Less than a week after my college graduation, I started working full-time at the Orlando Museum of Art in the public relations and marketing department.
Undoubtedly my favorite time at the museum occurred during the holidays when the annual Festival of Trees event would take over the galleries.
Yesterday Ryan and I returned to my old stomping grounds to attend the event during its kickoff weekend!
As always, the museum was thoroughly decorated and we had fun wandering through the galleries, looking at sparkling trees, admiring intricate gingerbread houses and playing around with fun trinkets in the holiday boutique.
Certain trees are available for purchase, with proceeds benefitting the Orlando Museum of Art, and it’s fun to see the creativity that local businesses and residents pour into decorating the trees.
I thought this tree, made entirely of books from Bright Light Books bookstore, was so cute!
I always get a kick out of the gingerbread village. The entirely edible houses are ridiculously impressive.
The attention to detail is always so fabulous. I loved this rock-candy walkway and the icing garland!
Ten points for creativity!
The tablescapes on display are also quite impressive.
Doesn’t the tablescape featured above look like it belongs in the middle of a winter wedding reception?
Once we were done admiring the trees, wreaths and holiday décor, we walked into the holiday boutique to shop around.
Check it out…
Stick on earrings!!! I loved those things as a kid.
Clearly these light-up reindeer and Christmas tree glasses were too irresistible for us not to try on!
We were seriously considering buying them for SantaCon next month, but they were obviously meant for kids because they started digging into our temples within a few minutes. Reindeer glasses, as fun as they may be, would last all of five minutes if they started causing me pain.
We left the Festival of Trees empty handed but had a blast! It’s a great event to attend to help get you in the holiday spirit, and since it’s still 85 degrees in Florida right now, we need all the help we can get!
Question of the Morning
- Do you attend any annual holiday-themed events in your hometown?
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Oh wow, this looks like such a fun trip! I’m so happy it is the Holiday season. I love the book-tree. How creative! and the light up glasses…too cute! Love it! 🙂
In college they would decorate the park with a TON of lights each Christmas. It was absolutely beautiful and we’d walk down and enjoy the view each year.
Now we have a couple must-do’s locally: the first is driving around the Green Bay Packer themed neighborhood. There’s street after street where each house has identical decorations. They wrap the trees in green lights and wrap the branches in white – so it looks like the green and gold Packer colors. It’s amazingly impressive. I want to live in that part of town someday 🙂
We also attend a Christmas craft fair at the local school for disabled children. I happily donate to support them and typically we get our Christmas wreath there each year as well.
What a fun event! All those trees look so gorgeous! It’s amazing all the different ways to decorate a tree!
So fun!! I can’t believe how early this year all of the Christmas decor and cheer has started! LOVE it! We like to go to the Opryland Hotel and look at all the christmas lights in Nashville, TN, that’s always been a family tradition 🙂
I absolutely love the tree compromised of books, such a unique idea! Also, I love the gingerbread houses – it reminds me of last year around the holidays when my sister and I visited a local attraction called Peddler’s Village, where each year, they host a wonderful Gingerbread House display/contest, where the community is encouraged to submit their creations. All the displays turn out to be beautiful!
We have the annual Christmas Fair run to raise money for charity next week at the restaurant! Can’t wait! I’m on mulled wine and apple cider duty!
Love this!! Makes me so excited for Christmas. And I feel you on the heat, it’s suppose to be 70 degrees on Friday where I live. Ridiculous, I just want me some 50 degree weather ;). That picture does seriously look like it should be for a Christmas wedding!
The glasses are so fun! Love them, but yeah can’t wear them to a race wouldn’t last more than a minute! Ah I’m a lover is holidays! Family, food, music, decor! What else can I ask for?
This is right up my alley! It looks like a blast!!!
I literally laughed out loud when you mentioned stick on earrings! I wasn’t allowed to get my ears pierced until I was 13, so I always loved stick on earrings so much while growing up! It always hurt when they would fall off and get stuck in your hair though ha ha! 🙂
I love this! This would be my dream come true 🙂 I’m a huge Christmas fanatic and start celebrating the season November 1 hahah! I do a ton of festive-themed events during the holidays, including attending the Nutcracker with my mom (an annual tradition), going to the Christmas Market in the Distillery District, and having a Christmas party with friends! So much fun 🙂
Wow it all looks so beautiful! I would love love love to go ahead and put up my Christmas decorations! I just hate waiting! lol we are traveling again during December so I want to be able to enjoy it as much as possible!
I want to try to get to more events this year. I’m feeling a little bit by the holiday bug since our son is 2.5 and will actually “get it” this year. It’s making the holidays feel so much more fun! 🙂
Is it really Christmas time already?! Ah but YAY! We have a holiday stroll downtown where all the little shops open up and display art….very fun 🙂
Oh my goodness I love that! Bozeman puts on the Christmas Stroll (something like that) in early December which I think is when they deck out Main Street and make it look all festive! Today my roomie and I are decorating our room for the holidays 😉
So cute, what a fun event! In Williamsburg, they do a huge event called Grand Illuminations where they light up all the colonial houses and landmarks for the holiday season and have fireworks, cider and all kinds of holiday fun. I love it!
This looks like so much fun! I am fortunate to live close enough to NYC so the tree in Rockefeller Center is always on my radar around the holidays!
Super cute dress! Where is it from? 🙂
Super fun! In my town they have a Winter Wine Walk, where you basically walk around downtown and wine taste at all of these different little spots while they have Christmas decorations, booths with ornaments and gifts and fake snow! (I live in Southern Cali, where it never snows – we barely even get any rain, so fake snow is a must! HA)
Also, I love that dress you’re wearing!
