16 Free Christmas Things to Do in Pinellas
YOUR GUIDE TO FREE CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES IN THE CLEARWATER & ST. PETE AREA
The amount of available Christmas activities can seem overwhelming — and expensive! We’re two local moms who like to be frugal so we’ve rounded up all the free things you can do around Pinellas during the Christmas season.
We hope these ideas help your family have lots of holiday fun while still doing Christmas on a budget.
Let’s find some free holiday cheer!
1. Visit Christmas lights
Driving around to check out Christmas lights is a quintessential holiday tradition that’s totally free. There are some amazing options in our area like Largo Central Park and local celeb Denis Phillip’s house.
Check out our list of the best Christmas light displays around Pinellas to find beautiful lights near you.
2. Build a “snow” man at the beach
While we don’t get to enjoy a white Christmas, we do get to spend Christmas at the beach. Try building a snowman out of sand (but don’t forget the carrot for the nose like I did the one time I tried this; thankfully, Frenchy’s took pity on us and gave us one)
3. Bake Christmas cookies
Baking Christmas cookies is another classic holiday activity that you can do with ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen.
If you don’t want to bake at home, some of our local community Christmas events include cookies and cookie decoration stations — many of which are totally free to attend.
4. Donate toys
Set aside an afternoon as a family to find things to donate before Christmas. We like to donate our kids stuff (including toys!) to Foster to Foster, which provides the items for free to local foster families.
Other local donation spots are the Suncoast Hospice thrift shops, the Maddie Williams Center and Hope Children’s Home
5. Christmas decoration scavenger hunt
Write a simple scavenger hunt for your kids with items like “candy cane” and “snowman.” Then walk your neighborhood Christmas lights looking for the items.
6. Christmas decor bingo
Similar to the scavenger hunt, you can also play bingo while walking through your neighborhood. We’re working on some Christmas bingo cards to make this a quick and easy activity for you.
7. Largo Central Park
Take a trip to Largo Central Park for their Christmas lights. It’s beautiful and free to park and walk through the lights. Amusement ride tickets are an extra cost.
8. Free Santa photos
There are lots of Santa photos in our area and many of them are actually free! Skip the mall Santa and find a free community-run event with Santa instead.
Don’t worry, we’ve got a Pinellas Santa photo list for you to help you find some near you.
9. Make ornaments
Nothing like making old-school ornaments to spend an afternoon. I like a classic pinecone covered in glue and glitter. If you don’t have the energy to DIY ornaments at home, our local libraries have free take-home kids crafts every month that would make this activity super easy.
10. Holiday community events
Listen, there are SO many free community Christmas events that happen in our area in December. So much so, we made a huge list to help you find them.
Our personal favorites are Santa’s fire truck neighborhood tours and our neighborhood Christmas parades.
Here’s our list of all our local Pinellas Christmas events that we update all season long
11. Catch a holiday concert
You can catch free Christmas music concerts at many local events. For example, you can find Christmas-editions “Concerts in the Park” at local parks like Largo Central and Station Square Park, local libraries host Christmas concerts and many holiday markets also have live music.
Check out our list of holiday music concerts in the area.
12. Christmas movie night
Doing a cozy Christmas movie night at home is a classic Christmas family tradition. If you want to step it up, you could also catch a Christmas movie in the park.
One of the benefits of having warm weather at Christmas is that we can take advantage of these fun outdoor activities. Last year, our local parks had free showings of movies like Elf and Home Alone before Christmas.
13. Library Christmas events
Our library system is really a boon of free holiday fun. For example, St. Pete libraries hosted Santa meetings at multiple locations, the Countryside library had holiday music performances and nearly all our libraries had cute kid activities.
There are just so many library events that we recommend checking your nearby branches’ event calendars to get started.
14. Christmas story every night
While you’re at the library, pick up some Christmas-themed books and read one Christmas book every night as a countdown to the big day.
15. Watch a Christmas boat parade
Our area is unique in its plethora of Christmas boat parades. Last year, you could find a boat parade every weekend in December.
We’ve got a list of all the local Christmas boat parades so you can find one near you
16. Visit Robert’s Christmas Wonderland
Robert’s Christmas Wonderland has been a Pinellas tradition for over 40 years. I remember going to it as a kid and recently took my toddler for the first time.
It is full of beautiful and fun themed-Christmas trees, lights and decorations. We spent a long time just exploring without buying anything.
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Need more Christmas ideas? Check out our most popular Christmas post, Pinellas Christmas Events
