LIVE EVENTS

Santa-hats off to the event producers responsible for these huge holiday productions, which draw annual audiences in droves.

Radio City Christmas Spectacular, New York

With all that seasonal weather, ice-skating, window shopping and tree-lighting, New York is the epicenter of the American urban Christmas. It s also home to the Radio City Music Hall and the world-famous Rockettes. Every holiday season, the Rockettes high-kick their way through dozens of seasonal dance numbers, drawing annual audiences of over 2 million. In terms of event planning, the Spectacular involves more work than your typical stage show: the beloved Radio City Music Hall is traditionally decorated from roof-to-foundation with eye-popping holiday cheer.

Winter Festival of Lights, Niagara Falls, Canada

For visual wow-factor, the Canadian Winter Festival of Lights takes it home. From mid-November to mid-January, 1.5 million visitors walking or driving the show route enjoy hundreds of stand-alone Christmas light displays, backed by the year-round lights that are projected onto the thundering mists of Niagara Falls after dark.

Hyde Park Winder Wonderland, UK

The annual Winter Wonderland is a 6-week fair of fun and shopping complete with frozen ice-sculpture forests, a Snow Queen, amusement park rides, ice bars, Christmas Markets, and duh, Santa s Village. This event gets our thumbs-up for their stress on sustainability: Winter Wonderland will provide suitable facilities for visitors, traders and operators to recycle their waste and all site waste will be sorted off site to divide out recyclable and non-recyclable materials. Cooking oil will be recycled as bio-fuel. Power, lighting and water usage is kept to a minimum by careful planning.

Cologne Christmas Market, Germany

The 4-week Cologne Christmas Market is actually seven distinct markets that spring up seasonally in the German city of Cologne, with the Cathedral-side market being the main attraction. Seeing 2 million visitors annually, the Cologne Christmas Market is one of the largest in the world. The wares are uber-Christmas as well, with vendors offering snow globes, music boxes, nutcrackers and bratwurst.

Grand Opening of the Christmas Season in Rovaneimi, Finland

For those of you who ve been living in a hole, Rovaniemi in Finland s Lapland, is where the real Santa calls home. Though the location is undeniably Christmassy year-round, at the end of November the big man officially opens the season with a public address. Visitors can see the Northern Lights, hang out with reindeer, or stay in a snow hotel.

Image Sources: Niagara Falls lights picture Copyright CAA Festival of Lights, Santa giving opening address copyright Visit Rovaniemi