With the holiday season in full swing and people counting down the very seconds until Christmas Eve, it's important to remember that the Yuletide season is about more than just presents- it's about having memorable experiences with your family to mark the occasion. And amid the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping, there's no better way to reconnect with your loved ones and form lasting memories than take a spin through Christmas House Long Island, an exciting immersive experience located in the Broadway Commons Mall in Hicksville.
From the same people who brought you Halloween House Long Island – an all-ages Halloween experience that’s more fun than scary that runs throughout October every year at the same location – Christmas House Long Island is a similar concept, albeit one that celebrates the Holiday season in a fun and family-friendly manner.
“We started off with Christmas House in 2020, and then Halloween House came along in 2021,” said Michael Dessart, president of the company behind the two holiday experiences. “Since then, we've always been running both of these events every year.”
“Christmas House is an immersive walk-through event with about a dozen different experiences,” Michael explained. “In addition to many returning favorites, we have several new rooms this year- ‘The Polar Bar,’ which has Christmas movie poster trivia, a pool table, and safe magnetic darts; ‘The Christmas House Video Room,’ which is our little ode to Blockbuster Video; the ‘Christmas Carnival,’ which has games; and ‘Too Bright Show,’ which is a Christmas-themed take on ‘The Tonight show.’”
Guests are not rushed through the experience for the sake of squeezing as many customers in as possible; instead, they are encouraged to take their time and relish the interactive aspects of Christmas House, and can even backtrack to re-visit experiences if they so desire.
“It's a free-flowing experience; there is a flow to it, but you don't have to abide by that,” Michael said.
So far, Michael says that reaction to this year's Christmas House has been overwhelmingly positive ever since the event opened its doors for business, and the excitement of helping to generate a memorable holiday event for many Long Island families is more than worth all of the hard effort that goes into producing it.
“It's been really great. In fact, one of my favorite rooms – and one that's typically a hit each year that we bring back – is our snowball fight room, where we create snow and you can have a snowball fight. It's quite a fun room,” he said. “We use a snow machine to create fake snow, and the snowballs are actually made out of cotton, so it's all very safe…no one gets hurt, and it's all in good fun.”
In addition to running Christmas House in the Broadway Commons Mall, Michael also said that his company has additional locations for the event in New Jersey and Nevada, the same that they do with Halloween House each year.
Ticket prices range from $24.95 to children aged 13 and under, with adult tickets being $29.95; and discounted group passes are available as well.
“It's something for all ages, and we try to have a little something for everyone, just like we do with Halloween House,” Mike said. “At Christmas House, people can take as many photos and videos as they like, they can bring their own photographer if they want – we've had a number of people come in with their own personal photographer to do Christmas card photos and nice family portraits with all our great photo ops – and we have a lot of fun animatronics and friendly tour guides who help to guide guests through the experiences. It's a great family-friendly event, and the perfect cap to a wonderful Yuletide season.”
Christmas House will be running seven days a week at its location at the Broadway Commons Mall in Hicksville through January 2nd, so there's still plenty of time to go down there and experience all of the festive fun the Holiday season can offer. For more information, please visit their website at https://christmashouselongisland.com.