Holiday Traditions: Zoolights at the Denver Zoo
One of our favorite holiday traditions each year is to visit Zoolights at the Denver Zoo. I know there are several zoos around the country who do something similiar, but for those of you who have never heard of it, Zoolights is a nighttime event where you walk around the zoo to see the holiday lights that have been put up around the park. In Denver, there are also 150 animated animal light sculptures set up around the park – my kids have their favorites that they look for every year. We always go during the annual University of Colorado alumni event that is held as a special “preview” day before it’s officially open to the public. Typically crowds are a little bit less, snacks like hot chocolate and pretzels are “free” (included in the discounted price) and CU usually does a clothing or food drive as part of the event, so it’s a good way to give back to the community while enjoying some holiday cheer at the same time!
- “Nanuk of the North”, er, I mean, CO Boy
This year’s event was the first week of December and while we never know what kind of weather we’re going to get in Denver at that time of the year, we were a little worried this year because it had snowed several inches the night before and the temperature was supposed to be VERY cold. We bundled up in our cold weather gear – long underwear, ski pants, hats, gloves and blankets and were prepared for the worst.
Luckily, there was hot chocolate along the way and it wasn’t as cold as we expected, so it turned out to be a pretty good night. The newly fallen snow made for some neat pictures this year and despite my kids’ expressions in the picture below, we had a really great time!
For those of you in Denver, if you haven’t been to Zoolights yet, I highly recommend it. The animal light sculptures are always a big hit for my kids and they typically have a few of the animal houses, like the giraffe, elephant and rhino houses open, so you can get your “real” animal fix too! Zoolights at the Denver Zoo is open every night between now and January 1st, and you can purchase tickets online at www.denverzoo.org. Oh, and if you want to take pictures of the lights, I HIGHLY recommend a tripod so you don’t get blurry pictures. We did not have one, and while we got a few decent shots, most of them were very blurry. You would think we would learn to heed our own advice by now, but we still haven’t replaced the tripod we had years ago…maybe a good present for Santa to bring us this year! 
Have any of you been to Zoolights at the Denver Zoo or anywhere else that does something similar? What did you think?