Merry, Bright, and Socially Distanced: 32 Festive Ideas From This Year’s Most Creative Holiday Events

The team behind Haunt O’Ween has launched the WonderLAnd immersive drive-thru experience, taking place through Dec. 30 in Woodland Hills, Calif. Designed to honor all cultural traditions—including Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa—the family-friendly event features a 90-foot snowflake tunnel, plus nearly 1 million lights, all time-coded to a festive array of seasonal songs.

The event also features a series of themed vignettes, including a “Holidays Around the Globe” display, a wintry forest surrounding WonderLAnd's own version of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, and a North Pole area featuring fake snow.

There's also a series of socially distanced photo ops. WonderLAnd is produced by Experiential Supply Co. "If you came to Haunt O’Ween, you haven’t seen anything yet,” said the company’s founder and chief experience officer Jasen Smith. "We’ve learned a lot from our first run and are taking WonderLAnd to an unimaginable new level.”

“An Immersive Christmas Carol,” a new audiovisual exhibit, opened at Vancouver’s Roedde House Museum from Dec. 8-19. The Victorian-era house, which was owned by Vancouver’s first bookbinder, Gustav Roedde, has been turned into the home of Ebenezer Scrooge, guiding guests on a walking tour through the classic Charles Dickens novel. Production company Famous Artists Limited, along with experiential designer Joel Grinke, used nine Epson LightScene accent lighting laser projectors to create the world, which adds music, staging, and sound effects to bring the clanking chains, ghostly apparitions, and echoes of the Christmas past, present, and future to life.

The 45-minute tour is limited to five people at a time to ensure social distancing. “This project has been rattling my brain for years and with everything going on this year, [Famous Artists Limited producer Bill] Allman and I knew the community needed something like this to raise holiday spirits,” said Grinke. “It’s been a quick process bringing everything together and one of the biggest wins was when Epson came onboard. At that moment, we knew we could pull this off as the visual and audio aspects are the key components that truly bring Dickens’s story to life.”

Event firm Kehoe Designs has created four pop-up markets throughout Chicago this holiday season. The Holiday Shoppe—which appears at The Peninsula Chicago, The Park at Lakeshore East, Federales, and Ranalli’s—offers a curated selection of seasonal home decor and gifts, plus a wealth of decor inspiration from the company’s Tom Kehoe.

Gaylord Hotels in Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and Colorado are marking the holidays with an immersive “I Love Christmas Movies” pop-up experience, a collaboration with Warner Bros. Consumer Products. Running from Nov. 13 to Jan. 3, the 17,000-square-foot pop-up transports ticketed guests into the worlds of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (pictured), A Christmas Story, The Year Without Santa Claus, and other holiday favorites.

The experience includes more than 13 interactive scenes from movies like The Polar Express (pictured), complete with replicas of film props, audio clips, and more. Also at the resorts, guests can meet costumed characters ranging from the Grinch to Charlie Brown; there are also snow-tubing hills, photo ops with Santa, a gingerbread-decorating corner, and more festive activities.

On Dec. 10, iHeartRadio’s annual Jingle Ball holiday concert went virtual, featuring performances from the likes of Shawn Mendes (pictured), Doja Cat, Dua Lipa, Harry Styles, The Weeknd, and more. Festive performance sets took over the artists’ homes, giving the musicians an intimate space to share their personal holiday traditions and perform covers of classic holiday songs.

Billie Eilish (pictured) also performed in Santa’s Workshop-styled set, stopping at one point to unwrap Christmas gifts with her dog, Shark. The event aired live on iHeartRadio stations and was also released as a televised special on The CW Network on Dec. 14.

In Toronto, two experiential event agencies—The Concierge Club and Impact XM—teamed up for a multilevel, drive-thru holiday experience running from Nov. 27 to Jan. 3. Taking over the Toronto Pearson Parkade, the experience features six levels of decor, including a winter wonderland-inspired tunnel with blue and white lights, a snowy white world with icicles and reindeer sculptures, a sparkling crystal cave featuring Santa Claus, and more.

“We have a team of world-class event producers who normally do prestige events for various clients, from luxury brands to the Bieber family,” said Monica Gomez, president and founder of The Concierge Club, in a press release. “The pandemic has been very hard on everyone. People just want to celebrate the holidays, see Santa, and experience the wonder of the season—safely, of course.”

AREA15, Las Vegas’s new experiential entertainment complex, recently debuted an outdoor holiday experience called Wanderland. The pop-up has an appropriately out-of-this-world theme, including a 30-foot intergalactic art sleigh as its centerpiece, a tree-lined village filled with extraterrestrial surprises, and more.

Wanderland also includes a festive path of snow globes with Insta-worthy holiday vignettes, plus pop-up food and retail options. There’s also a pop-up eatery, where guests enjoy a special holiday menu by chef Todd English from inside a holiday globe. Wanderland runs until Jan. 3 in AREA15’s outdoor event space, A-Lot.

The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition from The Lumistella Company—in partnership with Constellation Immersive (a newly formed affiliate of entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency)—has been brought to life through an immersive drive-thru experience in the Los Angeles area this season. Running from Nov. 12 to Jan. 3 at the Fairplex in Pomona, Calif., the family-friendly event was designed by award-winning set designer David Korins and directed by Vance Garrett.

The multisensory drive-thru takes guests through an hourlong theatrical adventure, where they attempt to save Christmas after Santa experiences a sleigh mishap. A series of larger-than-life sets included a toy repair workshop, a gingerbread village, an Arctic winter wonderland, and more.

At the end of the experience, guests encounter a drive-thru retail shop; there’s also a toy drive benefiting Toys for Tots and Children’s Hospital LA. Organizers hope to expand the concept to additional cities next year.

