INDIANAPOLIS -- Kids will soon leave the classroom for winter break and adults are taking time away from the office over the next few weeks, so what a better time to explore Indy?
The holiday season offers tons of activities for families, couples and children in the city. You may consider beginning your journey at the Indiana Historical Society’s Festival of Trees, where you can see more than 70 Christmas trees decorated with the season and pop-culture in mind.
From there you can head to Monument Circle to visit over 4,000 lights on one the biggest Christmas trees at the Solders’ and Sailors Monument. Don’t forget to drop off your letter to Santa at Santa’s Mailbox while you’re there.
Don’t worry, more holiday lights are on the way, and this time, they showoff furry friends. Christmas at the Zoo, at the Indianapolis Zoo, was the first zoo in the country to hold a holiday lights event, and today they’re still at it. Be sure to grab a hot beverage (or two) on your stroll through the zoo.
If you’d rather admire holiday lights from a heated car, Lights at the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a great idea. It includes a 1.7 mile driving experience that features more than 40 scenes filled with 400 light displays.
Once you’re all warmed up, visit White River State Park, where many of the museums offer holiday events, like Indiana State Museum's Celebration Crossing. It’s a popular holiday event that includes food, fun, and sounds of the holidays.
You can enter a locomotive wonderland at the Eiteljorg Museum where their annual Jingle Rails display highlights nine working model trains that wind past miniature city landmarks like Monument Circle, Union Station and Lucas Oil Stadium.
If trains aren’t your cup of tea, maybe ice skating at the Indiana State Fairgrounds or a play at the Indiana Repertory Theatre (they’re playing “A Christmas Carol”) are. Simply stop by each of these places and lace up your skates or enjoy a show.
After the fun you can watch blocks of ice transform into sculptures and create your own winter art at the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s Winter Solstice.
To keep the kids happy, if they happen to be on the journey, make a stop at Jolly Days happening at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. It’s a family-friendly celebration of the holidays that lets you do fun things like ice skate in your socks – OK, maybe you can leave that to the little ones.
End your adventure in Gingerbread Village at Conner Prairie that displays row-after-row of very simple to elaborate gingerbread creations.
