Your ultimate family-friendly Baton Rouge Christmas Events Weekend Planner is here! Discover the best family-friendly events in Baton Rouge and beyond for an unforgettable weekend with your loved ones. From Santa, lights, snow and a drone show to fun-filled activities, your weekend plans are covered! Take advantage of the endless adventures waiting for you and your family.
Events are subject to change, so please be sure to check that events are as scheduled before heading out.
Baton Rouge Christmas Events – Weekend Planner
Santa Rocks the Rowe
December 9TH, 5-8 PM
Perkins Rowe
Face painting
Christmas Crafts and Letters to Santa with Baton Rouge Family Fun
Paid Photos with Santa
Games, and more!
This event is free and open to the public.
Let it Sneaux
December 9TH 5-8 PM
Perkins Road Community Park
Friends, community and holiday cheer, make this season the most wonderful time of the year! Bring the entire family out to Perkins Road Community Park because it’s turning into a Winter Wonderland for this year’s Let It Sneaux presented by Jersey Mike’s Subs!
This free family event features flurries of holiday fun including photos with Santa, s’mores, live music by Capital City Soul, the new Mini Maker’s Market featuring local kidpreneurs grades K through 12, activities for all and snow much more! To wrap it all together – BREC is excited to announce the showing of Baton Rouge’s FIRST EVER holiday drone light show! It’s something you’re sure not to want to miss!
2023 Cortana Kiwanis Christmas Parade
December 9TH 5:30PM
Downtown Baton Rouge
The Annual Cortana Kiwanis Downtown Christmas Parade will roll through Downtown Baton Rouge on December 9th at 5:30 pm. Every year, more than 70,000 people watch the parade live, and thousands more enjoy it on television through the holiday season. The Parade is a celebration and a great way to connect with the community. The parade is open to everyone. Typically the parade includes about 80 entries. These entries are a mix of marching bands, celebrities, dance troupes, non-profit organizations, and local businesses in seasonal themes.
Baton Rouge Zoo’s ZooLights
NOV. 24 – DEC 30
5–9 PM
Join BREC’s Baton Rouge Zoo for Zoolights from November 24th through December 30th! Discover the magic of the season at Zoo Lights, presented by Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital! This year, the lights are shining brighter than ever, creating an enchanting experience for the whole family.
DATES: November 24 – December 30 Closed Christmas Eve & Christmas Day.
Gates open 5:00 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Sensory Santa
December 9th 9 AM-12 PM
North Sherwood Forest Community Park
Visits to Santa Clause make it feel like a “Not-So Wonderful Time of the Year”? Stroll down to BREC’s North Sherwood Forest Community Park for BREC Adaptive’s Sensory Santa! Here, children and adults with intellectual, developmental, or sensory processing disorders have an opportunity to enjoy holiday activities and have one on one time to take a picture with Santa, without the hassle of standing in long and hectic lines. Spots fill up fast so make sure to register online at BREC.org/adaptiveregistration and visit brec.org for more adaptive opportunities happening all year long!
Creole Christmas + Holiday Fair
December 10th 12-5 PM
Magnolia Mound 2161 Nicholson Drive Baton Rouge
Magnolia Mound Plantation – Creole Christmas is an annual event featuring seasonal decorations in the historic house, traditional songs in French and Spanish sung by local school children, period demonstrations, folk crafts and the annual bonfire to welcome Papa Noel.
Chanukah at the Capitol
DECEMBER 10TH 4:30pm
900 North Third Street
Baton Rouge, LA 70802
Celebrate Hanukkah with a hot latke bar, menorahs, dreidels, and more hosted by Chabad of Baton Rouge. Children can get their faces painted, play festive games, and enjoy strolling performers. The event is free to the public at the steps of the State Capitol.
27th Festival of the Bonfires – St. James Parish
DECEMBER 8th, 9th, 10th
Lutcher Recreational Park 2545 Louisiana Avenue Lutcher, LA 70071
CHRISTMAS ON THE RIVER…CAJUN STYLE! Enjoy great food, live entertainment, crafts, Santa’s Very Merry Forest and carnival rides throughout the weekend. Each night will be highlighted with a single bonfire lighting! Come out and experience a prelude to the famous Christmas Eve Bonfires: A tradition unique to St. James Parish and all the world!! LOCATION: Lutcher Recreational Park Lutcher Avenue- La HWY 3193 Lutcher, LA 70071
19th annual Christmas Past Festival
Saturday, Dec 9th, 10 AM – 4 PM
Historic Old Mandeville – Girod St.
Holiday cheer returns to Old Mandeville on Saturday, December 9th for Old Mandeville Business Association’s 19th annual Christmas Past Festival!
This FREE Christmas event will be open to the public from 10AM – 4PM.
In addition to some of the Northshore’s best shopping from local merchants, attendees can enjoy food and drink from several local food vendors, pictures with Santa and Mrs. Claus, arts & crafts and train rides in the Children’s Village! Live musical performances will take place throughout the day including a very special performance!
Costumes and holiday attire are encouraged! You can even enter for a chance to win the festival’s Ugly Sweater Contest! So, join us for a day of activities that the whole family can enjoy!
Baton Rouge General Holiday Lights
Open Nightly
Corner of Bluebonnet Blvd. and Picardy Ave.
Step into a world of enchantment as BRG lights up the night with dazzling displays, including three dancing-light mega trees, 24-foot illuminated tunnels, singing trees, candy canes, snowmen, a giant walk-through ornament, and more!
