Christmas in Charleston 

The Holiday Festival of Lights at James Island County Park is known for its three-mile driving tour, decorated with two million dazzling lights. Visitors can also walk the enchanted trail, wander through festival shops, make s’mores and sip on hot chocolate, and explore Santa's village.

The holiday tradition is better than ever, as miles of bands, floats, marchers, and performers parade through downtown Charleston. 

Enjoy musical interludes leading up to Mayor Tecklenburg lighting up the tree in Marion Square as part of Illumination Charleston.

Hotel Bennett's annual Tree Lighting Celebration returns on Thursday, December 7 on the Gabrielle Plaza. Prepare to immerse yourself in an evening beneath the twinkling stars, filled with enchanting music, delightful festive giveaways, and heartwarming surprises from none other than Santa himself.

The Charleston Holiday Parade of Boats is held yearly in Charleston Harbor.  Participants must register and decorate their boat from stem to stern while spectators view the parade from either Mt. Pleasant or Charleston along the harbor. 

The event will feature floats, marching bands, and an Arts & Crafts Show at the Community Center. It’s the perfect place to get a unique gift you won’t find anywhere else. After the parade, head down to Folly River Park to receive goodies from Santa.

Brilliantly lit floats and community groups will march up West Coleman Boulevard as the Mount Pleasant Christmas Light Parade sets sail to the delight of thousands of spectators. The festivities begin at 5:30 p.m. with a fireworks show, immediately followed by the start of the parade. 

Aquarium Aglow is a one-of-a-kind holiday experience. This immersive holiday light spectacular brings forth the joy and magic of the season, with tens of thousands of lights displayed throughout the Aquarium. Enjoy food, beverages and live entertainment. 

A beloved tradition that started at the hotel in the 1990s is back.Throughout the festive season, 16 Christmas trees will be on display throughout the hotel's 2nd floor corridor, each creatively decorated by a different local business or organization.

Kick off the festive season with us on Friday, November 24th as we welcome Santa to the Village Green! In addition to photos at Santa’s Surf Shack, guests can enjoy our Holiday market (on Saturday only), live music, strolling carolers, and interactive performers each day.

Skate The Stadium is a custom-built synthetic ice rink at Credit One Stadium. Visitors are invited to come celebrate the season with skating, cozy firepits, concessions and special holiday events.

Enjoy demonstrations, tours of historic houses, a market featuring the Southern Living Tastemakers, inspired vignettes at the historic Aiken-Rhett House, engaging talks from some of the brightest stars in the design world, and fabulous nighttime gatherings. 

Enjoy crafts and activities, including letters to veterans, jingle bell jewelry making, holiday photos by the carriage, ornament making, leaf rubbings and an activity table hosted by the South Carolina Aquarium. Food vendors include Independent Grounds Coffee, Blackout Burger and more. Plus, countdown to the lighting of the holiday tree in the center of Colonial Lake.

Arts & Craft Vendors, local restaurants, food vendors, children's activities, live entertainment and Santa from 2 pm - 7 pm.

Experience the beauty of the holidays at the 30th Annual Christmas Made in the South, a fine arts & crafts festival, December 1-3 at The Exchange Park/Fairgrounds, Ladson, SC!

Wine Under the Oaks is a casual and elegant affair that welcomes patrons to sample fine wines and delicious gourmet foods from Lowcountry chefs. Featuring live music, specialty gifts, a fine selection of wines, and edible delicacies.

The Deck the Hall Oyster Roast is the highlight of Charleston’s Christmas season – a Lowcountry tradition and a premiere holiday event. The oyster roast includes oysters with all the fixings, chili, beer, wine and live music on the most beautiful historic landscape in Charleston.

The Old Village Street Fest, hosted by Basic Projects and Out of Hand, returns to Pitt Street on Saturday, December 3rd, from 2 pm to 8 pm. The event promises a day filled with holiday shopping, live entertainment, food, libations, revelry, family fun, and more.

Join us for a night of festive, family fun and don your best holiday apparel or pajamas! Doors open at 6pm; movie screening begins at 6:30. We'll have 2 local bakers popping up selling cookies + cocoa, Santa greeting everyone in the lobby and some festive tunes all before the movie begins

The Reindeer Run is a family-oriented, pet-friendly 5k run/walk located downtown Charleston. The costume contest is a crowd favorite and we are bringing it back again!  So don’t forget to dress up in your festive best and compete for prizes and bragging rights!

Join Freshfields Village in December for a special holiday edition of the Starlight Cinema! The outdoor movie series will be held on Saturday, December 9th and Saturday, December 16th. Guests are encouraged to bring chairs, blankets and picnics to enjoy the family-friendly movie under the stars beginning at 6:00 pm.

