🎄Dec 12 - 18 Edition

Editor’s Note: As a one-person show, I love that this passion project has been helpful to so many of you! Thank you for being here and for sharing this with friends who need it as well.

🎄 HOLIDAY NEWS 🎅

🎄 Annual Family Holiday Music & Light Show | Dec 13 - Jan 1. Two shows nightly at 6:30 PM & 7:30 PM (except NYE: 8:30 PM & 11:30 PM) | Red Morton Park, Redwood City | 👶 All Ages | Free | Info A 20-30 minute high-energy show with a dazzling wonderland of lights, lasers, and holiday music! The main attraction is at 752 Valota road, best viewed from the Valota side of Red Morton Park. Special themed nights like Photos with Santa or Kid’s Night with a Moana, Frozen, K-Pop, Demon Hunter soundtrack.

🚂 Winterfest Steam Train Rides | Saturday and Sunday, December 13 & 14, 20 & 21 ; 11:00 AM-7:00 PM (ticket sales end at 7:00 PM) | Redwood Valley Railway, Tilden Park, Berkeley | 👶 All Ages | 💵 | Info Decorated and lighted holiday steam train rides extending into after dark! Father Solstice rides on a special looping train and waves to children. 5-minute ride through shaded woods. Tickets available only at station or gift shop (no online sales). Best times: at opening or 3-5 PM to beat crowds. Parking can be challenging; additional parking available at back lot (requires short walk). Bring glowsticks or headlamps for nighttime visibility. Weather permitting.

🎄 Let's Glow SF | 5:30-10:00 PM nightly | Downtown SF | 👶 All Ages | Free | Info Last weekend to catch this in the city! Nation's largest FREE holiday projection arts festival! Breathtaking animated projections illuminate eight iconic buildings featuring 19 artists from around the globe. Ferry Building, 101 California, Salesforce Tower, Transamerica Pyramid, and more transform into colossal, colorful canvases.

🍫 Trader Joe's Peppermint Chocolate Cake Mix - It's been around for a while, but we tried the Chocolate Peppermint Loaf Baking Mix for the first time and wow, it's delicious! Not too sweet and infinitely customizable—make it as a loaf, cookies, muffins, or even s'mores bars (recipe on Trader Joe's site). Reddit has tons of tips too!

📦 Makedo Cardboard Construction Kit - Holiday gift idea! Perfect if your kids love to "rescue" boxes from the recycle pile and turn them into toys. Also a convenient parent hack for getting help breaking down all those delivery boxes—it’s the gift that keeps on giving! And pair with these rolls of tape + dispenser so they’ll leave you some scotch tape to wrap presents with! Or if you want something more high tech, this one is currently backordered but gets rave reviews.

✨ Need a weekend game plan? Let Klabbit’s weekend planner help! Drawing from 200+ resources and regularly updated, it can answer questions like: "Holiday events happening Dec 13-14 weekend between 9 am–12 pm or 3–6 pm" / "Train rides without advance reservations" / "Holiday lights within 30 minutes of San Mateo" / "Photos with Santa within 15 minutes of Burlingame". It utilizes Google’s NotebookLM so a Google sign-in is required.

🗓️ And in case you missed it, full round up of Klabbit holiday events here.

Weekday Events

Friday, December 12

Bike to famous Eucalyptus Ave twinkling lights and decorated neighborhoods! Easy, family-friendly pace. Ends ~5:15 PM at Paris Baguette downtown for refreshments. Free blinky tail light! Don't forget helmets and bike lights—decorative lights encouraged!

Food Network Challenge star presents her new book with full cooking demo! Young chefs get expert tips, tricks, and taste amazing cookies!

Tuesday, December 16

👨‍👩‍👧 Family Night | 5:00-7:00 PM | Chick-fil-A Bridgepointe, San Mateo | 👶 All Ages | Free kids meal

Each child receives a free kids meal and Santa Cow makes an appearance! Kids need to be present at the register to receive the free meal. Gets busiest around 5:30 PM and be prepared to sit outside.

🗓️ Want more options? Find the full list of 70+ recurring events happening every day of the week here. Chess club, 3D printing, lego robotics, Spanish conversation club, teen video game nights, makers events, story times, and much more.

Share with a friend who needs Klabbit!

Saturday, December 13

High-kicking dancers, acrobatic penguins, and winter celebration with marionettes on the lawn!

Watch Santa fly in (weather permitting)! Kids 10 & under choose a free gift. Bounce houses and snow slide! Hosted by CHP RWC; parking in CHP/DMV lots or street.

