will feature a performance from the Forces of Nature Dance Theatre under the leadership of Abdel Salaam. The event will take place starting at 7 p.m. on December 26th, the first day of Kwanzaa festivities this year. In addition, the celebration can be viewed on-demand through January 3, 2022. Tickets for the event are pay what you wish, but the suggested donation is $10.
Through January 2, 2022, George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker will be performed by the New York City Ballet in the David H. Koch Theater at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Balanchine’s The Nutcracker is based on Alexander Dumas’ version of E.T.A. Hoffman’s tale The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, published in 1816. For the ballet, the novel has been split into two acts; the first introduces the Stalhbaum children, Marie and Fritz, Herr Drosselmeier, and his nephew — transitioning from reality to fantasy with the conclusion of the Snowflake Waltz. During the second act, viewers are fully immersed within the Kingdom of the Sugarplum Fairy in all its splendid glory.
With 90 dancers, 62 musicians, 40 stagehands, and more than 125 children in two alternating casts from the School of American Ballet, The Nutcracker’s whimsical choreography is perfectly complemented by Tchaikovsky’s music, Karinska’s costumes, and Rouben Tar-Arutunian’s magical sets. In particular, the ballet’s set features a one-ton Christmas tree that grows from a height of 12-feet to 41-feet and dazzling crystal-shaped snowflakes which are conserved after each performance for reuse. Both acts of the ballet last around 90 minutes and tickets can be purchased online.
For almost a century, the Radio City Rockettes have dazzled the world with their dance performances. Founded in 1925 by Russell Markert, the Rockettes — originally known as the Missouri Rockets — were inspired by The Tiller Girls, a British dance troupe known for their 1922 Ziegfeld Follies production. After making their debut in St. Louis, the group was discovered by showman S.L. “Roxy” Rothafel, who moved the troupe to Radio City Music Hall for opening night on December 27th, 1932.
During World War II, the Rockettes became some of the first entertainers to volunteer for the United Services Organization (USO), helping to entertain troops stationed at the Copacabana, Army Air Corps base in Pawling, New York, and at the Stage Door Canteen. Most recently, the Rockettes are known for having performed at the inauguration of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush, in 2001.
Today, the Rockettes are known for their Radio City Christmas Spectacular, an annual 90-minute musical holiday stage show performed in November and December at Radio City Music Hall. The show features more than 150 performers and an original musical score, combining singing, dancing, and humor with traditional Christmas scenes. In addition, the performance features real-life camels, sheep, and donkeys in the “Living Nativity,” which are given daily exercise twice a day on the streets outside the Music Hall. After being canceled in 2020, the Rockettes will return this year for the holiday season, performing every night from December 2nd through January 2, 2022. Tickets can be purchased online and range in price from around $60 to $260.
On display in the Empire State Building’s Fifth Avenue Lobby windows are a series of holiday scenes featuring gold, glitter, and candy landscapes in honor of the holiday season. Complementing the window displays are the Art Deco Lobby’s holiday lights, wreaths, and Christmas tree. On Mondays through Fridays, visitors to the Empire State Building will be treated to holiday tunes played by professional pianists from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Starting December 2nd, DO, Cookie Dough Confections, a New York City-based edible cookie dough and cookie company, will host a pop-up venue in the building’s 86th Floor Observatory. The company will offer six holidays and city-themed treats from a special 90th-anniversary cart through the first three weekends of the month. Upon entering the Empire State Building Observatory Experience, guests will be greeted by a giant menorah in celebration of Hanukkah. In addition, the 86th Floor Observatory will have a section dedicated to taking holiday portraits. Decorations will remain on display through January 6, 2022.
Next, be sure to check out How New York City Played A Major Role In Developing Thanksgiving!
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