Littleton's Holiday Calendar Fills Up in Early November, Long Before the Trees Light

Littleton's holiday lights go on Friday, Nov. 27, but most of the season's tickets go on sale in the first two weeks of November. Registration for Cocoa with Mrs. Claus at Aspen Grove opens Sunday, Nov. 1. Hudson Gardens' cheapest Hudson Holidays tickets go on sale Nov. 6 for three days only. Littleton Museum members can buy Holiday's Evening tickets that same morning, and everyone else can buy them a week later. If you wait for the tree lighting in Bowles Plaza to start thinking about December, you'll pay the higher prices and some sessions will already be full.

Downtown has also changed since last year. Most of the new places that opened this summer aren't on Main Street. They're a block south on Rapp Street, close enough to the Candlelight Walk crowd to hear the parade.

The deadlines come before the lights

Here's the early-November sequence in one place, with the price difference that makes the timing matter.

The Hudson Gardens numbers show why the window matters. A presale adult ticket costs $15, a dated ticket from Nov. 9 on costs $20, and an any-day ticket costs $25, according to Hudson Gardens' event page. That's a $10 spread on one adult admission, and it adds up fast for a family of four. Kids under 3 get in free at every price tier. Hudson Holidays runs Nov. 27 through Jan. 3, 2027, from 5 to 9 p.m. It closes at 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve. It has a lighted maze, themed exhibits, Santa, warm drinks and theme nights.

The Littleton Museum's Holiday's Evening uses the same kind of ladder. Members get a week's head start and pay $10 per adult, while general admission is $15. It's one night only, Sunday, Dec. 13, from 5 to 8 p.m. on the museum's living-history farms, with wagon rides, costumed interpreters, demonstrations, music, Santa, cider and snacks. The ticket covers all of it. Because it happens once, the Nov. 6 member date is the one to put on the calendar.

Nov. 27 starts several things at once

The day after Thanksgiving is when everything starts at the same time. The City of Littleton's Candlelight Walk page lists the event starting at 5:30 p.m. and the parade at 6:30. After the parade, Santa lights the big tree in Bowles Plaza, and a drone show flies over the Melting Pot at the west end of Main Street. Visit Littleton lists a slightly wider 5 to 8 p.m. window. It mentions cocktails for guests 21 and older, grab-and-go bites from local restaurants, and hot cocoa and cider along Main, with a map still to come. The parade time is the one fixed point, so plan the rest of the evening around 6:30.

That same night:

1. Hudson Holidays opens for the season at 5 p.m.
2. Aspen Grove holds the first Karaoke, Carols & Cocoa at its Neighborhood Christmas Tree Lot from 6:30 to 8 p.m. It's free, and specialty drinks are for sale.
3. The Downtown Development Authority's Sparkle & Stroll stamp-card promotion runs from Nov. 27 through Dec. 31. Purchases at participating businesses earn stamps toward prize entries.

Small Business Saturday comes the next day, Nov. 28, and the DDA is promoting it across Downtown Littleton. The Aspen Grove events repeat, so missing the first night isn't a big loss. Karaoke, Carols & Cocoa comes back Dec. 4, 11 and 18. The parade happens once.

The new doors are on Rapp Street

Rapp Street runs one block south of Main, and this year it's where downtown grew.

Tonic Zero Proof Bar, at 5767 S. Rapp St., serves handcrafted mocktails, botanical drinks, premium non-alcoholic spirits and coffee. The Littleton Independent names co-founders Manny Sampedro and Brett Young and also lists kava drinks, drip coffee and cold brew. The bar also has a weekly calendar that starts Mondays with Tony's Boxing Class. In a Downtown Littleton business feature, Young said, "We could not have found a better place to build our business and become part of an existing community than downtown Littleton." On a parade night when Main Street's warm drinks are mostly cocoa, cider and cocktails, Tonic gives people who don't drink, and drivers, a proper bar a block away.

A few doors down at 5827 S. Rapp St., Lewis & Cluck has come back downtown. The Littleton Independent reported that the chicken feed and supply shop started on Prince Street in 2016 as an offshoot of Lewis and Bark, then spent a few years on South Broadway. It moved to Rapp Street after Steve Skundberg bought it from founder Pete McClintock. Skundberg told the paper that "(Customers) have moved with the store," and the shop stocks organic and conventional feed, treats and digestive-health products, with live chicks in spring. It's open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It isn't a typical holiday shopping stop. It is a handy Small Business Saturday errand for anyone with a backyard flock.

On Main Street itself, Leaves on Main opened Sept. 5 at 2699 Main St. Founder Nancy Szilagyi sells indoor plants, books and plant-related goods. Out at Aspen Grove, the city's August business newsletter listed Hodgepodge Market as a new shop at 7301 S. Santa Fe Drive, Suite 110. It sells antiques, apparel, furniture, decor, gifts, books and jewelry.

December has more going on than the walk

After the opening weekend, the calendar spreads out, and the mid-December dates are easy to miss.

Town Hall Arts Center, at 2450 Main St., is staging Big: The Musical as its holiday show from Nov. 20 through Dec. 27. That gives it a full week of performances before the Candlelight Walk. The smaller productions are more tied to the season. Dixie Krystals' A Very Merry Dragmas holiday cabaret plays Tuesday, Dec. 1, at 7:30 p.m. Two weekday-morning audience-participation shows run at 11 a.m.: a Wizard of Oz Interactive on Dec. 15 and 17 and a Christmas Carol Holiday Interactive on Dec. 16 and 19.

On Saturday, Dec. 5, the Smithtonians, a community handbell choir, play a holiday concert at Bemis Public Library from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. in the Large Meeting Room.

Aspen Grove fills the Sundays. Free holiday wagon rides run from noon to 3 p.m. on Nov. 29 and Dec. 6, 13 and 20, and Santa is at Pink Attic Cat from 1 to 3 p.m. on each of those days. No tickets are needed. Cocoa with Mrs. Claus at Tattered Cover is earlier, from 9 to 10:15 a.m. on Dec. 6 and 13. It requires advance registration, which opens Nov. 1.

Dec. 13 is the busiest Sunday. A family could do Cocoa with Mrs. Claus in the morning, catch the wagon rides and Santa at Aspen Grove in the afternoon, and finish at Holiday's Evening on the museum farms from 5 to 8 p.m. Two of those three need tickets bought in early November.

What opens around the edges

One new coffee stop near downtown is on its way, and another has already opened farther south. The Littleton Independent reports that 7Brew Drive Thru Coffee is coming to 111 W. Mineral Ave., with Nov. 16 as the projected opening date. The franchise is owned by ClayCon Beverage Company, and the menu runs from coffee and chai to fizz sodas, smoothies and shakes. On the south side of town, Ziggi's Coffee opened its first Littleton cafe and drive-thru at 8020 Sangre de Cristo Road this summer, according to ColoradoBiz.

The longer-term project sits at Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue. In June, Littleton City Council approved a public-private partnership for 1st Street Farms. The plan includes a 15,000-square-foot restaurant from Gastamo Group serving Southern dishes such as shrimp and grits, made with local Colorado produce. The construction timeline hasn't been announced yet.

The 34 live trees along Main Street, from Bega Park to the Melting Pot, stay up until late January 2027.

Knowing which blocks are walkable and which new places are worth stopping at is the kind of local detail Tina Christensen pays attention to all year, holiday season or not. If you're thinking about a move closer to Main and Rapp Street, or just want to know what's changing around your part of Littleton, Christensen Collective would be glad to talk it through with you. Schedule a Personalized Consultation.