From Christmas lights to Santa visits, here are things to do with kids this holiday season

Nearly 3,500 lights and 200 ornaments shine during the Milwaukee City Hall Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony. First Stage Theater Academy students performed songs from ELF - The Musical and other holiday favorites.

The holiday season has arrived. It can sometimes feel like it’s difficult to make sure you check all those countless family traditions off your list. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, here’s a list of the places around Milwaukee you can go to get in the holiday spirit — from holiday lights and decorations to Christmas theater and movies to Santa visits and how to give back to the community.

Go see holiday lights at the Milwaukee County Zoo and at the Boerner Botanical Gardens

There are lots of places to go to see Christmas lights around southeast Wisconsin this year. Some highlights include lighted animal sculptures and lights throughout the forests and pathways at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Winter Wonders, a drive-through light display, is back at the Boerner Botanical Gardens. Downtown Milwaukee has its annual holiday lights festival, featuring three different parks with lights displays, as well as lights along the main streets. And you can also use the Jingle Bus to go through the displays.

If you enjoy cutting down your own family Christmas tree, here are some tree farms around the area to visit.

Trees decorated by kids’ homemade ornaments are fun to see. Cathedral Square Park has been transformed into Community Spirit Park with hundreds of trees decorated by local schools and youth groups. And the Fantastic Forest at the Milwaukee County Zoo has trees decorated by kids’ homemade animal-themed ornaments.

Go to some of your favorite family-friendly venues to see what decorations you can spot. Discovery World, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Milwaukee Public Museum and Betty Brinn Children’s Museum are good choices. The Mitchell Park Domes also has hundreds of poinsettias on display.

Every year, culinary students from MATC bake and decorate elaborate gingerbread houses that are then displayed at the Public Market. Check out the houses and vote on your favorite.

The Kooky Cooky House brings back holiday nostalgia for countless Milwaukeeans. It’s on display at Bayshore this holiday season.

Go see ‘A Christmas Carol’ at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater and Milwaukee Ballet’s ‘The Nutcracker’

Christmas is the perfect time for family-friendly live theater. There’s the Milwaukee Rep’s annual “A Christmas Carol”. There’s First Stage’s rendition of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical”. There’s the Milwaukee Ballet’s “The Nutcracker.” There’s Black Arts MKE’s “Black Nativity.” And there’s the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s Holiday Pops concerts.

If you’d rather see Christmas movies than live theater, Marcus Theatres screen holiday classic movies every year. Rivoli Theater in Cedarburg does the same.

And, if going out to see a holiday show isn’t your thing, you can always watch the holiday specials and movies from “Elf” to “A Christmas Story” to “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” at home. Here’s where you can stream all the classics.

You can donate to Toys for Tots and Hunger Task Force

If you’re looking for places to donate to those less fortunate at the holidays, check out Toys for Tots and Hunger Task Force.

You can also show your support for Milwaukee-area nonprofits like the Zoological Society and the MACC Fund who are selling ornaments to raise funds.

Volunteer with your kids through Kids Impact Community to help Milwaukee-area families through various giving campaigns and projects. You can also volunteer through the Postal Service’s Operation Santa to fulfill children’s Christmas wish lists.

Find Christmas cookie recipes in the We Energies cookie book

Looking for Christmas cookies? Check out the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s recipes from our previous cookie contests. Or the We Energies annual cookie book. And if you’re not interested in baking your own cookies, there are a ton of sales at this time of year.

Christmas music is a must this time of year. Local radio station 93.3 was the first to go “all Christmas music all the time” this year. There are also XM radio stations and a few specialized stations that play Christmas music.

You’ve gotta see Santa. He’s in all the malls. There are also a few out-of-the-ordinary places to find him, like on a boat at the Lake Geneva Santa Cruise and an East Troy train ride to visit Santa’s workshop. There’s also Sprecher’s Soda with Santa where families get pictures with Santa, a brewery tour and soda samples. And make sure you check out NORAD’s website; you can play games before the holiday and track his progress on Christmas Eve.

When is St. Nick’s Day?

Don’t forget St. Nick’s Day is Dec. 6. The tradition is huge in Milwaukee, when St. Nick stops at children’s houses after they go to bed on Dec. 5 to leave candy and small treats in stockings or shoes. It’s a great way to tide the kids over till Christmas.

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