Fun For All

Day or night, City Lights delivers holiday magic for Houston families

Weave your way through Winter Wonderlawn.

Photo courtesy of Houston First Corporation

Houston, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, especially thanks to City Lights Downtown Holiday Magic. Downtown Houston has transformed into a winter wonderland with 12 magical villages that deliver loads of dazzling experiences — by day and by night.

From enchanting Christmas trees to the joy of ice skating, the delight of life-size displays, and some pretty sweet encounters, there is so much to see and do for the whole family. Even sweeter? Many of the experiences are free or mostly free.

Presented by Shell Energy, City Lights is on now through December 31, 2024 (with some activations continuing into the New Year).

Here's your play-by-play for City Lights, whether you venture out during the day or night.

City Lights by day

Get a free pet pic with Santa Paws at Twinkle Town: The new Trebly Park (located near the Toyota Center) is wasting no time getting in the Christmas spirit. It’s home to Texas’ largest mistletoe ball and is serving up free hot chocolate, face painting, gift wrapping stations, and live holiday music.

There are plenty of opportunities for family photos too, including pet pics with Santa Paws every Saturday from 12-3 pm from December 7-21.

Twinkle Town City Lights mistletoe ball Pucker up in Twinkle Town.Photo courtesy of Houston First Corporation

Strike a pose at Jingle Town: Let the festive selfies commence! You don’t have to wait until after dark to snap a pic at Lynn Wyatt Square. The greenspace in the heart of the Theater District is the destination for holiday fun (and photo opps) with life-size frames, interactive musical Christmas trees, and a Santa’s reindeer installation, all produced by LeMonde Studios.

Go ice skating at ICE: As downtown's iconic skating rink, ICE brings plenty of holiday cheer at Discovery Green. During the week, the rink doesn’t open until 5 pm, but on the weekends you can start skating as early as 11 am.

Don’t miss Sundays with an ice-skating Santa on December 1, 15, and 22 from 4-5 pm. The fun continues into the New Year, too, with Bumper Cars on Ice from January 6-19, 2025.

Ice Skating at Discovery Green Discovery Green has the city's only open-air skating rink. J Vince Photography

Get the ultimate sugar rush at Land of Sweets: The legendary life-size, hand-sculpted chocolate display has transformed the lobby of the Hilton Americas into this year's “Night Before Christmas” scene that you just have to see to believe.

With 1,800 pounds of chocolate, it’s pretty sweet — especially when combined with 80,000 sparkling lights and 14-foot Champagne trees surrounded by more than 10,000 mini lights. Don't miss Breakfast with Santa at the hotel's 1600 Bar + Grill, which is on Saturdays and Sundays in December from 9 am-1 pm.

See the Christmas trees at Peppermint Plaza:
Sixteen gorgeously festooned Christmas trees, part of the Alley Theatre's annual Deck the Trees exhibit, are displayed in the Grand Holiday Window at the George R. Brown Convention Center on Avenida Plaza. Take in the magical trees at any time and day of the week!

City Lights by night

Jumpstart the holiday magic at City Hall-iday Lights: Get the holiday party started at the Reliant Lights Mayor’s Holiday Spectacular – 105 years at City Hall. On December 7 from 6-8 pm, Mayor John Whitmire and Reliant will officially illuminate the city landmark to the tune of live music, fireworks, photos with Santa, and the annual lighting of the holiday tree.

Dance under the lights (and stars) at Tinsel Town: Every Friday and Saturday from 6-9 pm, Market Square Park is putting on the ritz with loads of festive fun, including live music. You can bring the pup, too, for hot chocolate and puppychinos plus pics with Santa.

However, you’ll really want to turn up the volume on Saturday nights for the Silent Night Disco through December 20. Slip on a pair of glowing headphones and rock around the Christmas tree while you groove to DJ-curated playlists featuring holiday classics, upbeat hits, and wintry vibes.

Go with the Snow Glow on the Bayou: Take an immersive, holiday-themed boat tour along Buffalo Bayou and see the city skyline and the wonder of nature. Then, starting December 20, also experience the transformation of Allen's Landing into a spectacular fusion of tech and nature during Snow Glow. The scene-stealing projections of art and light illuminate a 100-foot screen, and it and the holiday boat tour both run through December 29.

Walk through a Winter Wonderlawn: With hundreds of thousands of twinkling lights, POST Houston has created the ultimate winter wonderland at Skylawn, the property’s five-acre rooftop garden.

