What to Know

  • Yuletide Cinemaland, presented by Street Food Cinema
  • Heritage Square Museum
  • Nov. 29-Dec. 23 (select nights)
  • $34 adult; $18 child; parking is available for an additional fee, while the Heritage Square Metro rail station is about a ten-minute walk
  • An Ugly Holiday Sweater Contest happens each night the series is open; look for treats for sale, Christmas cocktails at the Tinsel Tavern, food trucks, seasonal decorations (including the Twinkling Light Tunnel), and tours of some of the site’s Victorian landmarks

Heritage Square Museum, that Christmassy backdrop of a historical wonderland, rocks a yuletide-inspired aura all year long, even when it is May or June and there isn’t a lick of holly or a single ornament in sight.

This is due to all of those handsome Victorian buildings, which look as if they emerged from a vintage holiday film fully and festively formed.

These eye-catching structures are totally real, of course, and definitely not a backdrop, but they will enhance the visual splendor at Yuletide Cinemaland, the multi-week movie celebration presented by Street Food Cinema.

From Nov. 29 through Dec. 23 — not every night, mind you, but a whole bunch of evenings around the weekends — the film series will spotlight the cozy, cute, and cuddle-up classics of the season.

Those include “Home Alone,” “Elf,” “A Christmas Story,” and cinematic showings featuring the Grinch and Jack Skellington.

“The Santa Clause” will also appear on the spirited schedule, if that’s what you were ho-ho-hoping for.

But Yuletide Cinemaland isn’t simply about watching merry movies by the light of the moon. A pajama party will kick things off Nov. 29, while each night will feature an Ugly Holiday Sweater Contest.

Themed cocktails at the Tinsel Tavern, the picture-ready Twinkling Light Tunnel, and effervescent opportunities to walk through some of the stately homes on the property are part of the sparkling scene.

We may never pass through a screen and enter a Christmas movie, for real, but rocking a snowman sweater while tinseling-out near the gorgeous Victorians of Heritage Square gives us that inner holiday glow.

For tickets, times, parking fees, and all of the feel-good goodies this series delivers, saddle up your reindeer and fly in this direction pronto.