The cheapest Hudson Holidays tickets of the year go on sale Friday, Nov. 6, at 10 a.m. and stop selling at 11:59 p.m. on Nov. 8, or sooner if they run out. On the same Friday morning, Friends members can start buying tickets for the Littleton Museum's Holiday's Evening. Everyone else can buy a week later. Downtown's 34 holiday trees go up along Main Street in early November. The Candlelight Walk itself is still about four weeks out.
The two ticketed events with the tightest windows put their best prices and first access in the week of Nov. 6, three weeks before the Candlelight Walk and Hudson Holidays open on Nov. 27. The calendar below shows how much of the season depends on what you do between Nov. 6 and Nov. 13.
Two ticket windows, one week apart
Hudson Gardens runs Hudson Holidays from Nov. 27, 2026, through Jan. 3, 2027. The pricing has two tiers. An Any Day presale ticket costs $15 for adults, $15 for seniors 65 and older, and $10 for kids ages 3 to 12. Dated tickets go on sale Monday, Nov. 9, at 10 a.m. and cost $20 for adults, $18 for seniors, and $15 for kids. Children 2 and under are free either way. A family of two adults and two kids would pay $50 with presale tickets and $70 with dated ones. That $20 gap only exists for one weekend.
Hudson Holidays tickets are not timed. You can arrive any time during show hours on your date, but once you leave you can't come back in. The garden's FAQ lists regular hours of 5 to 9 p.m. and an early 7 p.m. close on Dec. 24. Some calendar listings show 5 to 8:30 p.m., so check the hours for your night when you buy. The calendar shows no event on Christmas Day.
Holiday's Evening at the Littleton Museum is a single night, Sunday, Dec. 13, from 5 to 8 p.m. It takes place outdoors at the living history farms. The ticket includes a wagon ride, live music, hot cider, cornbread and cookies, and costumed interpreters doing 19th-century winter demonstrations. Friends members get first access on Friday, Nov. 6, at 9 a.m. and pay $10 per adult and $5 per child. General admission opens Friday, Nov. 13, at 9 a.m. at $15 per adult and $7 per child ages 2 to 16. Children under 2 are free. Tickets are nonrefundable. You can buy them online, or at the museum's front desk with cash or check during normal hours. With only one night, there's no later date to fall back on.
| Date | What opens | Price note |
|---|---|---|
| Fri., Nov. 6, 9 a.m. | Holiday's Evening, Friends members | $10 adult, $5 child |
| Fri., Nov. 6, 10 a.m. to Sun., Nov. 8, 11:59 p.m. | Hudson Holidays Any Day presale | $15 adult, $10 youth |
| Mon., Nov. 9, 10 a.m. | Hudson Holidays dated tickets | $20 adult, $15 youth |
| Fri., Nov. 13, 9 a.m. | Holiday's Evening, general admission | $15 adult, $7 child |
| Fri., Nov. 20 | Town Hall Arts Center's holiday show opens | Runs through Dec. 27 |
Thanksgiving weekend carries most of downtown's season
The free downtown events all fall on two days. The City of Littleton's Candlelight Walk page lists Friday, Nov. 27, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at 2250 Main St. The parade starts at 6:30 p.m. Santa lights the big tree in Bowles Plaza, and then a drone show flies over The Melting Pot at the west end of Main Street. Other event pages list slightly different hours, so check the city's page that week. Visit Littleton says local restaurants will serve warm grab-and-go bites, hot cocoa, cider, and cocktails for guests 21 and older along Main Street.
Hudson Holidays opens the same night, on the other side of town. If your household wants both, you'll need two separate evenings, and Thanksgiving weekend already has one of its best nights taken.
Small Business Saturday follows on Nov. 28 and runs all day, according to the Littleton Downtown Development Authority calendar. It also opens the busiest stretch of the DDA's Sparkle & Stroll, now in its third year, which runs from Nov. 27 to Dec. 31. Each purchase at a participating downtown business earns a stamp on a Sparkle Card. A card with one stamp enters a downtown gift card drawing, and a card with 10 stamps enters the grand prize drawing, which is held in January. Ten stamps over five weeks works out to about two purchases a week, which means a few small errands get you a grand prize entry.
The DDA's Holiday Tree Program explains what the trees on Main Street are. The 34 five- and six-foot live evergreens sit in temporary boxes between Bega Park and The Melting Pot. In late January 2027, they come out and go to permanent homes at Arapahoe Community College, the City of Littleton, and Littleton Public Schools. They'll be on Main Street for the parade, the shopping season, and the January drawing, and then they get planted elsewhere in Littleton.
