Top Picks: Big Events Happening This December 2024

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Things Happening Around Seattle in December and the New Year

Santa's Village at the Washington State Fair, featuring a bright red barn decorated with holiday wreaths and string lights. Whimsical farm-themed decorations include oversized fruits, a windmill, tractor, and cow on the roof. Visitors walk past the warmly lit entrance in the evening.

THRU DEC 23

Sponsored

Holiday Magic @ Washington State Fairgrounds

A magical holiday experience ✨

A still from BBC's Ghost Stories for Christmas series showing a solitary figure in Victorian dress walking away into a misty railway tunnel, holding a glowing lantern that casts an eerie light through the fog.

DEC 24

Ghost Stories for Christmas @ The Beacon

Victorian chills on Christmas Eve 🕯️

Arts & Culture Film Seasonal Theatre

James Stewart and Donna Reed share an intimate moment in It's a Wonderful Life, filmed in dramatic black and white against a starlit sky.

THRU DEC 26

It’s a Wonderful Life @ Grand Illusion Cinema

The final time at this location 👼

Film Seasonal

A rehearsal photo for A Christmas Carol 2024 at ACT Theatre in Seattle, Washington.

THRU DEC 27

A Christmas Carol 2024 @ ACT Theatre’s Allen Theatre

An annual tradition 🎄

Kids & Family Seasonal Theatre

A dramatic scene from Phantom of the Paradise showing the title character in a torn red costume against a glittering blue backdrop, his face contorted in a theatrical expression.

DEC 28

Phantom of the Paradise @ Grand Illusion Cinema

De Palma’s phantasmagorical rock opera 🎭

Film

A performer in an ornate orange and brown patterned robe and matching orange head wrap sings passionately against a purple backdrop, with stained glass visible in the soft focus background. Their eyes are closed and face is expressive, captured mid-performance.

THRU DEC 29

Black Nativity 2024 @ Broadway Performance Hall

Raise your voice with 30+ local artists ✊🏾

Culture Music Seasonal

Two performers in matching blue and white porcelain-inspired costumes execute a synchronized dance pose against a large red folding fan backdrop. Their costumes feature blue flowing sleeves and gold accents, with tutus in white and blue. The dancers are en pointe, creating a mirror-image pose with uplifted legs. The striking set piece behind them shows a dramatic red fan decorated with white cherry blossoms, while the stage features subtle snow effects and theatrical lighting.

THRU DEC 29

Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker 2024 @ The Triple Door

Where sugar plums meet sequins 🎭

Burlesque Dance Seasonal

A close-up photo of a purple LED butterfly light display against a dark background, with blurred green and orange lights visible in the background. The butterfly is intricately crafted from small LED lights that outline its wings and body in a vibrant blue-purple hue.

THRU DEC 31

Garden d’Lights 2024 @ Bellevue Botanical Garden

Let the season shine 🌟

Gardens Kids & Family Outdoors Seasonal

A lavish scene from Moulin Rouge! showing the main characters Christian and Satine in an intimate dance pose, surrounded by performers in white and gold costumes. Behind them is an ornate heart-shaped archway decorated with pink lights and red drapery, creating a theatrical, romantic atmosphere.

DEC 31

Moulin Rouge! New Year’s Eve Screening @ SIFF Cinema Uptown

Spectacular singing, spectacular night 💃

Film Seasonal

A group of people wearing 1920s-era costumes party in the Imperia Lake Union ballroom.

DEC 31

Sponsored

NYE Masquerade Party 2025 @ Imperia Lake Union

Ring the new year in with style 🎇

Food Events Music Nightlife Seasonal

Promotional artwork for The Breakfast Club New Year's Day event at Monkey Loft featuring a surreal still life on a checkered surface with a giant fried egg, Space Needle, potted plant, butterfly, and cat on a classical column, all under a dome of night sky. Text lists performers including Acid Tourist and Chaotic Noise Marching Corps.

