Sacramento Holiday Events for Families and Groups

The 2026 holiday calendar at a glance

Every date below comes from the event's official page, checked on November 5, 2026. Events change, so look again the week you go.

For everything else happening in town while you are here, our What's on in Sacramento page lists events by month.

The Downtown Sacramento Ice Rink

The rink is the easiest holiday outing for a group because it runs for more than two months and needs no ticket in advance. It sits in Ali Youssefi Square at 7th and K Streets downtown, and the official page lists the 2026 season as November 4, 2026 to January 18, 2027.

Hours are 2pm to 9pm Tuesday to Thursday and 10am to 10pm Friday to Sunday. The rink is closed on Mondays except holidays, and holiday hours differ, so check the schedule on the rink's page for Thanksgiving week and the days around Christmas. General admission is $15, children 6 and under are $8, and admission includes skate rental, with sizes starting at youth 8. Tickets are sold on site.

For a big group, the useful line is that the rink offers special rates to groups that book in advance. With twelve or more people, ask before you go.

How groups make the rink work:

• If some people don't want to skate, the square has room to watch from the rail, and it makes a natural meeting point.
• If you have small children, go on a weekday afternoon when there is more space on the ice, and bring gloves for everyone.
• If you are doing the rink and Old Sacramento on the same day, skate first. Old Sacramento's events start at dusk and are a short drive or a long walk west.

Old Sacramento: the tree lighting and Theatre of Lights

Old Sacramento's season starts with the tree lighting on November 25, 2026, the night before Thanksgiving, and the Theatre of Lights runs on weekend evenings after that. Both take place on K Street in Old Sacramento.

At the tree lighting, festivities start at 5:30pm and the first Theatre of Lights show of the season is at 6:15pm. If your group arrives on Wednesday for a Thanksgiving week stay, this is an easy first evening.

The Theatre of Lights is a short outdoor show of lights and a holiday story, staged on the buildings along K Street. The official schedule for 2026:

The page does not list a ticket price, so check the official site's FAQ before you go.

During the day, Holidays on K Street runs on Saturdays and Sundays from 12pm to 4:30pm, November 28 to December 20, with lawn games, pop-up vendors and a Letters to Santa station. K Street closes to cars from 4pm on Fridays until midnight on Sunday, which makes the weekends easier to walk with kids.

Old Sacramento's waterfront restaurants fill on show nights. Book a table for the group at least a week ahead, or eat early at the house and come down just for the show. If you have not been to Old Sacramento before, our guide to things to do in Sacramento with a large group covers the railroad museum and the rest of the district.

Fairytale Town's Winter Wonderland

Fairytale Town's Winter Wonderland is the best pick for families with children under 10, but it runs on only four days: Saturday and Sunday, December 5 and 6, and December 12 and 13. It is a special ticketed event at the children's park in Land Park, open 1pm to 7pm with last admission at 6pm, weather permitting.

Prices on the official page:

• Advance tickets, sold until December 4: $15
• Advance member tickets: $12, for the number of guests the membership covers
• Tickets on the day, from December 5: $18
• Children under 2: free

Tickets are non-refundable, and the park's rule is that adults must come with children and children with adults. That rule matters for a mixed group: grandparents who want to go along need a child in the party.

Sacramento Ballet's Nutcracker

Sacramento Ballet's Nutcracker plays from December 12 to 24 at the SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center downtown. It is the one indoor, seated event on this list, which makes it a good plan for a cold or wet night or for the adults and older kids in the group.

The ballet's listed schedule:

The ballet does not list prices on the event page, so check the current price on their site. It has a separate group tickets page for larger parties, which is worth using if you want twelve seats together. The venue has no parking of its own beyond metered street parking, and the ballet points visitors to the city's garages instead. A group sharing two or three cars from one house will have an easier time than eight cars arriving separately.

Sample holiday weekends for a group

A good holiday weekend in Sacramento has one evening event and one daytime outing per day, with time at the house in between.

Example: two plans for a group of 12, with eight adults and four kids.

For the Thanksgiving plan, our guide to Thanksgiving in a vacation rental with a big family covers the kitchen and the cooking schedule. If you are staying through Christmas or New Year, see Christmas and New Year in a vacation rental with family.

Where a holiday group should stay

A group of twelve in hotel rooms downtown is three or four rooms with no shared kitchen, no table for everyone and parking fees for every car. For holiday trips, when the meal at the house is often the point, one large home works better.

Our Sacramento homes include the seven-bedroom Sacramento House, and we also have a home in nearby Roseville. Pets are welcome too: up to 3 per stay with a $100 pet fee per stay, and service animals are always free. If the trip is a reunion, our family reunion page has more ideas.

Book early for the holidays. Thanksgiving week and the days between Christmas and New Year are the first dates to go for large homes.

The bottom line

Sacramento's 2026 holiday season has something on most days from late November to Christmas Eve. Skate downtown any day except Mondays, see the Old Sacramento tree lighting on November 25, catch the Theatre of Lights on a Friday or Saturday evening, buy Fairytale Town tickets before December 4, and book the Nutcracker early if you want seats together. Plan one evening event a day, check each official page the week you go, and come back to one house for dinner.