Two things make the DC region's holiday-lights season easy to plan badly. The first is that almost nothing publishes its dates before October, so most of what you'll find searching in August or September is last year's schedule wearing this year's headline. The second is that the displays differ enormously in what they ask of a small child — a 2.5-mile drive-through with everyone strapped in is a completely different evening from a half-mile paved walk you can push a stroller down. This guide covers what's actually confirmed for the 2026–27 season (which right now means ZooLights, November 20 through January 3), what's confirmed to be happening but hasn't posted dates, what's free, and when each of them typically drops tickets so you can set a reminder instead of refreshing a page.
The Smithsonian's National Zoo runs ZooLights from November 20, 2026 through January 3, 2027 — one of the very few holiday events in the region with confirmed dates this early. The Zoo describes one million LED lights, animal lanterns and live music across the grounds at 3001 Connecticut Avenue NW. Hours and pricing had not been posted as of mid-August, which is the normal cadence rather than a bad sign; the details typically land in the fall. Historically the lights themselves have been free to walk through, with paid parking and a handful of individually ticketed attractions inside, but treat that as background rather than a promise and check nationalzoo.si.edu before you plan the evening. Two things carry over from the Zoo's year-round rules and are worth knowing now. First, the Zoo requires free entry passes for all guests including infants at any time of year, so when the ZooLights details post, check whether that requirement applies to the evening event too rather than assuming it works differently. Second, the Zoo is the one Smithsonian site that explicitly welcomes your own food and snacks — every other one, from Natural History to NMAAHC, prohibits outside food — which means a thermos of cocoa and a bag of snacks is entirely permitted, and December evenings there run cold enough that it matters. If you're driving, parking is paid and the Zoo doesn't publish the rate, so price it against Metro, where up to two children age four and under ride free with each fare-paying adult and weekend rail fares run $2.25 to $2.50.
The two Northern Virginia displays sit at opposite ends of the effort spectrum, and picking the right one for your children's ages matters more than picking the bigger one. Bull Run Festival of Lights at Bull Run Regional Park in Centreville is the drive-through: NOVA Parks describes it as driving through 2.5 miles of festive light displays, running November through January. It is the low-effort option — pajamas, car seats, a playlist, nobody gets cold — and the right answer with a baby, a napping toddler or a child who melts down in a queue. Bull Run is at 7700 Bull Run Drive, about 25 miles out I-66. Winter Walk of Lights at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna is the walk-through, and NOVA Parks has confirmed the 2026 season is happening — its page says so directly — but had not posted dates or prices as of mid-August. The route is a half-mile paved trail, and NOVA Parks states it is wheelchair and stroller accessible, which makes it the easiest of the region's walk-throughs with a toddler in tow. It's at 9750 Meadowlark Gardens Court. Meadowlark has historically sold timed tickets for it, so the on-sale is the thing to watch rather than the opening night; NOVA Parks also notes the gardens stay open on holidays during the event. Two more to keep on the list without planning around yet: Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland runs a Garden of Lights each winter — the gardens themselves are free year-round, but the light show is a separate ticketed event and its 2026–27 dates had not been posted — and Gaylord National's ICE! at National Harbor returns most winters; check gaylordnational.com rather than a listicle.
The best free lights in Washington are on the Ellipse, and they don't require the lottery that the lighting ceremony does. There is no fee to visit the National Christmas Tree site, and it opens to the public a few days after the lighting ceremony and stays open through January 1 — in the 2025–26 season, December 6 through January 1. The lights are typically on from sunset to 10pm Sunday through Thursday and until 11pm on Friday and Saturday. Around the big tree runs the Pathway of Peace, lined with 59 smaller trees, one for each state and territory, each carrying one-of-a-kind ornaments designed by American students under the America Celebrates program depicting what makes their home special — a tradition that goes back to 1954, when President Eisenhower added a tree per state, and further still to 1942, when DC students donated ornaments during wartime restrictions to keep the tradition alive. It is a short, flat, stroller-friendly loop, the trees are at child eye level, and “find our state's tree” is a self-directing activity that will occupy a four-to-nine-year-old for twenty minutes without any help from you. A block east, the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree stands on the West Front Lawn. The 2026 tree is already announced: a grand fir from the Salmon River Ranger District of Idaho's Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests. It arrives at the West Lawn in mid-November accompanied by a police escort — genuinely one of the better outings available to a truck-obsessed three-year-old — and the lighting ceremony, hosted by the Speaker of the House, usually falls in the last week of November or the first week of December. The Architect of the Capitol says specific 2026 ceremony dates will be announced in the fall.
Being honest about the calendar is the most useful thing a lights guide can do in August, so here is the state of play. Confirmed with dates: ZooLights, November 20 to January 3. Confirmed as happening but without dates or prices: Winter Walk of Lights at Meadowlark, and Bull Run's Festival of Lights, which is described as a November-to-January run without specific 2026 dates on its page. Not yet posted at all: Brookside Gardens' Garden of Lights for 2026–27, and the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony date — the National Park Service page says only that information about the 2026 ceremony will be forthcoming, and the organizer's site says something special is coming. Unverifiable from an official source at the time of writing: Gaylord National's ICE! at National Harbor, which returns most winters but whose page would not load for us. The pattern across all of them is the same. Dates and tickets drop from early October through mid-November, ticketed walk-throughs sell their peak December nights first, and the free displays — the Ellipse, the Capitol tree — need no planning at all beyond checking that the site has opened. So the reminder to set is mid-October, and the thing to distrust until then is any page confidently listing 2026 dates for events whose own operators haven't published them. The live grid below fills in from our own catalog as the region's holiday events are announced, which is the honest version of the same list.
Exact dates land here automatically once they hit our catalog — we refresh weekly from local Washington-area sources. Check the official site above, or sign in for picks tuned to your family.
November 20, 2026 through January 3, 2027 at the Smithsonian's National Zoo. Hours and pricing had not been posted as of mid-August; historically the lights have been free with paid parking and some individually ticketed attractions. Check nationalzoo.si.edu, and check whether the Zoo's year-round free entry passes are needed for evening visits.
Yes. There is no fee to visit the National Christmas Tree site on the Ellipse, and no ticket is needed once the site opens — which is a few days after the lighting ceremony, running through January 1. Only the lighting ceremony itself is ticketed, by free Recreation.gov lottery. The lights are typically on from sunset to 10pm, later on Fridays and Saturdays.
Meadowlark's Winter Walk of Lights — NOVA Parks describes the route as a half-mile paved trail that is wheelchair and stroller accessible. The Pathway of Peace on the Ellipse is even shorter, flat and free. If nobody wants to be outside at all, Bull Run's Festival of Lights is a 2.5-mile drive-through you never leave the car for.
Not as of mid-August 2026. NOVA Parks has confirmed the season is happening — its page says it looks forward to welcoming visitors back for the 2026 season — but no dates or prices were posted. It has historically used timed tickets, so watch novaparks.com from October.
Yes — Bull Run Festival of Lights at Bull Run Regional Park in Centreville, described by NOVA Parks as a 2.5-mile drive through festive light displays, running November through January. It's roughly 25 miles from downtown out I-66, and it is the lowest-effort option in the region with a baby or a toddler who won't tolerate cold.