JAN 1

Breakfast Club @ Monkey Loft

Dance into 2025 💃

Music Nightlife

Three potted plants on white pedestals illuminated by wireframe domes covered in colorful LED lights, creating a purple-tinted gallery environment. The plants appear to be rubber trees or similar houseplants, their leaves reflecting the red, blue, and green lighting.

JAN 2–30

TIMBER! @ 4Culture Gallery

Where robots meet nature 🌲

Visual Art

Close-up of the Black Panther suit in dramatic lighting, showing intricate Wakandan-inspired geometric patterns etched into the sleek black vibranium mask and armor

JAN 3–5

Black Panther in Concert with Seattle Symphony @ Benaroya Hall

Wakanda’s finest meets Seattle’s finest 🎬

Film Music

A singer-performer smiles while speaking into a microphone on stage, wearing a black hoodie with white graphic print, illuminated by blue stage lighting. Musical equipment and another performer are visible in the soft-focused background.

JAN 3–5

Wet City Comedy Festival 2025 @ The Crocodile Complex

Comedy chaos to kick off 2025 🎭

Comedy Festival

THRU JAN 5

Sponsored

Stonehenge @ Royal BC Museum

Uncover the mystery 🧐

History Museums

A stylized disco ball and anchor design for Seattle Kraken Pride Night featuring soft colors and geometric patterns, created by Kelly Björk, combining LGBTQIA+ pride symbolism with hockey imagery.

JAN 6

Kraken Pride Night @ Climate Pledge Arena

Pride on ice 🌈

Culture Sports & Leisure

JAN 7–12

Kimberly Akimbo @ The Paramount Theatre

Jersey girl makes good 🎭

Musical Theatre

Two women on stage laughing heartily while holding large prop ice cream cones - one yellow waffle cone and one white soft-serve. They're performing in front of an audience visible in the background against a dark red stage lighting.

JAN 10–18

The 14/48 Festival @ Seattle Center House

Two wild weekends, fourteen frantic plays 🎪

Festival Theatre

A movie illustration of Julie Andrews spinning in a mountain field for The Sound of Music.

JAN 11-12

Sponsored

The Sound of Music Sing-A-Long @ The 5th Avenue Theatre

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens… 🎶

Film Kids & Family Musical

Two young skaters use a red training aid at an indoor ice rink during the holiday season, with one wearing a festive Santa hat. The skating assist device helps beginners learn to balance while other skaters practice in the background under twinkling lights in the covered venue. Many Seattle-area ice rinks provide these popular training aids for first-time skaters, making ice skating accessible for all skill levels.

THRU JAN 12

Where to Ice Skate: Bellevue Downtown Ice Rink

A holiday tradition under the lights ⛸️

Kids & Family Seasonal Sports & Leisure

A family admires the dazzling holiday light display at Tulalip Lights & Ice, where a tree wrapped in thousands of white LED lights creates a sparkling canopy against the twilight sky. Beautiful blue and purple illuminated decorations dot the landscape as visitors in winter coats gather to experience one of the Pacific Northwest's largest holiday light shows, featuring over 7.8 million lights.

THRU JAN 12

Where to Ice Skate: Tulalip Lights & Ice

Skate under millions of lights ✨

Kids & Family Seasonal Sports & Leisure

JAN 12-14

Sponsored

National Geographic Live: Diving the Great Barrier Reef @ Benaroya Hall

With 360-degree photography 📸

Kids & Family Talks

Event promotional image showing Dean Spade in a navy button-down shirt smiling at camera, alongside his book cover 'Love in a F*cked-Up World' in bold red and pink text, and Angela Garbes wearing a denim jacket and patterned shirt against a mint green background.

JAN 17

Dean Spade with Angela Garbes @ Elliott Bay Book Company

Love as radical action 💝

Books Talks

Two giant peacock lanterns glow in the dark. One is purple and the other is blue with wings outstretched.

THRU JAN 19

Sponsored

WildLanterns 2024 @ Woodland Park Zoo

Bright nights 🌟

Attractions Kids & Family Outdoors Seasonal

Baltimore-born artist Joyce J. Scott sits for an interview inside her colorful installation at the Seattle Art Museum.