Christmas comes early to The Restoration with a special visit from the jolly old man himself!
Bring your wish list and see if you made the nice list while you take pictures with Santa in The Library.

As is tradition, there will be hot food, live music, and a festive atmosphere. There will be no shortage of potato latkes, and the night will culminate with the community coming together to light the Chanukah candles.

Shop Local this Holiday Season at the Annual Charleston Holiday Market in Marion Square on Saturdays & Sundays, 9am-2pm for the first three weekends in December. Enjoy a bounty of fresh local produce & homegrown creativity with additional vendors and decorations!

Kick off the start of the resort's most popular season at the Holiday Market! To celebrate the most wonderful time of the year, the holiday market will feature pop-up shops from plaza stores for a unique shopping experience. Free and open to the public.

Get into the holiday spirit, Lowcountry style. Join us in The Port for a festive pop up experience featuring some of our favorite local vendors, and find a unique gift for everyone on your list!

The Holy City Holiday Market will be held outdoors on Saturday, December 16, 2023 from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Holy City Brewing, Firefly Distillery, and The Station will partner up to host over 200 local vendors at this beloved annual event.

Grab the whole family, including the kids and join us for a Cozy, Magical & Unforgettable night Under The Stars. This Movie Night Experience is like NO other! Have a blast watching Christmas Movies, start off with a delicious hot cocoa and popcorn from our concession stand!

Experience Drayton Hall at night with these incredibly special candlelight tour experiences. This is a remarkable way to understand the house and lives which touched it from the perspective of a non-modernized colonial home. After the tour, enjoy a warm cup of a seasonal beverage.

Stroll your way into the holiday spirit with Bulldog Tours’ newest culinary walking tour. Combine our yuletide history tour featuring stories of Charleston’s Christmases past with three stops by the Historic District’s most festive lounges for a signature holiday cocktail. The 2.5 hour tour includes our abbreviated holiday strolls walking tour and three signature cocktails (exclusively created for our tour guests) 

Annually, the Garden Club of Charleston uses this impressive house as a backdrop for their creative holiday arrangements, using plant material that would have been available in the Lowcountry during the first quarter of the 19th century. This year, the GCC has chosen the theme A Lowcountry Christmas.

Enjoy a special evening at the historic Edmondston-Alston House. Take a self guided tour of the festively decorated house by candlelight, and hear the Charleston Caroling Company. Warm up in the courtyard with a glass of wine or hot cider and Gullah Christmas stories.

Climb aboard our specially decorated carriage driven by one of Santa’s elves. This festive 20-minute ride through downtown – complete with caroling – is sure to make you merry. Last stop is Santa’s workshop, where you’ll join Old St. Nick, Mrs. Clause, and Rudolph for hot cocoa and cookies. 

Tours of the plantation home during the Christmas holidays are included, with regular paid admission to Boone Hall Plantation. There is no additional charge to tour the mansion beautifully decorated for the Christmas holidays.

Enjoy the holiday spirit and seasonal decorations on the 2-hour Charleston Strolls Holiday Walking Tour. Tour where carriages and motor-coaches are not allowed, and take a fascinating walking tour with stories and traditions revealing Charleston’s colorful past. 

Learn how early Americans celebrated the winter holidays. Experience the Heyward-Washington House decorated for Christmas and indulge in holiday punch and cookies as you celebrate the season as the Heywards would! 

Join actors in period costume as they take you back to the Christmas of 1782. This event celebrates the return of Arthur Middleton from Philadelphia, the end of the Revolutionary War in the South, and the departure of the British troops from Charleston. Feast on early American cuisine. 

Be transported to an early 1900s, much loved European attraction without ever leaving Charleston’s Historic District – a glittering and awe-inspiring Spiegeltent — only on the grounds of the Charleston Gaillard Center!

Chip Davis has announced he'll be taking his Mannheim Steamroller ensemble across America once again later in 2023.

The Sound of Charleston Holiday Edition features rich musical heritage, from gospel to Gershwin, including selected holiday songs of the period. The Circular Congregational Church will be decorated for Christmas to provide a beautiful backdrop for this enchanting evening. 

Over 300 imaginative costumes, 20 world-class astonishing acts, the finest singers, original music, and seasonal favorites celebrate Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas, and New Year’s in a 2-hour breathtaking spectacle. 

Located in The Grand Lobby of The Charleston Place Living Room every Wednesday from 5:30pm - 6:00pm to see a live performance of the Dance Conservatory of Charleston's snowflake dancers.

A brand new production of Dickens’s classic featuring colorful new sets and costumes and an inventive new holiday score. Filled with the carols of the season and magical special effects, miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, despite himself, discovers once again the magic of Christmas.

