The Ultimate Family Christmas Bucket List in the Bay Area
Christmas in the Bay Area is full of opportunities to make memories with the people you love. Whether your family enjoys looking at dazzling holiday lights, visiting Christmas markets, sipping hot cocoa, or taking annual photos with Santa, there are plenty of ways to make the season feel special.
To help you plan your family’s holiday season, we put together the ultimate Bay Area Christmas bucket list.
1. Take Your Annual Christmas Photos
Make taking your family’s Christmas photos an annual tradition.
Choose festive outfits, bring the kids, and capture those little moments you'll want to look back on years from now.
Make it a tradition at Christmasville in Emeryville, where families can visit Santa and have their holiday memories professionally photographed in a festive Christmas setting.
2. See the Bay Area's Christmas Lights
Pile everyone into the car, grab some hot chocolate, turn on Christmas music, and go looking for beautifully decorated homes and neighborhoods.
Family challenge: Let the kids choose their favorite house of the night!
3. Visit Santa
For little ones, a visit with Santa is one of those Christmas traditions they may remember for years.
Make it more than just a quick photo—let the kids talk to Santa, tell him what they're hoping for, and enjoy the moment together.
4. Have a Christmas Hot Chocolate Date
Pick a cozy café, order everyone's favorite holiday drink, and make an afternoon of it.
For an extra-fun tradition, let each family member rate their drink from 1–10.
5. Visit a Christmas Market
Spend an afternoon browsing holiday vendors, looking for unique gifts, enjoying seasonal treats, and soaking up the Christmas atmosphere.
It's also a great opportunity to start checking gifts off your list before December gets too busy.
6. Decorate the Christmas Tree Together
Put on your family's Christmas playlist, bring out the ornaments, and decorate the tree together.
Bonus tradition: Take a family photo in front of the tree every year and compare how everyone has changed.
7. Have a Christmas Movie Night
Choose a family favorite, make popcorn, get cozy, and have a Christmas movie marathon.
You could even make a family Christmas movie bucket list and check one off every weekend.
8. Bake Christmas Cookies Together
Let everyone choose a cookie to make—or have a decorating competition.
It doesn't have to be perfect. In fact, the messier the cookies, the better the memories.
9. Send Your Christmas Cards
Turn your family Christmas photos into a holiday tradition by sending cards to friends and relatives.
Instead of simply sending a digital greeting, use a favorite family photo from your Christmas session to create something your loved ones can keep.
10. Create One New Family Tradition
The best Christmas traditions don't have to cost anything.
Have a pajama breakfast, drive around looking at lights, volunteer together, make a special Christmas breakfast, or take the same family photo every Christmas.
Sometimes the simplest traditions become the ones everyone looks forward to most.
Make Christmasville Part of Your Family Tradition
Every family has traditions that make Christmas feel like Christmas.
Maybe yours is decorating the tree together. Maybe it's Christmas cookies, holiday movies, matching pajamas—or your annual photo with Santa.
If Christmasville in Emeryville is already part of your family's holiday tradition, we can't wait to welcome you back. And if you're starting a new tradition this year, we'd love to be part of it.
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