Purchase Your Tickets *
* This event is included with the cost of admission.
Get into the holiday spirit with a festive day of fun, memory-making, and wonder at Atlanta History Center! On December 6, the campus transforms into a winter celebration featuring seasonal activities for all ages.
Enjoy cozy story times, make your own holiday crafts, and explore historic holiday traditions like ornament making and fruit sugaring. Stroll through wintertime Goizueta Gardens, shop for gifts in our Holiday Shop, and soak in the magic of the season across our beautifully decorated Historic Houses and exhibits.
After adding admission tickets to your cart, you can purchase a time slot for professional photos with Santa! Spots are limited and available on a first, come first served basis.
There’s no better place to celebrate the season than Atlanta History Center! Check out all of the timed and ongoing activities for the day below.
Members Only
Purchase a time slot to get for professional photos with Santa at Swan House! Limited spots — available on a first come, first served basis. Please note that Swan House will not be open for general visitation during this time.
Members Only
Purchase admission tickets and your time slot for professional photos with Santa at the locomotive! Limited spots — available on a first come, first served basis.
Timed Activities
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Tinsel Tales
Kids of all ages are invited to enjoy classic stories of winter magic and holiday cheer!
Story times will be held at 10 am, 11 am, 1 pm, and 2 pm.
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Winter in Bloom Tour: Evergreens, Seedheads, and Ornamental Grasses
Join two of Goizueta Gardens’ Senior Horticulturists on a walk through the winter landscape, highlighting plants that shine in the winter months and provide habitat and food for wildlife. We’ll provide inspiration on keeping your garden looking beautiful all year long.
This tour will be held at 10:30am.
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Designing Your Winter Garden Tour
Join Sarah Carter, Vice President of Goizueta Gardens, on a tour focusing on garden design elements in winter that will give your garden structure and interest throughout the year. We will look at the Swan House Gardens, Olguita’s Garden and the Entrance Gardens demonstrating how these design principles can apply to formal or naturalistic garden design.
This will be held at 1:30pm.
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Jingle ParadeRing in the season with a walk around campus led by Santa Clause!Times coming soon!
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Caroling Performances
Enjoy the songs of the season with caroling throughout our campus.
Times coming soon!
Ongoing Activities
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Bird Feeder Workshop
Give flying friends a wintertime treat by making your own suet bird feeder to take home! All materials are allergen-free, using seeds and seed butter.
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Historic Holiday Demonstrations
Experience how generations past celebrated the holidays through practices like fruit sugaring and clay ornament making!
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Letters to Santa
Write your own letter to Santa and Mail it from our festive post office playhouse!
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Holiday Craft Corner
Get creative with cozy, hands-on holiday crafts! Make festive keepsakes to take home and treasure all season long.
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Memory Lane with Kenan Research Center
Embrace the nostalgia of the season with a curated selection of historic images from the Kenan Research Center collection, take-away antique holiday recipe cards to try at home, and other memorable holiday moments from Atlanta’s past!
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Festive Selfie Moments
Snap your own holiday photos with the famous Pink Pigs from Rich’s Department Store in our Atrium. Plus, visit the beautiful lights in our Entrance Gardens and decorated tree in Veterans Park!
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Holiday Shopping
Stop by the Museum Shop and experience our special Kids’ Gift Corner to wrap up your holiday shopping at AHC! Plus for the first time, ALL kids 0-15 can receive a special 25% discount in the shop through the month of December!
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Family Games
Bring the family together to make memories playing games fit for under the tree!
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Refreshments for Purchase
Get your sweet and savory treats plus warm beverages from local vendors and our AHC Bar!
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Purchase Your Tickets *
Photos with Santa FAQ
No, Swan House will not be open to the public during the member-only photos in the morning.
To best manage times and visitor experience, anyone wanting to get photos with Santa will need to secure a photo session time. You and your family will meet Santa sometime during that session. Please arrive at your reserved location no earlier than 10 minutes before your photo session time. Guests who arrive early may be asked to enjoy our other activities until their scheduled session. Guests who arrive late to their scheduled session will be seen by Santa on an as-available basis.
No, you only need to purchase one photo session ticket for your groups. We are able to accommodate groups of up to 6 people.
Yes, based on which session you book, you can visit our campus and enjoy the other activities that are a part of Winter Fest. If you are not interested in photos with Santa, you are also welcome to get tickets just to Winter Fest.
If you are not interested in photos with Santa, you are also welcome to get tickets just to Winter Fest.
For the 9:00 am session, you are welcome to enter the museum at 8:30 am; staff members will guide you towards the Swan House.
No. As much as we love animals, pets are not permitted with the exception of service animals.