The Haunting Holiday Guide for the 2021 Winter Season

Happy Holidays, Haunting Community! While the afterglow of the Halloween season has begun to dim, the bright lights of the holidays light our path forward. This year, our Holiday Guide 2021 provides you with the best holiday season lights displays, drive through experiences, drink festivities, and of course, haunted holiday attractions (like the Los Angeles Ghost Tour and San Diego Ghost Tour). Heat up some hot cocoa, grab your loved ones, and use this guide to make a plan to create some lasting memories this year.

We are adjusting this guide a bit this year, incorporating the event guide a bit more. Utilize our Sliders to scroll through events, organized by event type (for those who want to only see the family friendly stuff or the scary stuff) and by location (for those wanting to stay close to home). While the organization here showcases everything we have to offer, our Event Catalog allows even more control in filtering events so you’re only seeing what you want to see. Try it out.

As always, this guide will be continuing to evolve through the end of the year. If you know of an experience or event we’re missing, send us an email and let us know! And if you’re a fan and want to know about events the minute they’re posted, make sure to sign up for our email updates below.

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We’ll start this guide with the most Haunting of experiences: Holiday-themed haunted houses. While the Halloween season usually focuses on darker themes, Christmas often employs folklore and naughtiness to differentiate their experiences. But as always, expect jump scares, festive blood-soaked cheer, and horror with a holiday twist.

Next on our list (we’ve checked it twice), are immersive holiday experiences for the 2021 season. These Winter Holiday Experiences are family-friendly events involving elaborate light displays, holiday-themed photo ops, and classic Holiday character encounters. Don’t expect scares or horror here, but rather, audiences will celebrate the joy and excitement that the holidays inspire. These are not drive through experiences (more on that in a second); these are walk-through experiences that you can step into. If you are looking for experiences that are more covid-safe, see the Drive-Thru Experiences section below.

With Covid concerns still residing in the minds of most, Holiday events that can be experienced from the comfort of your own vehicle are back this year. These family-friendly events involve elaborate light displays, holiday-themed scenes with classic Holiday characters. These are not scary or horror experiences but are meant to celebrate the joy and excitement that the holidays inspire.

This category focuses on experiences that are centered around food and / or drink, rather than focusing on narrative. These are social events, bringing together members of the nightlife, immersive, and dining communities. As the genre evolves, more immersive elements are being added, elevating the experience with gorgeous set design, mysteries, or interactivity. While food is the centerpiece here, the experiential nature of these events ensures their memorability, creating a full night of entertainment.

To end our list, we have some traditional theater experiences. Traditional Theater is exactly what you think it is: these are Holiday-Themed stage shows with some light immersive elements. The shows range from family-friendly (Nutcracker Suite & A Christmas Carol) to to more adult themed cabaret shows.