The downtown stops that weren't there last December
If you're collecting stamps or just running errands, three Rapp and Main stops will be new to anyone whose last downtown holiday was in 2025.
- Leaves on Main, 2699 Main St., held its grand opening Sept. 5, 2026, and sells indoor plants, books, and plant-related goods, according to the Littleton Independent.
- Lewis and Cluck, the chicken feed and supply shop, has moved back downtown to 5827 S. Rapp St. after several years on South Broadway, according to the Littleton Independent.
- Tonic Zero Proof Bar, 5767 S. Rapp St., opened this year, as the Littleton Independent's business roundup reported in May. It offers an alcohol-free stop between Main Street errands and dinner.
All three are a short walk from Main Street, so they fit easily into a Sparkle Card loop.
Getting downtown has changed on the Prince Street side
How you get downtown also figures into these plans. The city started construction on the Prince Street Link project by early October, according to the Oct. 2 Littleton Links bulletin. The bulletin warns of traffic impacts along South Prince Street between West Lake Avenue and West Alamo Avenue through spring 2027. The work rebuilds the Prince and Church intersection and adds bike lanes in both directions, wider sidewalks where there's room, and ADA-compliant curb ramps. The project page says it will improve connections to the Downtown Littleton light rail station, Arapahoe Community College, and Downtown Littleton. A Colorado Department of Transportation Safer Main Streets grant and local funds pay for it.
The city hasn't announced a holiday pause, so plan on cones along Prince Street through the Candlelight Walk and the rest of the season. The Cone Zone map is updated weekly and is the best way to check before a big night. The DDA's getting around page says downtown on-street parking is free, with two-hour limits on some core streets, and lists RTD lots and paid lots as other options.
A walking route has changed too. Englewood's City Ditch Piping Project has closed the Littleton Community Trail between Ridge Road and Lower Ridgewood Park, and part of the Lee Gulch Trail in Lower Ridgewood Park is also closed. The posted detour runs along West Euclid Avenue, South Prince Street, and West Ridge Road. The closures started the week of Oct. 5 and are expected to last until spring 2027. If your holiday walk to downtown usually follows that trail, you'll be on the detour for the whole season.
Main Street's next chapter is still on paper
You may hear talk this season about the bigger plan for Main Street. The city has secured $32.6 million for the Main Street Improvements, the first major project from the Project Downtown concept plan that City Council adopted in November 2024. The project is now in preliminary design. The concept plan calls for new trees, gathering spaces, raised planters, specialty paving, gateways at both ends of the street, and infrastructure built for closing the street to traffic during events. No construction start date has been published.
The part open for input now is Project PARKing, the city's parking and curbside study for downtown and Littleton Boulevard. It's meant to plan for parking, loading, and access needs and to soften the effects of rebuilding Main Street. The feedback page takes public survey responses and comments pinned to specific locations on a map. If you're downtown on a crowded holiday night and notice where curb space and loading zones run short, you can add a comment about that spot.
Filling in the rest of December
After you've bought tickets and planned around the construction, the rest of December is easier to fill.
- Town Hall Arts Center is staging Big: The Musical as its holiday show from Nov. 20 to Dec. 27. For younger kids, the theater has a Wizard of Oz Interactive on Dec. 15 and 17 and a Christmas Carol Holiday Interactive on Dec. 16 and 19, all at 11 a.m. Dixie Krystals: A Very Merry Dragmas plays Tuesday, Dec. 1, at 7:30 p.m.
- Hudson Holidays theme nights this year include gourmet s'mores, holiday character storytellers, holiday bingo, and Christmas movie trivia. Wednesday, Dec. 2, is the sensory-friendly night.
- Bemis Public Library runs its Winter Reading Program from Nov. 21 through Jan. 8, with reading logs and challenges and a free book for children and teens.
If you buy the two Nov. 6 tickets, plan Thanksgiving Friday around the 6:30 p.m. parade, and check Prince Street before heading downtown, most of your Littleton holiday plans are set before the end of November.
Holiday weekends also show you what a part of town is like. You see how far you can walk, where parking runs out, and which blocks fill up first. If you're weighing a move within Littleton or nearby and want to talk through what you've noticed, Jonathon Sakalas is happy to listen. Let's Connect.
