There’s no need to stay home over the holidays. Santa not only knows if you’ve been naughty or nice, and he will deliver your gifts even if you’re staying in one the many hotels around the country offering these fun holiday-themed packages and over-the-top Christmas experiences.
If you’ve been really good this year, Santa may even join you for breakfast or give you a surfing lesson.
Here’s a list I put together for CNBC:
Surfing lessons – from Santa
Courtesy Surfing Santa & Florida’s Space Coast
Santa is not only a sleigh rider, he’s also, evidently, a surfer.
The annual Surfing Santas event held in Florida’s Cocoa Beach celebrates St. Nick’s secret hobby every Christmas Eve morning with 300 surfing Santas and thousands of spectators. Travelers who want to join the fun can book a hotel package that includes a surfing lesson and a visit on the beach from one of the Surfing Santas.
“BIG” package, with shopping spree in New York City
Courtesy Arlo Hotel/Nikki Vanko
The Arlo Hotel in New York city is offering ‘The BIG Holiday Package’ in honor of the 30th anniversary of the classic film “Big,” starring Tom Hanks as a twelve-year old boy who wakes up in the body of a 30-year old man. Valid Dec. 1 through Dec. 31, the package includes a $500 shopping spree, a driver to take you shopping throughout the city, and a Chef’s dinner for 4 in the hotels’ heated “ice huts.” As a bonus, guests will get to play on oversize piano keys, just like the ones in the “BIG” movie, with a photographer available to document the adventure. Prices start at $3,600 per night.
Bedtime Butlers
Coutesy Kimpton Riverplace Hotel Portland
In Portland, OR, the Kimpton RiverPlace Hotel on the banks of the Willamette River, has a year-round Bedtime butler who makes the rounds a few nights a week, delivering a cart of traditional nightcaps and a selection of other treats to guests. During the holidays the cart is decorated with lights and Christmas stockings and is stocked with books, house-made cookies, and hot cocoa for kids, as well as al bourbon, wine, hot tea, toiletries and slippers for adults. Guests can’t schedule the BedtimeButler; her or she visits rooms at random, so guests are advised to keep an ear out for a knock at their door.
Decadent dining
Chicago Athletic Association Hotel
The Chicago Athletic Association Hotel, located in a historic property on Michigan Avenue that was once a men’s only private club, is offering an onsite progressive dining experience as part of its Sip, Savor, Stay package. The evening starts with champagne by the fireplace, appetizers on the glass-enclosed rooftop restaurant, dinner in the hotel’s Cherry Circle Room, dessert in the Milk Room microbar, and a nightcap in the Game Room, with a privately reserved bocce court. Breakfast the next day is included and as a bonus guests get to take home two of the hotel’s bathrobes (which mimic boxing robes) and two branded glasses. Price: $3,600 for a two-night stay.
Inspired by Dior in Denver
Ramble Hotel Denver
To coincide with the holiday shopping season and the Denver Art Museum’s exhibit “Dior: From Paris to the World,” Denver’s Ramble Hotel is offering the ”Chauffeur to Dior: From Paris to the World” package.
In addition to a night at the hotel, guests will be able to shop for vintage Dior jewelry from their room, drink specialty “Ginette” cocktails named for Christian Dior’s sister, tour the museum’s Dior exhibit with VIP tickets and be driven to and from the museum’s Dior exhibit in a vintage Roll Royce car. Package starts at $1,300 and is available through March 3, 2019.
Decorated suite and holiday treats
Mandirn Hotel NY/David Lewis-Taylor
As part of the Holiday Winter Wonderland Suite Escape package at the Mandarin Oriental, New York guests will stay in a suite outfitted with an ornately- decorated 9-
tree( and a second 3-foot decorated artificial tree), nutcrackers, live wreath, hanging stockings and other festive holiday touches. Holiday-themed food and beverages, including hot chocolate with Grand Marnier, a gingerbread house, cake lollipops and other treats are included. Available through December 31, 2018. Rates begin at $5,775 per night with a two-night minimum stay.
Christmas in a vintage trailer
The Vintages
The Vintages trailer resort in Oregon’s Willamette Valey has 33 trailers in 21 different styles and during the holiday offers two $50 holiday add-on packages. One includes candy cane lawn decorations and a champagne cocktail kit, complete with bottle of local champagne; the other is a campfire-themed package that includes a s’mores kit, Moonstruck gourmet hot cocoa, a bottle of The Vintages Pinot Noir, and a “Little Red Campfire” fire pit.
Sugar plum fairies and elf tuck-ins
Mission Inn Festival of Lights
Fun holiday packages are available during the six-week Festival of at the Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside, CA.
The two-night Sugar Plum Fairy Suite Package (Rates start at $1,419) includes a stay in the decorated themed suite with holiday trimmings, a holiday tree, stockings, holiday lights and candy décor. Included is a cupcake turndown amenity for four with hot cocoa and a $200 dining credit. To sweeten the experience, for $50 per child, guests can add on the hotel’s signature “elf tuck-in” amenity, which features a resident elf that delivers small, present-filled stockings to children and tucks them into bed with a bedtime story.
Ultimate Christmas Package
Ritz- Carlton Fort. Lauderdale
The Fully Wrapped: Ultimate Christmas Experience package is available for one family December 24-26 at The Ritz-Carlton, Fort Lauderdale. (Price starts at $12,999) The experience includes lodging in an ocean view 3-bedroom suite, gift wrapping services, a spa package and champagne. On Christmas morning, there will be breakfast with Santa, who will arrive bearing wrapped gifts that will include a pair of custom Adidas Sneakers, an American Girl Doll, a Pandora bracelet with charm, a bottle of Island Company Run and a voucher for a private rum room experience with a mixologist. The package includes use of a pool cabana for the day, complete with cabana attire and, a photographer to document all the special moments.
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