Omaha’s holiday season, from mid-November through New Year’s Day, offers lights, music and family fun for little or nothing. Plan a trip and give your family the best Christmas gift of all — time together!

We’ve mapped out a full day of fun for a family of four for about $140, roughly $35 per person, including lunch and dinner. Plus, find more free events, cafes with play spaces (so children can entertain themselves while parents take a beat with a latte) and where to catch a tree lighting in our FAQs.

Morning: Ice Skating at Heartwood Preserve

People ice skating at Winterland at Heartwood Preserve.Take to the ice for a couple hours at Winterland at Heartwood Preserve. Skating, with skate rental, is free with advance registration. Less experienced skaters can use a reindeer-shaped helper sled, or sit on a seal sled, which parents can push.

Cost: $0
 

Late Morning: Hot Chocolate and Holiday Books at Omaha Central Library

Warm up with a hot chocolate at Zen Coffee Company ($2.75 a cup) located inside the brand-new Omaha Central Library. Kids enjoy the adjacent indoor playscape, which recreates Nebraska’s state tree (the cottonwood) and the curve of a river. If breakfast was a rush, eat a snack from home in designated areas.

Refreshed, head upstairs to the second floor to the library’s children’s area, which features cozy reading corners to cuddle and read your favorite holiday books together aloud. There is also an area with sensory and sorting toys for those who don’t like to sit still while they listen. Take in the colorful artwork surrounding you — part of the largest collection of local public art in Omaha.

Bigger kids will want to check out Do Space, a hands-on technology center, on the same floor. The center offers STEAM-inspired hourlong workshops, from coding to quilting. Check the schedule to register in advance. It’s free!

Cost: About $12 (four hot chocolates)
 

Lunch and Christmas Fun at The Durham Museum

People visiting The Durham Museum during the holidays and enjoying treats from the soda fountain area.

You’ll need museum admission to visit the Soda Fountain, so buy tickets first and make an afternoon of it. You’ll be hard pressed to find a dining option with a more splendid view this holiday season. The museum’s 40-foot tree, harvested locally every year, shines with lights in the art deco Grand Hall of Omaha’s former Union Station, now The Durham Museum, as part of its Christmas at Union Station. The Soda Fountain kids’ meal offers an entrée, a side and a drink for $7. A wide array of sandwiches, salads and soups for adults average about $10.

After lunch, visit Santa’s Cabin to tell the big guy in red about your list (or call him on a rotary phone if you prefer). Kids can make crafts, search for elves, catch an indoor snowfall and enjoy the sock skating pond, which offers all the glide, none of the chill. A special exhibit, White Christmas, displays costumes and props from the 1954 classic film, along with sheet music and photography. On Tuesday evenings and Saturdays, local musical groups perform holiday tunes.

Cost: $54 (admission for two adults, two children)

About $40 (lunch with a tip)
 

Late Afternoon: Santa Letters and Souvenir-Hunting at the Omaha Visitors Center

A child dropping off her Letter to Santa at the Omaha Visitors Center.

Pop into the Omaha Visitors Center at 3:30 p.m. — it closes at 4 p.m., so don’t delay — and grab a complimentary beverage. Peruse the Omaha-curated gifts for a souvenir. Five bucks can score you a baseball pen (in celebration of Omaha hosting the NCAA Men's College World Series) or a shot glass. For $10, you can get an I LOVE OMAHA t-shirt. Take the time to jot off a letter to Santa here and leave your return address. He writes everyone back, even if you think you might not have made the cut for the nice list this year.

Cost: $5 (for a souvenir)
 

Evening: Holiday Lights and Fire Pits Downtown

Holiday lights decorate Gene Leahy Mall at The Riverfront while people stroll by and sit by a fire pit.

Time to stroll amid downtown holiday lights. Start in the Old Market. Walk Harney to Jackson streets between 10th and 13th, where lights wrap the trees and storefronts. Next, cross to The RiverFront, three interconnected parks fully decorated for the holidays. Warm your hands up around a fire pit before taking a family selfie in front of the nearly 70-foot-tall holiday tree at the 8th Street Arrival Plaza in Heartland of America Park. On Friday and Saturday evenings, you can see a multimedia show projected on the Gene Leahy Mall Performance Pavilion, the Burlington Building and the 10th Street Bridge video wall.

Cost: $0
 

Dinner: Personal Pizzas at an Omaha Favorite

Tasty Pizza in the Aksarben neighborhood is a favorite among Omaha families. High-gluten flour is the secret to these pies’ springy mouthfeel; 8-inch personal pizzas come in 19 topping styles priced from $6.75 to $7.75. We recommend the pesto, the bacon gouda and the buffalo chicken. Want a pizza that matches the season? The margherita’s red sauce, green basil and snow-white mozzarella pearls bring the Christmas colors. Order at the counter and tap to pay, with no waiting for the check. Visions of sugarplums await.

Cost: $28-$32 (four personal pizzas)
 

Christmas is magical when your kids are little. Make the most of it with holiday adventures in Omaha. Download the Omaha Savings Pack to spend less and do more together.

 

FAQS:

What are free holiday activities for families in Omaha?

Where can I see tree lighting ceremonies in Omaha?

  • Tree lightings run on mid-to-late-November dates across the metro.
  • The Durham Museum lights Omaha’s official Christmas tree in its Grand Hall on Friday, Nov. 27, 2026; the event is included in general admission.
  • The Holiday Lights Festival opens with a ceremony at Gene Leahy Mall at The RiverFront on Saturday, Nov. 28, 2026.
  • North Omaha hosts a parade and visits from Christmas characters 一 with surprise appearances from the Marvel universe 一 along North 24th Street on Dec. 5.
  • Village Pointe in West Omaha will light its tree on Friday, Nov. 20, 2026. Santa and other holiday characters will be there.
  • Shadow Lake Towne Center in Papillion holds its holiday parade and tree lighting on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2026.
  • Aksarben Village has its Lights of Aksarben tree lighting on Friday, Nov. 27, 2026. Select nights after that feature free hot cocoa, visits from Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus and a Whoville-themed night market.

What are affordable holiday attractions in Omaha for families?

Most of Omaha’s ticketed holiday attractions cost a family of four less than $100 (for two adults and two children, ages 3-12). Children under 2 years of age (or 3 years of age, depending on the attraction) are free.

  • The Durham Museum, Christmas at Union Station: $17 for adults, $10 for children (ages 3-12)
  • Lauritzen Gardens, Bright Nights: $18-$22 for adults, $9-$11 for children (ages 3-12)
  • Omaha Children’s Museum, Santa’s Magic: $17 adults and children (ages 2-15)
  • Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, Zoolightful: $26 adults, $16 children

Which cafes have a children’s play area?