Don’t have a breakdown during your upcoming holiday break. If you’re looking for ways to keep both yourself and the kids busy, here are 12 ideas that should help you and your family make it to 2025 with ease.

Light up the night

The Beekse Bergen wildlife park is once again hosting its annual winter Light Safari and this year there’s a new theme and route. Visitors can enjoy over 5,000 animal, plant, and flower displays until 9 March 2025.

Castle De Haar is getting a luminous makeover and is opening its gates to visitors from 12 December 2024 through 5 January 2025. Its Lumineuze Nachten festival features several light installations and projections that help tell the tale of the mysterious Moon Circus.

The Amsterdam Light Festival, now in its in 13th edition, can be enjoyed on foot or while floating down the city’s waterways. The theme this year is Rituals and, as with prior editions, the displays are sure to be a mix of the weird and the whimsical. The fest continues now through 19 January 2025. Admission is free, but the organisers hope you will download their €8 app for information including a map of the route.

Join forces with hundreds of Santas 

Over a thousand Saint Nicks storm through the streets of Leiden every December during its Santa Rotary Run. This year it will take place on 19 December 2024. While few, if any, of the Santas actually manage even a light jog, the annual event is a hoot.

The run is open to Santas of all ages and it’s just one part of Leiden’s annual Winter Wonder Weken celebration. Just be sure to register and pick up your Santa suits no later than Saturday the 14th. If you’d prefer to march alongside dozens of Santas elsewhere, there’s several similar events scattered across the country.

Enter a wintry world of enchantment

Snow is a rare treat here in the Netherlands, but it’s always ‘frosty’ at Efteling this time of year. It has snow-covered rooftops and winter-themed shows, an ice skating rink. light displays, life-sized snow globes, and an interactive Wonder Winter Tree.

Along with its popular Winter Efteling overlay, the theme park will also host a New Year’s Eve bash. Get your tickets in advance. Each one comes with a glass of bubbly and an oliebol.

Wintertime wanderings through Walibi

Not to be outdone, Efteling’s wilder rival is hosting its own holiday event. Walibi’s Bright Lights runs 22 December 2024 through 5 January 2025. Several rides will get blasted with light shows and other effects, an ice skating rink will get rolled out, and visitors can participate in speed Christmas tree decorating contests. The titular Walibi is also breaking out his favourite Christmas sweater. Tickets and further details are available via the park’s website.

Cave in and visit Valkenburg

The Christmas markets here in the Netherlands often pale in comparison to the elaborate ones over in Germany, but two in Valkenburg are notable exceptions. The city currently has not one but two Christmas markets in the caves that are part of the city’s old mining system.

You’ll find 50 stalls under the ruins of Valkenburg’s castle in the Fluweelengrot. The larger and more famous market in the Gemeentegrot is open for businesses as well and the MergelRijk features 3D cave paintings, Christmas films, and a Biblical diorama.

The caves are part of Valkenburg’s larger holiday celebration, which continues now through 5 January 2025. Opening times and dates vary for the markets and other activities, so be sure to check the website for tickets and other details before you head down there.

Set sail for Groningen

Twenty decorated ships are dropping anchor in Groningen this year. Climb aboard and enjoy a tour of one or more of them during WinterWelVaart on 13, 14, and 15 December 2024. Several ships will feature musical and theatrical performances, lectures, workshops, and exhibitions. The event is just one chunk of Groningen’s Wintergoud, a month long holiday celebration. It has a packed schedule that includes a Christmas market, a night-time 6 KM run through the Stadspark, an art route, and much more. Check out the website for all the details.

A 10th anniversary Chanukah concert

Chanukah is late this year. You can celebrate the Festival of LIghts’ fourth night during a special 10 anniversary concert at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam on 28 December 2024.

Join Chief Cantor Chaim Stern and the Jewish Amsterdam Chamber Ensemble for a diverse evening of Jewish, Israeli, classical, and contemporary music. Each ticket comes with sufganiot (jelly doughnuts) and kosher wine.

The royal treatment

 If you’re searching for a truly gezellige Christmas market within the Randstad, the Royal Christmas Fair on the Lange Voorhout in The Hague is the place to head. This year is the ninth edition and it has dozens of booths that sell everything from organic desserts and mulled wine to the perfect gift for that certain someone in your life. There’s also choirs, activities for the kids, and musical performances.

Before or after you’ve visited the market, be sure to check out The Hague’s other Royal Winter events and activities scattered across the city centre, Scheveningen, and Kijkduin. Visit the Royal Winter website to peruse a full program that features amazing holiday light displays, the 10th anniversary edition of the Rock a Rail snowboard competition, and more.

Deck the halls (and walls and windows…)

The Intratuin garden centres are where to go if your Christmas lights are on the fritz or your cat decides to imitate Godzilla and stomp through your miniature Bavarian village. Each location is pretty much the size of an IKEA and much of the floorspace is devoted to all things Christmas this time of year.

Among the thousands of holiday items, there’s many varieties of imitation Christmas trees and about a million different ornaments to hang on them. Part of the fun (or aggravation, depending on your mood) is each store’s labyrinth-like layouts and themed sections. The one in Ter Aar has a Harry Potter one this year along with a Christmas DJ booth and carousel.

Enjoy a seasonal spectacle

Father Christmas will once again take over Ziggo Dome for his annual Santa Claus is Coming to Town extravaganza and tickets are still available at the time of this writing. The over-the-top show features music, comedy, and plenty of fake snow. Frank Lammers, also known as the goofy dad from the Jumbo supermarket commercials, is playing Santa. Guests this year include Douwe Bob, Noortje Herlaar, and Buddy Vedder.

Binge watch the world’s cheesiest Christmas rom-coms 

The low-budget and, let’s be honest, cookie cutter, made-for-television Christmas films getting cranked out by the Hallmark Channel over in the US have developed quite the following all over the world in recent years. They practically come off an assembly line, but fans of the genre can’t get enough of them.

If you’re a cheesy Christmas movie die hard, tune into RTL 8. They’ll air a few each night now through 31 December beginning at 18:30. Things will really kick off on Christmas Eve night when the station begins a 50 straight hour Christmas movie marathon. All told, this holiday season they’ll broadcast a staggering 170 of these movies, including 68 Dutch TV premieres.

Ring in 2025 

New Year’s Eve in the Netherlands can be, well,…an experience. It’s typically a long and very loud night. Your neighbours will probably start setting off mortars and cherry bombs around dusk despite many municipalities trying and routinely failing to roll out fireworks bans. It’s a losing battle. Last year, the Dutch spent €105 million on novelty explosives.

So grab a bottle of champagne or a few leftover Christmas beers from your local bottle shop, a few oliebollen, and watch the madness unfold or cower indoors with a pair of earplugs. If you’re feeling a bit more brave, there’s several impressive municipal celebrations.

In Amsterdam, Electric Fireworks will invade the Museumplein with a light show, eco fireworks, and the largest countdown clock in the country. This year’s edition begins at 19:00 with Electric Fireworks Junior, an early show for the little ones who will probably be asleep well before midnight.

Unfortunately, the early evening fireworks show for kids in Rotterdam has been cancelled. The annual Het Nationale Vuurwerk extravaganza on the Erasmus Bridge will still take place later on, though.

Looking for more ways to stay busy during the holidays? If so, have a look at our monthly round up of great things to do for the month of December.