Boston Christmas Festival (Seaport World Trade Center, Boston, MA)

Date Of Event: November 2-4, 2018

Location: Seaport World Trade Center, 1 Seaport Lane, Boston, MA

Hours: Friday: Noon-7pm, Saturday: 10 am-6 pm, Sunday: 10 am-5 pm

Cost: $14 per person, kids under 14 get in for free

Parking/Public Transportation:

• Seaport Hotel Parking Lot – Sat/Sun = $22 special event parking (flat fee). 200 Seaport Blvd – 4 entrances one on each side of the block across the street from the Boston Christmas Festival. Friday hourly rates apply
• 391 Congress St – Friday = $24 Saturday and Sunday = $15 per space
• SBWTC (South Boston Waterfront Transportation Center) brand new garage – $38 max. Use World Trade Center ramp to walk to Festival

You can also get there by taking the Red Line on the MBTA to South Station and taking the SL 3 (Chelsea) train on the Silver Line to the World Trade Center stop.  The World Trade Center is across the street from the train station on WTC Ave

Handicapped Accessible: Yes

Dog Friendly: Service dogs may be allowed

Website: Boston Christmas Festival

Highlights: gingerbread houses, over 350 vendors, cafe, family friendly activities

Tips: you can buy tickets in advance of the  website, Fridays are usually the least crowded days to visit, there is a coat check available at the event

After so many Halloween celebrations, the Christmas spirit is in the air.  To kick off the official holiday spirit, the Seaport World Trade Center held their 32nd annual Boston Christmas Festival.

The festival is usually held annually the first weekend of November.  Besides the various vendors, the festival also features a Gingerbread house contest.

This Gingerbread Ship won Most Creative.

This house won the Kid’s Choice award.

I liked this one best.  It won “Most Tasty.”  You can’t go wrong with that!

This house won for best decoration.

And, this wintry display won Best In Show.

Of course, the biggest part of the festival are the shops.  With over 350 vendors, there was something for everyone.

There’s nothing like colorful wreaths and trees to get you into the spirit.

The best time to visit the event, in terms of crowds, is Friday (preferable when it begins at noon time on Friday) or early on Saturday and Sunday, although I have remembered walking past the World Trade Center last year during this festival and seeing people waiting outside to get in before the doors opened.  Many people were either still at work or more interested in getting home on a Friday night.  The festival was actually pretty quiet and I did not have to wait in line to get in.  There was lots of room to roam around during my visit.  These aisles were surely more packed on Saturday and Sunday.

I particularly liked the wooden decorative displays at Wired Primitives.  Based out of Auburn, MA, Wired Primitives uses pine to make these displays.  They are all hand made and each piece is hand drawn and made by Beth, the owner of the company.

Another cute shop was this vendor who makes all of the outer shells of her ornaments out of egg shells.

The ladies at One Simple Chick have some home made wreaths and other holiday items.

We’ll be needing these soon enough.  In fact, I’m pretty sure some of us New Englanders have already used them.

Kathleen at Holiday House Treasures makes seasonal figurines,

Lynne at  Garden Treasures Designs  makes floral arrangements for weddings as well as arrangements and decorative items for the holidays.

Pauline at Country Snowmen and Friends makes all of her holiday decorations by hand.  Her shop is located in Portsmouth, NH.

These holiday goods are made out of re-purposed or “up purposed” items.

Some of the vendors and shoppers got in the holiday spirit.

Nothing says “Merry Christmas” like illuminated hats!  I purposefully underexposed this photo (yeah, I did it on purpose, sure let’s go with that) to show off the lights on these hats.

This vendor was dressed for the season.  He told me he was planning on wearing a different holiday themed suit for each day of the festival.

I saw so many people dressed with antler headwear and other holiday headwear.  I love the snowman hat in this photo!

Although it may be too late to attend the festival this year, this annual event occurs every year at the World Trade Center in Boston.  See you there next year!