THRU JAN 19

Sponsored

Joyce J Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams @ Seattle Art Museum

All hail the queen of Baltimore 👑

Museums Visual Art

A vibrant Lunar New Year lion dance performance at Seattle Center. A white and green lion costume with fluffy fur dominates the foreground, while red-costumed performers can be seen in the background. A crowd of spectators watches from the edges of an outdoor plaza on a bright winter day.

JAN 25–26

Tet in Seattle 2025 @ Seattle Center

Slither into the Year of the Snake 🐍

Culture Festival Kids & Family

Art installation detail showing fantastical glass flowers with pink-tinged translucent petals, amber globes, and delicate stems against a black background, part of Fischersund's Faux Flora exhibit at the Nordic Museum.

THRU JAN 26

Fischersund: Faux Flora @ National Nordic Museum

A multisensory garden of invented blooms 🌸

Visual Art

Black and white still from Charlie Chaplin's 'The Gold Rush' showing Chaplin as his famous Tramp character sitting on a ledge in tattered clothes and his signature bowler hat, holding a cane and looking directly at the camera with his characteristic expression.

JAN 27

Silent Movie Mondays: The Gold Rush @ Paramount Theatre

Charlie Chaplin’s Alaskan adventure 🎬

Film Music

Black and white promotional photo showing seven cast members of Almost Live! standing neck-deep in rippling water, arranged in a group composition with serious expressions, capturing the show's irreverent style.

THRU FEB 23

Almost Live! (Almost an Exhibit) @ MOHAI

Seattle’s comedy time capsule 😆

Comedy Film History

Two women, one an elder and one younger, walk side by side, smiling inside a community center

THRU FEB 23

Sponsored

Hello Auntie, Hello Uncle @ Wing Luke Museum

Illuminating the lives of elders 💡

Culture Museums

A triptych of passport-themed artworks: Left shows a blue paper document emerging from a black cover with 'TORY' visible, center features a whimsical sculptural bird with a red pinata-like head and blue-gold body displayed alongside a colorful accordion-style book with decorative borders, and right shows a corner of a dark blue passport with gold emblem visible.

THRU FEB 23

Crossing the Line: The Passport Re-Imagined @ BIMA

Art that reimagines identity & borders 🛂

Visual Art

A sequence of three black and white photographs showing a performative act: first, someone holding a ceremonial urn, then standing with raised hands as the urn sits below, and finally with the urn broken on the ground. The figure stands against a brick wall wearing casual clothes.

MAR 12 – SEP 7, 2025

Ai Weiwei @ Three SAM Locations

A landmark Seattle moment 🎨 ✨

Visual Art

A shot of two cars from the Shinka exhibit against a nightime Japanese cityscape.

THRU MAR

Sponsored

Shinka @ LeMay – America’s Car Museum

Celebrating Japanese car culture 🇯🇵

Museums Visual Art

THRU MAR

Keith Haring: A Radiant Legacy @ MoPOP

An icon 👯

Visual Art

THRU JUN 1

Sponsored

Following Space @ Seattle Art Museum

Organic levitation 🌀

Visual Art

A tour provider shows a guide to different flavors within chocolate during a Seattle Chocolate Tour at Pike Place Market.

ONGOING

Seattle Chocolate Tour @ Pike Place Market

Treats in downtown Seattle 🍫

Food Events Kids & Family Market Events

An aerial drone view of Stadium High School Tacoma Washington covered in snow

MONTHLY

How to Tour the High School from 10 Things I Hate About You

It’s basically a castle 🏰

Film History Tour

Inside the Sorrento Hotel's wood-paneled Fireside Room, readers sit in leather chairs around small tables with glowing candles. A domed skylight illuminates the warm space, while a well-stocked bar glows in the background.

MONTHLY

Silent Reading Party @ Hotel Sorrento

Shh 🤫

Books