19 December to 4 January, starting in 48 days. Term dates are set council by council, so treat the edges as approximate. The Christmas break splits in two: the run-up, all grottos, light trails and pantomimes, and the strange quiet week after, when everywhere is empty and the museums are the best they are all year.
Collected from the councils, libraries, theatres and venues running them, and refreshed nightly. More arrive as organisations publish their programmes, so this list grows between now and the break.
Six miles of lights along the prom from the big switch-on night to early January. Drive it, walk it, or catch a heritage tram through the middle of it, which is the version kids remember.
Free drop-in storytelling for 2 to 5s at Bolton libraries, running through school holidays. Bolton Central is Wednesdays and Fridays at 11am; Farnworth, Horwich, Westhoughton and others have their own weekly slot.
A weekly chess club for children aged 6 and up at Crosby Library, Mondays from 3.30pm to 4.45pm in the small lecture hall. No booking, just turn up. Drinks are provided.
Two free regulars at Bolton Central Library: Baby Time with songs every Tuesday from 10.30am to 11.30am, and Saturday Storytime at 2pm. No booking needed for either.
A free half hour of stories for under 5s at Stockroom, the new library in Merseyway. Every Wednesday at 11am. It is free but they ask you to book so they know numbers.
Quiet inclusive sessions at Dunes Splash World for neurodiverse and disabled visitors and their families, 6pm to 8pm on 19 October, 23 November and 21 December. £8.50 each, one carer free, just turn up and pay.
Jack Skellington, Sally and Zero in lights, projections and sculptures round Arley's gardens, set to the film's songs. It is the spookier end of Christmas and about 75 minutes of walking outdoors on a one-way route, with pushchairs recommended for children five and under. Arley only hosts it, so questions and bookings go to the organiser, and use postcode CW9 6NA then follow event signs, not the sat nav.
A lantern trail at Gulliver's with monuments, dinosaurs and dreamworlds lit up, back for 2026 with new displays. Sunday and Wednesday nights are mostly dog-friendly, so pick another night if you have a child who is wary of dogs. Parking is free. It opens for October half term, so it doubles as a Halloween outing.
Regular stories and rhymes group for children under 5 and their grown ups.
Regular story and rhyme time sessions for children under five.
A monthly story session for pre-school children in the reading corner at Rochdale Town Hall, first Monday of the month at 11am, so 2 November, 7 December and 4 January. £2.10 a child, adults free.
Join us at our weekly bounce and rhyme event.
Visit Ulverston Market Hall to join our friendly drop-in session for children and families.
Come along and enjoy our weekly Lego Club for ages 5+.
Stories for tots under 5 and their grown-ups
Our regular event aimed at children under five and their parents/ carers.
Regular story and rhyme time sessions for children under 5.
Free drop in for stories, songs and rhyme.
Perfect for 0, 4’s explore songs, rhymes, stories and sensory play in our Bounce and Rhyme sessions.
Join us at our weekly bounce and rhyme event.
At baby clinic, families can discuss any health issues and have their child weighed and measured.
Join us at our weekly bounce and rhyme event.
Suitable for ages 5+ come along and play and create with Lego.
Drop by and make the most of our space after school.
Join our playful sessions and meet new friends, explore the library spaces, learn new rhymes and songs and enjoy some sensory play in our Bounce and Rhyme Sessions.
Come and join the fun at Limehurst Library’s Lego Club.
Come and join the fun at Northmoor Library’s Lego Club.
We'll bring the LEGO, you bring the imagination.
Come along and enjoy our weekly Lego Club for ages 5 and up.
Come along to our friendly Pokémon themed children's group.
Spot the elves hidden round Bramall Hall and win a festive prize at the end. £3 a child plus the booking fee; adults pay normal admission. Recommended from age 3. No trail on 5 and 6 December.
Join us at our weekly bounce and rhyme event.
Runs on 17 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Come and join the fun at Fitton Hill Library’s Lego Club.
Parents, carers and children under 5 are invited to join us for a free play session (term-time only) Oldham Libraries
More than 210 stalls across the city centre, with the big wheel and a helter-skelter in Albert Square, Skate MCR's covered rink in Cathedral Gardens and a new site at Lincoln Square. Saturday evenings are shoulder to shoulder, which is a lot with a pushchair.
Join our playful sessions and meet new friends, explore the library spaces, learn new rhymes and songs and enjoy some sensory play in our Bounce and Rhyme Sessions.
Join us at our weekly bounce and rhyme event.
Runs on 17 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Runs on 8 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Runs on 15 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Runs on 20 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Runs on 18 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Runs on 18 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Come and join the fun at Failsworth Library’s Lego Club.
Keswick's big Christmas show, made in-house with the music company Goblin: Scrooge, Marley's ghost and the full Dickens, age 6 and up. There is a relaxed performance on 24 November, an audio described show on 5 December, and captioned and signed shows on 12 December.