Upgraded Santa's Village with cookie decorating, arts & crafts, letters to Santa, photo booth, hot drinks, and Mrs. Claus storytimes. Live performances, carnival rides, holiday singalong, upgraded parade, Caltrain Holiday Train, and tree lighting!

Learn coding basics using block-based languages to create games and animations! No previous experience necessary.

Touch live sharks, listen to thrilling shark tales, and create shark-inspired crafts! Caregiver-and-me class—each registration includes one child and one adult.

Create crafts emphasizing primary and secondary colors, optical illusions, and more!

Traditional European winter market with 20,000+ visitors! Handcrafted German gifts, nutcrackers, Lebkuchen, sausages, pretzels, Glühwein, live performances, and arts & crafts!

Make handmade toys for shelter dogs and cats! Great for all ages. No experience needed, all supplies provided!

Paint wooden ornaments and enjoy sweet treats at this relaxing in-store event!

Child-minded art projects in the Kindness Corner (right of main entrance). First come, first served. All abilities welcome.

Celebrate the holidays at festive station celebrations as the decorated Caltrain Holiday Train rolls through multiple Bay Area stops! Check Caltrain site for more info.

San Mateo Station | 2:30-6:00 PM | San Mateo Caltrain Station Melodic Outreach Endeavor (3:15 PM), Peninsula Dance Academy (4:00 PM), Core Taekwondo (4:30 PM), Hillsdale High School Chamber Singers (5:10 PM), and balloon artists (3:30-5:30 PM)!

Palo Alto Station | 2:00-6:00 PM | Palo Alto Caltrain Station Silly Ricky performance (3:45-4:15 PM) and DJ Santa (3:00-6:00 PM)!

Feel the rhythm and beauty of Native American dances! Learn about different dance styles, their history, and outfit making.

Young scientists explore chemistry with hands-on experiments led by ACS members!

Hands-on STEM adventure rotating through four exciting stations! Winter-themed engineering challenges, creative science experiments, and imaginative building projects. One registration per child.

Family holiday concert with songs, sing-alongs, and classic holiday story followed by a holiday cookie reception!

Klabbit Note: This event is a lot of fun and super kid-friendly! In years past, they’ve invited the little ones to sit along the stage area and passed out bells for some sing-alongs. And the cookie reception is epic!

🗓️ Want more options? Find the full list of recurring events here, like open sewing time, free art projects, various story times, and much more.

Sunday, December 14

Holiday shopping, crafts, fairy house and wreath decorating workshops, and holiday treats supporting local youth!

Big Hanukkah party with crafts, live music, sing-along, storytime, and dancing! Co-sponsored by PJCC and PJ Library.

Extended storytime celebrating Yalda, the Winter Solstice! Stories, crafts, and songs honoring this Persian tradition of light, warmth, and togetherness.

Create unique handmade holiday cards using colorful washi tape and recycled paper with Pacific Art League!

Prokofiev's timeless tale with guest narrator Joshua Dela Cruz (Blue's Clues & You!) and SF Symphony Youth Orchestra!

Free winter workshop making a trinket tray out of air dry clay!

Menorah lighting, music, latkes, and donuts at this beloved annual festival!

🗓️ Want more options? Find the full list of recurring events here, like LEGO robotics, coding club, Michael’s store crafts, storytimes, and more!

✅ Stay Connected

✨ Klabbit is your playbook to making Peninsula parenting easier. 👊

Follow Klabbit on Instagram for things like Glowfari ticket sale announcements, costume swaps, and other upcoming holiday events!
At an event? Share a tip and tag @helloklabbit to help fellow parents!
Share with a friend – Spread the word about Klabbit!

Share with a friend!

A note from the founder, Stacey:

Hi! 👋 I'm a local mom with young children and built Klabbit to lighten the mental load for busy families—it's the community resource I always wished existed.

Now you can see the Peninsula's best kid-friendly activities at a quick glance, every week. Meeting up with a friend? Send them this newsletter and pick something together. Kid up early from their nap? Check what's happening nearby!

Because parenting in the Bay Area is hard enough. Figuring out what to do this weekend shouldn't be.

Found this helpful? Share it on Konstella, in your classroom's WhatsApp chat, or send to a friend you want to see at an event! Because spontaneous playdates from bumping into each other are the best.

Share Klabbit!

See me at an event? Come say "hi"! Have feedback on the newsletter? I'd love to hear it! To share your experiences and pro tips with our community: find me on instagram, reply to this newsletter, or email me at [email protected]. Cheers! 📬