When I hear the word Enchant, my mind goes to a magical crystal sparking village. Enchant at Nationals Park certainly lives up to that vision. From the moment you cross N Street Nationals Stadium is transformed into a magical place. There is so much to see. The entire stadium is lit up with thousands upon thousands of twinkling lights.
There are a ton of activities to do. Some free of charge. On the night that we attended, there were Christmas carolers and a juggler when we entered. Others have a fee associated such as pictures with Santa and ice skating. One of our favorite things was running through the lights that hung down and kissed our cheeks as we enjoyed the wonder of it.
We also did the maze. You can choose entrance one or two but ultimately you get to the same activity. Each child is given a scratch card of items to find in a fun scavenger hunt. Those things included items like a ballerina or Amelia Earhart’s airplane (which you can sit in). Don’t worry though, each item to find is made out of lights and is over six feet tall so they are not hard to find. There are stations to scratch off the items when you find them with giant coins. They were so cool that we ended up buying one for on our tree at one of the shops. If you find them all, or get tired of looking, you can show your card at the end of the maze and each kid gets a candy cane.
Upon entering the maze, the seats in the stadium look like people holding lights. Spoiler alert, when you leave, you will see that they are actually groups of light bulbs attached to the seats. The group behind us thought that they were actually people sitting in the seats, which made me relieved because I thought that too. It really does look like it.
Things to know:
- Get your tickets and add on ahead of time. Enchant sells out on some nights so plan in advance and include your extras such as ice skating and even parking.
- Go hungry. You can get your typical ballpark fare such as hot dogs and chicken tenders but you can also get snacks from Capital Candy Jar (one of our local favorites), funnel cakes, or even soup. There is a family picnic area where you can find a table to enjoy your treats.
- You will see people walking around drinking out of lightbulbs. They are filled with adult drinks. On our trip, the kids got hot chocolate, dad enjoyed a spiked hot chocolate, and mom treated herself to the lightbulb drink. We took it home and washed it for a fun drink for the kids later.
- Take your camera. There are many photo opportunity spots. This is the place to be if you are a social media fan. It was hard for us to choose which photos to post because there were so many favorites.
- Take your credit card. The market had some of the coolest finds. If you have not finished your holiday shopping yet, there will be something for everyone on your list. Among our purchases were hats with the softest lining that I have enjoyed in a hat.
- The play areas are open. There is the traditional one at Nats park but there is also a soft play area for the toddlers. The toddler area even has a really fun fake fire place and there are story times. Both areas have a safe place for kids to run around and burn off their extra energy. Our kids were amped up after going through the maze and seeing all the lights. The play area was just what they needed.
- Bundle up. The people in our group that didn’t dress warm enough were very cold. Luckily, as mentioned above, there were warm hats for sale.
There are so many fun things to do and see that when I asked the kids what they liked the most, they were suddenly silent. It took them a very long time to choose just one thing that was their favorite. Ultimately, they decided that it was everything and the parents agreed.