Banko Cantina, an eatery in West Palm Beach, Fla., is getting in the holiday spirit this year through some creative projection mapping. Using nine Epson laser projectors and Resolume mapping software, Jasper Mosher of The Electric Dream Machine illuminates the Mexican restaurant’s three-story exterior from Nov. 25 to Jan. 5. “Christmas is usually a very busy time for our company but since we had lost all of our other events due to COVID, we were able to narrow our focus and spend eight consecutive nights playing around with new content and getting creative in a fun, relaxed atmosphere,” explained Mosher. “The additional time allowed us to create several new scenes for the interior installations, and spend a considerable amount of effort designing new content for the exterior of the building.”

Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa in Las Vegas recently unveiled its winter wonderland transformation and debuted Merry Crimson, an outdoor pop-up bar that opened Nov. 27 and features over-the-top holiday decor and Instagram-worthy seasonal cocktails.

Guests enter the space through a reflective tunnel filled with colorful lights and ornaments, which opens into a holiday scene featuring a candy cane swing set, a giant Santa Claus, a Moët Champagne vending machine, and other fun details. Also on-site? A larger-than-life gingerbread replica of the resort.

The team behind the Nights of the Jack—which pivoted to a drive-in event this Halloween—has launched Holiday Road, a contactless, drive-thru holiday experience at King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas, Calif. The family-friendly event, which runs from Dec. 4 to Jan. 10, features thousands of holiday lights and installations, including Christmas tree forests, the North Pole, light tunnels, and more.

“On the heels of an overwhelmingly successful run with Nights of the Jack, we are grateful to continue our stay at the historic King Gillette ranch with Holiday Road,” said Holiday Road founding team members Ben Biscotti, Tony Schubert, and Bobby Rossi in a joint statement. “During these uncertain times, Holiday Road will provide families with a fun and safe way to get out of the house and still experience the magic of this holiday season.”

Located on the patio of Unscripted Durham is a winter-themed pop-up dining experience. Guests can expect the ultimate winter-wonderland adventure with private igloos, weekly entertainment, and signature bites and drinks. The picturesque festivities are crafted in a socially distanced setting while providing scenic views of downtown Durham, N.C. The igloos, which accommodate up to 10 people, can be reserved for a two-hour minimum until March. See more: How 6 Hotels Are Celebrating the Holiday Season Safely and Festively

The Yards in Washington, D.C., is currently hosting its fifth annual Light Yards holiday experience. This year’s event features the premiere of “Stars,” a new installation by Australian-based immersive light design sculptors Amigo & Amigo. The larger-than-life stars are constructed from metallic mesh; they feature changing lights and play festive music. Masks and social distancing are required for the outdoor experience, which runs through Jan. 10.

This year marks three decades since Corona beer debuted its popular “O’Tannenpalm” TV commercial—and to celebrate, the brand hosted a fun giveaway for residents of Corona Del Mar, Calif. (The city was chosen because “we know more than most that anything bearing the name Corona may need a little extra holiday cheer this year,” according to the press release.) The brand outfitted a flatbed truck with a replica of the beach hut from the commercial, alongside palm trees adorned with twinkling lights that were dropped on sweepstakes winners’ doorsteps. Corona also donated $30,000 to #HashtagLunchbag as part of the campaign.

Netflix has launched JingleJangle.com, a website and pop-up shop inspired by the streamer’s new Christmas movie, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey. The limited-time website features exclusive cast singalongs with the likes of R&B star Monica and DJ D-Nice, where fans record their own video versions of the film’s songs—which are later given special visual treatment and made shareable on social media.

The site also includes an interactive pop-up shop that spotlights 30 Black-owned small businesses, curated by fashion stylish and Black Owned Everything founder Zerina Akers.

Nordstrom celebrated its “Make Merry” holiday campaign with a drive-in movie screening at The Grove in Los Angeles Nov. 28. Produced by Mirrored Media, the event highlighted curbside pick-up offerings from the department store, allowing guests to shop online ahead of the event and have their items delivered straight to their cars after arriving at the rooftop venue.

At check-in, each guest was also given a branded gift bag filled with movie snacks. An oversize nutcracker and lighting matching the brand’s colors guided attendees through a series of large garland arches, which were surrounded by large presents wrapped in the custom "Make Merry" wrapping paper. Projection mapping helped create an immersive experience for the attendees, who screened the new film The Christmas Chronicles 2.

In New York, Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge at Moxy Times Square has transformed its East and West terraces into a new après-ski-themed outdoor dining area, open through March. “The Pink Snow Lodge” pays homage to slopes and ski towns—with a pink twist, featuring floor-to-ceiling log walls, a picturesque ski lift carousel, more than 50 LED-lit skis lining the walls, a pink electric fireplace, and more.

On Oct. 27, e.l.f. Cosmetics celebrated its new holiday collection with a master class from celebrity makeup artist Kelsey Deenihan, hosted by Grammy-winning artist Lil Jon. But that wasn’t e.l.f. Cosmetics’ only holiday experience this year; the brand also released a new five-track holiday music album, “e.l.f. the Hauls,” available now on Spotify and Apple Music. It also teamed with Spotify to launch a microsite where consumers can explore and shop holiday-friendly makeup looks while listening to custom playlists, which are curated for each consumer.

The Sofitel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills’s "Christmas Joy"-themed decor is meant to depict the holidays from a child's perspective, with oversize decorations including a 10-foot-tall Christmas tree made from hundreds of presents. The hotel is also offering holiday-themed cocktails and activations, including a virtual dog-rescue event, a blood drive, and a toy drive.