The Swingin’ Holiday Spectacular will be a special night celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Rockabillaque Charleston in the unique and spectacular Spiegeltent at the Gaillard Center making for an unforgettable experience.

Now an annual tradition, and in celebration of the most wonderful time of year, the world’s biggest-selling soprano and legendary GRAMMY® Award-nominated artist Sarah Brightman returns with her “A Christmas Symphony” tour.

The Charleston Jazz Orchestra always looks forward to this holiday concert. Maestro Robert Lewis and the 18-piece big band will swing you into the holiday spirit with big band arrangements of holiday favorites. Add a little jazz to your holiday with this popular Charleston tradition.

Champagne cocktails are standing by! A picture perfect holiday night in downtown Charleston with intimate (and hilarious!) musical numbers by the vocalists of 34 West Theater. Seating is extremely limited.

Champagne cocktails are standing by! A picture perfect holiday night in downtown Charleston with intimate (and hilarious!) musical numbers by the vocalists of 34 West Theater. Seating is extremely limited.

Candlelight concerts bring the magic of a live, multi-sensory musical experience to awe-inspiring locations like never seen before in Charleston. Get your tickets now to discover Holiday inspired music at The Unitarian Church under the gentle glow of candlelight.

After making its holiday debut in December 2021, our popular and original Christmas variety show is back, bigger and campier than ever bringing all the holiday cheer you can handle in one sitting!

Now the classic animated television special comes to life in this faithful stage adaptation that celebrates the timeless television classic so the whole family can join Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus and the rest of the Peanuts characters in their journey to uncover the true meaning of Christmas.

In this raunchy and hilarious one-woman show, Cindy Lou Who is all grown up - and she isn’t quite the adorable child you remember from Dr. Seuss’s classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Now a chain-smoking forty year old living in a trailer on Mt. Crumpet, many years have passed since Cindy caught the Grinch in her living room in this 60 minute R-rated comedy

With soulful big band arrangements of songs both sacred and secular, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis’s Big Band Holidays is an uplifting tradition enjoyed by audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

Join us on December 10, 2023, from 3:30pm – 5:00pm, for the 40th Anniversary Holiday Spirituals Concert, our most requested event of the Holiday Season! Ann Caldwell and The Magnolia Singers will usher in the Holidays with their ancestral hymns. Enjoy a beverage and light bites at the reception before being seated for the performance.

Join the award winning Charleston School of the Arts Symphony and Singers at their 9th annual Holiday Spectacular. This festive concert will feature holiday favorites your entire family will enjoy!

Charleston’s favorite holiday tradition returns in December as Moranz Entertainment brings the Charleston Christmas Special to the Charleston Music Hall for its 27th season. Audiences of all ages will be delighted by the music, dancing and skits featuring some of the country’s most talented performers.

Celebrate the holidays with the entire family at The Illusionists – Magic of the Holidays, a mind-blowing showcase featuring jaw-dropping talents of the most incredible illusionists on earth.

Dance the night away, savor delicious food and drinks, and create unforgettable memories at The Riviera. The Riviera will be transformed with a lively dance floor, fabulous VIP tables, and lounge area for all to enjoy.

This holiday season, relive this heartwarming holiday classic on a giant screen as every note of John Debney’s wonderful score is played live to picture in: Elf™ in Concert!

Professional cast of 3 in Dickensian attire bring all the characters to life in this 1 hour Dickens' own edited version headed up by British stage actor - James Dyne. Join us for a heartwarming and magical evening at Gage Hall in beautiful Charleston, SC.

Musicians of Chamber Music Charleston and CMC TWO perform a variety of holiday music as actors retell classic Christmas tales. The performance is 45 minutes in length and ideal for young audiences.

In Nutcracker Suite, explosive tap dance meets your favorite holiday classic. This Nutcracker boogies, slides, struts, and dives into Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s intoxicating interpretation of the Tchaikovsky classic.

Unwrap the joy with your Charleston Symphony this season and join us for one of Charleston’s favorite winter traditions! We are excited to bring you this annual concert once again – a celebration for audiences of all ages and from all backgrounds.

This holiday season, the Gaillard brings back the Spiegeltent, a “mirror tent,” originally used as a traveling European dance hall in the 20th century. We are thrilled to welcome the return of Homegrown and Nationally Known with Charlton Singleton, Kanika Moore, and Patrick Davis.

NUTCRACKER! MAGICAL CHRISTMAS BALLET, the beloved family tradition is back! Gather your loved ones for the warm-glow-nostalgia of America’s favorite Christmas celebration. Experience the extraordinary international cast and Ukrainian Principal Artists performing at the peak of classical European Ballet.