One of my favorite things to do during the holiday season is to go see Christmas lights. It's festive, it's fun and best of all it's free (usually)! The challenge is knowing where to go which I've found it's not that easy to figure out which areas have something to offer that's not just your basic few strands of lights. Here are some of my favorites if you're in the Southern California area:
*See the boat parade! The great thing about this is that it goes to multiple beach cities. I've personally witnessed it in Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and San Diego. If you've gone to one city during the year, you don't necessarily need to go to another city because it's pretty much the same thing repeated. Go early and claim your viewing area because most of the routes are first come, first serve. Dress warm (well, unless it's 80 degrees like it was for a few days this December), bring a blanket to sit on, and bring some food to enjoy.
*Balboa Island has some really nice houses that put out a lot of effort to decorate. One of the houses even has a snowman made out of real snow! Grab some food at one of the local restaurants and then take a walking tour around the island.
*There is a neighborhood in Fountain Valley off of Brookhurst right across from Mile Square Park that has a lot of decorated houses. Park at the lot in front of the park and then cross the street. I think you'll enjoy the many houses in this area since quite a few of them get involved.
*Apparently you can choreograph your lights to music now. There are a handful of houses out there that do this and it's pretty cool. If you look it up online, I know there is at least one in Cypress, Buena Park and Brea.
Where do you like to go see Christmas lights? A penny for your thoughts?
I love looking at christmas lights, too! There are a few more places that are pretty good:
ReplyDelete1. "candy cane lane" - an area in the San Fernando Valley (near woodland hills).
2. Chapman Place - a street in Riverside where each of the houses picks a different theme (peanuts, disney, etc).
Thanks for sharing Cherie! According to my friend Dave, they've been doing the dancing lights for quite a few years now. In my defense, I usually am working so much during the holidays that I don't get to go out and look at lights so this was new for me. :)
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