Last year I shared that we were focusing on events and making memories for the holidays vs buying a ton of “stuff”.  It truly made the holiday season so wonderful and my kids are still talking about some of the things we did.  One of those things was doing a holiday staycation at the Gaylord Texan and enjoying all of their holiday activities.  We decided this would be a wonderful tradition and were so excited to take the kids back this year.  (coupon code at the bottom of the post)

I don’t know about yall, but we are in full holiday mode over here.  2020 has been quite the year and we are all in need of some extra cheer!  We kicked off our holiday season early and last week we surprised the kids with a staycation at the Gaylord!  They have a couple new events this year so we couldn’t wait to check them out.  If you follow me on Instagram stories you got a sneak peek last week.

Unfortunately there is no ICE this year (thanks a lot Covid), but they added 2 new events called I LOVE Christmas Movies and Yuletide Bright.  We arrived Thursday evening and went straight to them.  I Love Christmas Movies is an interactive event where you walk through scenes from some of your favorite movies.  Polar Express, Elf and National Lampoons Christmas Vacation to name a few. Braden got to put the plug together in the Christmas Vacation Scene and started dancing when the house lit up.  It was super cute.

Yueltide Bright was the other new event and it is a 50,000 sq foot outdoor attraction full of colorful, bright holiday characters and scenes.  It was truly beautiful to see at night.

Haha, can you spy Avery and Braden in the photo below??

After enjoying these 2 activities we headed to our room, got in our jammies and watched a movie.  There is just something about getting away in a hotel room that really brings the family together.  Some great bonding time!  We had a beautiful room that overlooked the atrium.  That just cannot be beat!  I you go I highly recommend getting an atrium view room.

We didn’t have time to do the Elf on the Shelf breakfast this year, but that is something I want to do next year.  My kiddos love “Elfie” and the Gaylord Texan puts on a great breakfast with the Elf on the Shelf characters.  Avery had fun sitting on the display

The next morning we woke up and headed out for more holiday fun.  We went snow tubing, rode the carousel, looked at all the pretty decor and went ice skating.  There were even more amazing activities to check out, but we ran out of time.

If you have been to the Gaylord in the past ice skating used to be outside, but they moved it inside this year and it was really nice.  It is unusually warm in Texas this year so I am sure it would have been really melty if it were outside.  Both kids really improved on their ice skating skills from last year.

As always we had such a wonderful time and made such great memories.  If you are looking for something special to do with your family this holiday season I highly recommend checking out the Gaylord Texan and all their fun holiday events.  

They offer lots of package deals online HERE.

Some of the other fun events they offer are Build Your Own Snowman, Snowball Throw, Gingerbread Decorating, Scavenger Hunts, Holiday Escape Room, etc.  Here is a coupon code to save $ on the 2 new events.

COUPON CODE

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Thanks so much to the Gaylord Texan for our incredible stay.  We always have the best time at your hotel.   I only share things I love with my readers and all opinions are my own.