At the center of it all is a 25-foot Christmas tree surrounded by multiple holiday-themed activations. A nominal fee will be charged for access to the POST’s rooftop during the holiday season, but it’s the perfect date night — or parents’ night out.

Deck the Trees at Alley Theatre Take your pick from 19 fully decorated trees.Photo courtesy of Houston First Corporation

See A Christmas Carol and Deck the Trees: It's a holiday tradition that never gets old, with Alley Theatre's performances of the Dickens classic running through December 29. While you're there, don't miss the 19 unique and dazzlingly decorated Christmas trees on display.

Enjoy a festive float at Texas Winter Lights: The Texas-shaped lazy river at Marriott Marquis’ rooftop deck is ready for its winter close-up. Float the river while gazing at the magical 100,000 lights and experiencing a nightly snowfall.

Come for the float — and a festive cocktail or two — but stay for the nightly snowfall and virtual rides on Santa’s sleigh. There are also theme nights in the mix like Monday Night Football, Silent Disco, Game Night, and more. Family movie nights are on Tuesdays and date-night movies are Thursdays. Admission is complimentary for hotel guests, and a nominal admission fee for others.

Marriott Marquis Houston Texas Winter Lights Head to the rooftop at Marriott Marquis Houston.Photo courtesy of Houston First Corporation

Join the Ugly Sweater Holiday Jam at Twinkle Town: By night, Twinkle Town is just as fun with live entertainment and more. But save the date for December 12 and grab your most insane holiday garb for the Ugly Sweater Holiday Jam from 7-9 pm.

There’s plenty more to see and do during City Lights. Make your own magic and chart your holiday course here.

holidays families kids promoted

Movie Review

Meta-comedy remake Anaconda coils itself into an unfunny mess

Photo by Matt Grace

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda.

In Hollywood’s never-ending quest to take advantage of existing intellectual property, seemingly no older movie is off limits, even if the original was not well-regarded. That’s certainly the case with 1997’s Anaconda, which is best known for being a lesser entry on the filmography of Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez, as well as some horrendous accent work by Jon Voight.

The idea behind the new meta-sequel Anaconda is arguably a good one. Four friends — Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) — who made homemade movies when they were teenagers decide to remake Anaconda on a shoestring budget. Egged on by Griff, an actor who can’t catch a break, the four of them pull together enough money to fly down to Brazil, hire a boat, and film a script written by Doug.

Naturally, almost nothing goes as planned in the Amazon, including losing their trained snake and running headlong into a criminal enterprise. Soon enough, everything else takes second place to the presence of a giant anaconda that is stalking them and anyone else who crosses its path.

Written and directed by Tom Gormican, with help from co-writer Kevin Etten, the film is designed to be an outrageous comedy peppered with laugh-out-loud moments that cover up the fact that there’s really no story. That would be all well and good … if anything the film had to offer was truly funny. Only a few scenes elicit any honest laughter, and so instead the audience is fed half-baked jokes, a story with no focus, and actors who ham it up to get any kind of reaction.

The biggest problem is that the meta-ness of the film goes too far. None of the core four characters possess any interesting traits, and their blandness is transferred over to the actors playing them. And so even as they face some harrowing situations or ones that could be funny, it’s difficult to care about anything they do since the filmmakers never make the basic effort of making the audience care about them.

It’s weird to say in a movie called Anaconda, but it becomes much too focused on the snake in the second half of the film. If the goal is to be a straight-up comedy, then everything up to and including the snake attacks should be serving that objective. But most of the time the attacks are either random or moments when the characters are already scared, and so any humor that could be mined all but disappears.

Black and Rudd are comedy all-stars who can typically be counted on to elevate even subpar material. That’s not the case here, as each only scores on a few occasions, with Black’s physicality being the funniest thing in the movie. Newton is not a good fit with this type of movie, and she isn’t done any favors by some seriously bad wigs. Zahn used to be the go-to guy for funny sidekicks, but he brings little to the table in this role.

Any attempt at rebooting/remaking an old piece of IP should make a concerted effort to differentiate itself from the original, and in that way, the new Anaconda succeeds. Unfortunately, that’s its only success, as the filmmakers can never find the right balance to turn it into the bawdy comedy they seemed to want.

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Anaconda is now playing in theaters.

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Day or night, City Lights delivers holiday magic for Houston families

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Meta-comedy remake Anaconda coils itself into an unfunny mess

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