One thing that we have been hearing over and over again is that parents want to make sure that Christmas is magical for their kids. Tinsel is an easy way to bring that magic to kids of all ages.
One cold Friday evening, we headed over to Tinsel with a gaggle of little girls. At the entrance, each kid was presented with a Christmas flower made out of those balloons. The girls then saw the tunnel of lights and knew that they had to run through it. It felt like a magical portal taking us to a far away place. There were so many lights. Everywhere you turned there were interactive light displays. There were arches to pose under, your face could be part of a lighted bear, there were picture frames and candy canes and gingerbread houses. One of the favorites was the igloo that you could step right into. The kids also love chasing the moving lights by the fire pits.
If you are a Washington Capitals fan, you will not be disappointed. There is an All Caps sign and you can check out the calendar of events to see what theme is going on each night. Many nights have a Caps feature. The night that we were there, Slapshot was hanging out taking pictures with the kids. Eventually he decided to fight a 12-foot penguin made out of balloons that walked. That was certainly something that we had not witnessed before.
Some of the girls broke their balloons while enjoying the lights. One of the kind assistants let us know that we could ask for another one at the end because she saw it break. When we were leaving, Santa himself made the girls each a new flower. We didn’t know that Santa could make balloon flowers but now we know!
Tinsel’s website has tips for your visit but we have more of our own.
- Plan on walking through the displays more than once. There were so many light displays to see and to interact with that it took us three times before we really saw everything that they had to offer.
- Go inside all of the tents. Each tent is unique and has a game or another interactive experience. Some cost money such as the face painting but others are free of charge like Jenga or the beanbag toss.
- Go hungry. There are plenty of options for meals including various food trucks and tents.
- Don’t bundle up too much. We anticipated that we would be cold because it was a chilly evening. Between the heat lamps at the picnic tables where you can eat, the fire pits, and the heated tents we were not cold at all.
- The whole experience is cashless. In addition to the snack and experience options, there are some fun souvenirs. Our family purchases a Christmas tree ornament at every special activity that we do. Our Tinsel ornament is one of the most fun with its flashing lights and sparkle. You will need a credit card to pay for everything.
- Take your camera or have your phone fully charged. Tinsel is chalk full of amazing photo ops. This place was made for social media.
- Plan to stay longer than you planned. Our original plan was to stay for 2 hours and then go out to dinner. We stayed for 4 hours and had dinner there. You often don’t get to eat outside surrounded by beautiful light displays.
Tinsel is an experience that you don’t want to miss. We asked the girls what they liked the most about it and they all simultaneously replied “Everything!” We’ve already been asked multiple times when we will go back. Our family loves going to light displays during the holiday season. This one was the most interactive and will definitely go into our annual rotation.
We were provided tickets to attend Tinsel! NoVa’s NEW Winter Wonderland and all opinions are our own.
