From little to big, Austin is the place to be to celebrate the holidays. Check out the festivals we found!
Austin
Downtown Holiday Stroll 2021
November 28th – December 31st.
Austin. We kick off the holiday season every year by hosting the Downtown Holiday Stroll where thousands of Austinites gather to celebrate the holidays downtown. The stroll is accompanied by live music, carol singing, and much more—including the downtown tree lighting.
This year’s Holiday Stroll in Austin will take place on Saturday, December 4, 2021 in partnership with KUT and KUTX with the traditional Sing-Along and downtown tree lighting from 5pm until 8pm.
Bee Caves
Light Up the Plaza
November 27th
Join us as we light up the plaza on November 27th! Enjoy holiday performances, face painting, and arrive early to shop The Holiday Market at Hill Country Galleria. The program will begin at 6pm where you can see Santa and enjoy live music by American Authors! Hear their hit song “Best Day of My Life” along with holiday tunes. Emceed by Mix 94.7. Admission is free.
Schedule of events:
12:00 PM – 8:00 PM – Experience The Holiday Market at Hill Country Galleria
11:00 AM – 8:00 PM – Selfies With Santa in Santa’s Workshop
6:00 PM – Holiday entertainment on the main stage
6:30 PM – Program begins w/ Santa’s Appearance & Tree Lighting
7:00 PM – Live music by American Authors
*times are approximate, schedule subject to change
Dripping Springs
Christmas on Mercer
December 4th
Dripping Springs. Hosted by the City of Dripping Springs and Dripping Springs Lions Club, visitors once again will see the downtown area transformed into a winter wonderland of brilliant illumination, holiday sales, and Christmas cheer.
Celebrate the magic of the holidays on Mercer Street in historic downtown Dripping Springs. Holiday festival with live entertainment & activities for kids.
Georgetown
2020 Christmas Festival | Santa & Live Reindeer
November 25th – December 31st
Leander
2021 Old Town Christmas Festival
December 4th
There isn’t a more fun way to celebrate Christmas than shopping, dancing, singing, playing, eating and meeting Santa! Come to the Old Town Christmas Festival and start your stocking stuffing and present picking while enjoying the most fun of the season!
San Marcos
Sights and Sounds of Christmas Festival
Enjoy six full evenings of holiday festivities in San Marcos. Highlights include carnival rides, arts & crafts, pictures with Santa, local school performances, live nativity scene and a food court.
Virtual
The First Annual Hanukkah Film Festival
Celebrate the Hanukkah season with eight nights of exclusive, award-winning new films, available to view from the comfort of your home via your TV, computer, or mobile devices. The Austin Jewish Film Festival is joining with film festivals, synagogues, and Jewish organizations across the U.S. and Canada in partnership with Menemsha Films in this new holiday celebration. Some of these films AJFF has shown before, others are new. One pass provides limited-time access to the entire series of 11 films, with new content added each night of Hanukkah. Films are not available for individual purchase. https://austinjff.org/events/hanukkah/
The first annual Hanukkah Film Festival will be held beginning November 28th and continuing for a total of eight nights. This important event brings together the potential of every community no matter how big or how small to celebrate the Festival of Lights together. This is a holiday of shared joy and celebration, remembering who we are, where we have been and especially what our values are. Highlights include:
Opening night: The World Premiere of the animated Hanukkah short “The Broken Candle”. Also featured are two premieres of stories illustrating the unique diversity of the Jewish origins, histories where you least expected it, from the Inquisition (“Xueta Island”) to a story of Pancho Villa (“UnRaveling”.) Closing night will premiere the most awarded family drama and winner of four Israeli Academy Awards, as well as the most popular Audience Award winner of the season, the film “Here We Are.”
About the Austin Jewish Film Festival