Ho, ho, ho! Gather your little elves and head to the Birmingham Zoo for a morning filled with holiday cheer at Breakfast with Santa! Enjoy a warm, delicious breakfast featuring French toast, eggs, sausage, fresh fruit, and more—all in a festive atmosphere that’s sure to make spirits bright.

Holiday Fun Includes:
✨ A visit with Santa Claus—perfect for photos and memories
✨ Admission to the Zoo to explore all its wonders
✨ Unlimited rides on the magical Red Diamond Express trains

This is the must-attend holiday event of the season! Bring your family, share a meal, and create cherished memories that will last a lifetime.

️ Don’t wait—reserve your table today! ️
Space is limited, so make your holiday season unforgettable with a festive morning at your Birmingham Zoo!

Beep Beep! Join Vocabby’s World and your ArtPlay friends to learn new vocabulary words! We will explore new words through song, movement and creativity. (Children Ages: 0-5 years)

Vocabby’s World is a community vocabulary program in partnership with ArtPlay and sponsored by PNC Foundation. The adventures of Vocabby take pre-K children on travels around the world as they learn vocabulary words through science and arts concepts. Through this partnership, ArtPlay is providing hands-on activities that reach families in our communities and across the country. Free books, curriculum and art materials reinforce the new vocabulary learned.

If you have any questions about this event, please contact Dylan Ferniany, dhfernia@uab.edu.

Ground Floor Contemporary is thrilled to present In the Wind, an exhibition of new works by Catharine Friend, Jane Marshall, and Elisabeth Pellathy.

Catharine Friend is a painter working in a range of styles and genres, such as figurative, landscape, and abstraction. Friend received a BA from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, where she studied French and Art History and began painting full-time in 2001 after retiring from non-profit work. She paints and studies art extensively while working in her studio, taking workshops, and collaborating with fellow artists. Friend lives and works in Birmingham and Fairhope, Alabama.

Jane Marshall is an artist in active investigations with her immediate surroundings, nature, and environment using the mediums of printmaking, painting, sculpture, and ceramics. Her career spans over four decades and numerous geographic locations. Educated at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a BA, MS in painting, and MFA in printmaking, she has taught at several universities and colleges and has been awarded many artist residencies throughout her career. Marshall lives and works in Alabama and Michigan.

Elisabeth Pellathy works in a variety of mediums, responding to locations, history, and social context. Pellathy sees physical and digital manipulation of material as parallel processes, and an open dialogue between these realms provides a generative space for her exploration of materiality and process. Often, ecological concerns, or more specifically, issues of disappearance, are themes in her work. Urgency in issues of language, fragility, loss, (in)visibility, tactility, and magnification emerge. Pellathy received her MFA from the Division of Expanded Media at Alfred University School of Art and Design, NYSCC. She works as an Associate Professor of New Media at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Usher in the holiday season with music, merriment, and togetherness! With showstopping dance numbers and beautiful solo moments alike, all the different facets of this time of year get their moment in the spotlight. Our cast of over 75 performers -- Birmingham's best professional talent and our young Performing Ensembles and Conservatory members -- bring the jingle and the joy. It's an extravaganza perfect for the whole family!

Ravenswood Radio Theatre returns to VST with their immersive Holiday experience-a step back in time to the 1944 radio broadcast of It's a Wonderful Life.  With a stellar cast of six, a vintage musical underscore and live foley sound effects that bring the entire town of Bedford Falls to life.

"it's 90 minutes of pure holiday entertainment"
Alec Harvey, AL.com

Named one of Birmingham’s Top Holiday Activities!

Get carried away and watch your Birmingham Zoo come alive with larger-than-life wild animal creations lighting up the night! This extraordinary event will be held on select nights from 5:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. during the months of November, December, and January. Glow Wild is sponsored by UAB Callahan Eye. See schedule below and information on special discount nights. *

Larger-than-life animal lanterns around every corner

Acrobatic shows nightly at 6:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

New Virtual Reality movie experiences ($5 for members, $7 for general admission). Two movie options – Elf Power (animated) and Great Migration (filmed in Africa)

Red Diamond Express Train

A wide selection of food + drink options (try the adult hot chocolate!)

We’ll have special guests and appearances throughout the season, see below. Also check the Birmingham Zoo's social media channels for updates.

SANTA will be at Glow Wild on Dec. 16, 17, and 20.

Special Entertainers at Glow Wild
Friday, Dec. 6 – Magic 96 Night and Shades Valley High School Choir
Saturday, Dec. 7 – Birmingham Girls Choir
Sunday, Dec. 8 – JCIB Concert Choir
Friday, Dec. 13 – Beverly’s Dance
Saturday, Dec. 14 – Hoover Choir
Wednesday, Dec. 18 – Bella Prima Dance
Thursday, Dec. 19 – Snow Rogers Elementary Choir
Saturday, Dec. 21 – 501st Group

Usher in the holiday season with music, merriment, and togetherness! With showstopping dance numbers and beautiful solo moments alike, all the different facets of this time of year get their moment in the spotlight. Our cast of over 75 performers -- Birmingham's best professional talent and our young Performing Ensembles and Conservatory members -- bring the jingle and the joy. It's an extravaganza perfect for the whole family!

T.U.B.'s Xmas Show - The Upstairs at Avondale