We don’t normally attend any holiday events. I live away from my hometown and we are only home for about 4 days at Christmas so we are already packing a lot in. And it’s a smaller town so not too much going on! There is a house which broadcasts music over a radio station which it syncs up with lights which is fun to look at.
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This is too cool! I love the book-themed Christmas tree, too. It makes me want to make one of my own with all of the books I have laying around the house… If only I were creative enough!
This looks like so much fun. I would love to find new things to go to and experience! It’s hard to find out what activities are going on in Pittsburgh.. shouldn’t be, but I have trouble! Haha
Love the Hanukkah house! So cute!
How fun!! I put on Christmas music for the first time this weekend and it definitely got me in the holiday spirit! My husband and I did a lot of baking.
Have you gone to ICE at Gaylord Palms? My grandmother took me last year – it’ll definitely get you in the Christmas spirit!
Yes!!!! I’ve been a couple of times and it is AMAZING!
Omg that winter table scape is to die for! Probably need a nice fancy house for that to fit in the decor, lol
Cute glasses! I just bought a light up necklace from Menards to wear to school during the Christmas season.
Such Pretty Christmas trees! :D… I also love your dress …If you don’t mind me asking, where is it from?
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This is awesome! We don’t have anything like this in NorCal…well at least that I’m aware of! The trees and the table settings were gorg!
We used to go to the Fantasy of Trees in Knoxville, TN every year and it’s one of my favorite memories of Christmas time! It looks really similar to the Festival of Trees!
This is so fun! We have a local festival of trees. It’s a family tradition to go, but I haven’t made it for 4 years thanks to school. When I was younger, we would decorate a tree for it with my girl scout troop. One year we got a prize for a tropical themed tree.
Thats so cool! I love super elaborate holiday things, when I lived in Chicago I used to go to the German Christmas Village all the time.
omg – I live in NYC & SantaCon is coming here the weekend of my husband’s birthday. We have friends from Florida coming into town and we are seriously considering taking them to SantaCon. haha – the glasses would be perfect!
What a fun event! Every year on the day after Thanksgiving, my family and I try to escape the Black Friday madness and go to this annual “bring on Christmas” event in a small city near us. Every year it’s the same (sleigh rides, Santa, petting zoo, antique shops, kettle corn, carolers, etc.) but it’s always a blast and something we look forward to each year!
This looks so fun! I love seeing the lights in SF!
Wow how beautiful! I’ve never visited any holiday-related activities in my hometown of Omaha, but back when I lived in NYC, I couldn’t resist being a tourist every single year!
BTW, exciting that you are doing Santacon. I did it one year and had the time of my life 🙂
wowwww that book tree looks way too cool! And those gingerbread creations are beautiful~they actually make me want to be inside of them as they kiiiinda remind me of Thomas Kinkade’s paintings (one of my fave artists of all time). 😀
So much fun! What an amazing way to get into the spirits 🙂
Christmas is here to stay woooo! Love the holiday season 🙂 I can’t wait to go to our church’s annual tree lighting when I get home this December!!
Awww, how fun! I want to find something like this near where I live! The town near my parents house always puts on a Christmas lights display. It’s always fun to wander around and look at all the lights!
I tend to go to any and every holiday event I can find! But my hands-down favorite is Christmastown at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, where my parents live and where I visit every Christmas. Picture an entire theme park decked out in lights and decorations, holiday-themed shows, games, and even a few rides. SO FUN!
Not yet, but I’ll be running a Turkey Trot in Melbourne on Thanksgiving :).
Good luck! I LOVE running in the Turkey Trot in Sarasota every year. 🙂
What a neat event! The book tree is a really cute idea. If that doesn’t get you in the holiday mood, I don’t know what would!
There are a ton of Christmas events around the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, and we try to do at least a couple of things each year. This year, I’d really like to go see “It’s a Wonderful Life” on the big screen.
What a cool event — it makes me even more excited for Christmas!! 🙂
Great article. I was so excited that you took a picture of the gingerbread castle, because I made it. 🙂 Took forever!!! The tree made out of books was one of my favorites because I love to read and also thought it might actually be something I could make. Glad you were able to visit the event! The whole thing put me in the Christmas spirit which is hard when it’s still 85 outside. LOL
You are so talented!
We like to attend something called “Taste of the Valley” where all of the hoilday themed treats are out for sampling! Everything from the Kemps ice cream trees and snowmen to snowflake shaped pretzels is there to sample! And wine 🙂 I love Christmas!
I love seeing gingerbread houses. It is seriously impressive (and beautiful!) what people can do with sugar and flour!!
What awesome pictures! Looks like yall had a great time! I am always on the lookout for Christmas-y stuff too since in Houston we got up to 85 degrees today!! Can not believe Thanksgiving is in a little over a week!
Julie,
Thanks for a great article! We’re so glad you enjoyed the Festival of Trees. We had a lot of fun bringing our tree to life to support the Orlando Museum of Art. A lot of work goes into all of the beautiful trees in the Festival. Check out this time lapse video of the installation of the Crazy Coconut Christmas Chronicles tree entitled “Have a Crazy Coconut Christmas!”
http://youtu.be/2vwOOSsjXZg
Thanks!
-Scott Vedder!
#1 Best-Selling Author
I haven’t attended any holiday events yet…. but those trees looked so pretty! I really love the light up glasses…. I’m going to have to google and see if I can find an adult pair for my Ugly Sweater 5k