The zoo after dark on a new route this year: glowing tunnels, more interactive puppets than before, fairground rides, festive food and Father Christmas along the way. There are adults-only nights on selected dates, so check you have not booked one of those, and remember it is all outside in December.
Santa, underground. A bus takes you up to a hidden entrance, you walk lit tunnels past the elves' workshop and the sleigh chamber, make a wish and get a gift, then come down an underground sledge slope. The mine's own words are that it sells out every year without exception, and at the top of Honister Pass in December, check the road before you set off.
What Santa Sees is a 15-minute festive Space Dome show at Jodrell Bank for ages 3 to 10, weekends from 14 November and daily 21 to 23 December. It costs £2 to £5 on top of site admission.
Wild Rumpus's dusk folklore trail through Tatton Park Gardens on selected dates, 14 November to 23 December. Off-peak November dates are cheaper. The first hour on 21 and 22 November is quiet and sensory friendly.
Every package includes the North Pole Express to Santa's grotto and a gift the children pick themselves from the elf workshop; dearer ones add selected rides, Gully's Christmas Show and food. The £12 off-peak North Pole Express ticket is a one-hour visit with the rides switched off, which suits toddlers far better than eight year olds.
A brand new light trail through the gardens and round the ruined castle, about an hour on foot at your own pace, with warm food, mulled wine and hot chocolate, and marshmallow toasting at the top of the lawns near the end. Parking is free. The castle suggests a baby carrier over a pushchair because the lighting is low. The family ticket covers two adults and three children, or one adult and up to four.
The Everyman's actor-musician panto, loud, local and played live like a rock gig, this year doing Beauty and the Beast. It opens mid-November and runs to 16 January, so a November weekday or a January date is easier to get than a December Saturday matinee, several of which are already marked selling fast.
Elizabeth Gaskell's House is dressed for a Victorian Christmas, with a festive family trail, dressing up and tiny book decorations to make. Children 12 and under go free with a paying adult. Pre-book.
A lit woodland walk-through on The Island at the holiday village: Rudolph at the start, reindeer food from Mrs Claus, Santa, a gift and a family photo. You do not need to be staying, day visitors book online. At from £29.95 a child it is not cheap, and the photo is part of what you are paying for. A baby coming along with a ticketed older sibling goes free.
About 80 traders round the Town Hall square, selling local food, crafts and stocking fillers. Bring some cash for the food stalls and mug deposits. The cathedral's Christmas Tree Festival is a few steps away from 25 November and makes a warm second half to the trip.
A mile-long light trail through Heaton Park with a new 'Christmas Time Machine' theme this year, plus a Christmas village with food, drink and fairground rides. Tickets are now just peak or off-peak, and you can move your date for free up to a day before.
Santa's grotto at Coral Island on Blackpool prom, with a gift, goody bag, a £5 play card and 50 prize tickets in the price. £9.50 for 3 and under, £11.50 from age 4. Book through Eventbrite.
The safari after dark: an extended light trail through the Foot Safari with animal light installations and fire pits, and an optional Santa's Grotto where every child gets a large plush toy. The £9.95 is the starting price, and refreshments, rides and the grotto all cost extra, so budget for the add-ons before you promise anything in the car. Book before 1 November and marshmallow toasting is thrown in.
Fifteen acres of light-and-sound trail in the woods with Santa, Mrs Claus, the Grinch, the Whos and elves all in character, plus real reindeer and owls and marshmallows over fire pits. Allow an hour and a half to two hours. Pre-book the car park: it is £5 online and £15 on the night.
Everything on the what's on board137 more not shown here
Midwinter needs an indoor plan most days. These are the reliable indoor days, ranked by the venues families rate most.
Working steam engines, the story of Cottonopolis, and hands-on galleries in the world's oldest surviving passenger railway station. Free, and the live demonstrations are the bit kids actually remember.
Five floors, free, and it covers three things small children reliably love: giant dinosaurs, an aquarium and a space gallery. The best wet-weather day within half an hour.
The big pirate-themed arcade on the Central Promenade: free to walk in, with the Pirate Flyer ride, a ghost train, the Camel Derby and a prize shop. Kids eat free with a paying adult, all day, every day.
The city's story with an overhead railway carriage to climb aboard and Little Liverpool, a dedicated hands-on gallery for under-6s. Free, on the waterfront, and the window views are half the fun.
Free, right in the city centre, and properly set up for children: the Lion's Den family gallery has its own play space and the family activity programme costs nothing. Closed Mondays.
A T. rex skeleton cast, live frogs in the vivarium, Egyptian mummies and a genuinely good natural history floor. Free, university-run, and less overwhelming than the big London equivalents.
Planning further ahead? The rolling school holidays page always shows the current or next break, and the what's on board has everything dated across the region.