Family Holiday Fun on a Budget
By Eileen Ogintz
Tribune Content Agency
Taking the Kids
Let’s have some holiday fun! Many of us are forgoing expensive vacations or flying this holiday season. But we could enjoy holiday traditions – or make new ones without spending a fortune by visiting a big hotel’s gingerbread display or seeing light displays at local zoos and botanic gardens. At Brookfield Zoo Chicago, Chicagoland’s longest- running holiday lights festival features more than 3.5 million lights, and the region’s biggest display of decorated trees complete with a holiday igloo, maze of lights and illuminated tic-tac-toe.
Journey to the North Pole on a lake cruise at the Coeur d’Alene Resort in Idaho famous for displaying more than a million holiday lights, go rafting with Santa at Hoover Dam aboard Hoover Dam Rafting Adventures motor- assisted rafts on a 12-mile journey down the Colorado River in Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Boulder City, Nevada. Go for a special- themed holiday tea (calling all “Nutcracker”-inspired ballerinas) at The National Autograph Collection in Oklahoma City, OK.
Ashville’s Omni Grove Park Inn & Spa’s annual National Gingerbread House Competition is the largest gingerbread house display in the United States. This year’s competition, some 200 baking masterpieces, will be on display until Jan. 4, 2026.
Hotels across the country, including the Hilton Chicago, the Omni Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia, and the Fairmont San Francisco also have large and popular gingerbread displays,
Take the kids to Denny’s where kids eat free (with an adult entrée), including a Rudolph pancake, complete with turkey bacon antlers, chocolate eyes and Rudolph’s red nose.
According to RVSHARE, 7 million Americans plan to RV for Christmas, avoiding crowded airports. “As families face rising costs and unpredictable travel logistics, we’re seeing more Americans turn to RVing as a way to take back control of their holidays,” said John Gray, CEO of RVSHARE. Rent an RV for your overflow guests!
At Grand Geneva Resort & Spa in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, the six-foot-high gingerbread display is a replica of the clock tower on the resort’s putting green. Guests can also ooh and ah at the Gingerbread House Walk & Competition, showcasing sweet creations from the local community. You might see Santa skiing!
Decorate your own creation at The Gaylord Rockies in Denver in Mistletoe Village where you can meet Nutmeg Man, the hotel’s gingerbread man. The six Gaylord Hotels in Nashville, Kissimmee, DC, Grapevine, Texas, and San Antonio, of course, are well known for their ICE! frozen showcase, featuring more than 2 million pounds of hand-carved ice sculptures so visitors can walk through iconic Christmas stories, zoom down two- story slides, storytelling ice tubing and more.
Green eggnog, perhaps? Visit the Whoville-inspired gingerbread house façade at the Four Seasons Vail, Colorado, for cookies, green eggnog and hot chocolate. And if you happen to be in Vail Dec. 20, you can join the resort’s Gingerbread House Decorating Experience where young bakers get a chef’s hat and apron.
Maybe you can’t afford a week away but how about spending a night at a unique- themed hotel suite.
In New York, Pillsbury and Club Wyndham, the nation’s largest vacation ownership club, have teamed up for Let It Dough Suite at Club Wyndham Midtown 45, a first-of-its-kind baking retreat. The suite features icing-draped walls, a cinnamon roll-inspired bedroom, frosted windows and the scent of freshly baked cookies piped throughout. The kitchen comes fully stocked with Pillsbury favorites, including cinnamon rolls, ready-to-bake cookies and guests can ring the onsite Cookie Concierge to have additional baking supplies delivered. There is even a special phone booth with direct access to the Doughboy’s Holiday Hot Line to hear his holiday baking tips. (Rates start at $399 a night through Jan. 6 , One lucky winner of the suite-stakes will get a complimentary two-night stay in the Let It Dough Suite from December 17 to 19, 2025 and round-trip economy airfare for two guests to and from New York City.
Spend a night at The Hotel Washington in Washington, DC ‘s Whoville Hideout Suite (available Nov. 22 to Dec. 26), complete with themed bedding, a Christmas tree, holiday DVD classics, family-friendly books, homemade cookies and mugs for cocoa or spiked eggnog, making it the quirkiest holiday stay in the capital.
The Sheraton Boston Hotel, meanwhile, is debuting the Goodnight Moon Suite, where families can immerse themselves inside Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd’s classic children’s tale “Goodnight Moon”, complete with green walls, red carpet, a working dollhouse and more. Members can also bid on an exclusive Marriott Bonvoy Moment: a two-night stay from Dec. 26 to Dec. 28, 2025 in the Goodnight Moon Suite, including a moonlit dinner followed by a unique stargazing activity, a s’mores dessert display and special keepsake gifts for the family. You can support UNICEF and several other charities by donating your Marriott Bonvoy points with a 2x Marriott match until Dec. 31.
And in Chicago, Swissotel Chicago’s Santa Suite is back for its 12th year, complete with an elf-guide DC tour, visit with Santa, the Swiss Chocolate trolley and holiday crafts – a 2,000-square-foot remake of the hotel’s Presidential Suite this year inspired by traditions in cities around the world. (You can visit on a public Santa day, book a private one-hour session for groups of up to 20 people or opt to stay overnight. Visit www.swissotelchicagosantasuite.com to learn more. (For every booking, Swissotel Chicago donates $50 to One Family Illinois.)
If you decide to travel, TSA is relaunching its popular TSA PreCheck Families on the Fly promotion, offering BOGO $15 off now through Dec. 31. Families on the Fly is not limited to just traditional families– travelers can actually pair up with friends, colleagues and chosen family like sorority sisters or their work bestie to take advantage of the deal.
Happy holidays, everyone!
(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow TakingTheKids on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments. The fourth edition of The Kid’s Guide to New York City and the third edition of The Kid’s Guide to Washington D.C. are the latest in a series of 14 books for kid travelers published by Eileen.)
©2025 Eileen Ogintz. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.