With holidays around the corner, there are plenty of events in the community to do with your family and friends!

Firstly, a classic winter pastime is to go ice skating! Locally, there is a rink at the Arboretum in South Barrington that takes up a green space in the center of the shopping center. On certain days, skaters can be seen with different costumed figures like Batman, Spiderman, or Santa. Another rink that you can go to is located in Rosemont at the Parkway Bank Park. It is an NHL-sized rink and at night the whole rink is illuminated by surrounding trees with colorful lights. Lastly, the best ice rink around is located at Millennium Park in downtown Chicago. Here you can go skating alongside one of Chicago’s most iconic symbols, the Bean!

Secondly, another fun holiday activity is to go to light shows and displays. Both Brookfield and Lincoln Park Zoo have awesome light displays and feature ice sculptures of some of the animals. Most notably, Brookfield Zoo features a 600-foot tunnel of lights and the recently added Sea of Lights, which has over two miles of light displays. Similarly, the Morton Arboretum hosts “Illumination,” their own light show, where guests can take walks through the impressive interactive light displays that blend nature and technology together perfectly. Six Flags, in Gurnee, Illinois, hosts a Holiday in the Park Lights where some of the more lowkey rides are available to go on or you can take a walk through the park’s incredible displays. Alternatively, a lot of local neighborhoods will have light displays for anyone to drive by and check out, for example, Rotary Aurora sets up a free light display for people to drive through!

And finally, downtown Chicago offers a lot of great holiday fun like going to the Christkindlmarket. This sweet authentic Eastern European style market is full of festive booths where people can purchase alpaca sweaters and handmade nutcrackers. For food lovers, they can take a bite out of delicious golden brown pretzels at the Stuffed Gourmet Pretzel booth or go to the iconic Schnitzel House booth for their signature schnitzel and goulash. The market also hosts a variety of cultural events throughout the season like different performances from local choir groups and lantern parades. The Christkindlmarket has something for everybody, making it a must for this holiday season!

All of these activities are perfect to make some fun new holiday memories with your family this year, so have fun and happy holidays!