The 12 quirkiest holiday traditions in the Philly region

Growing up, I lived in several rural towns, where the biggest holiday excitement was taking a drive down the one street that was reliably decorated, a street inevitably nicknamed Candy Cane Lane, wherever we lived.

So when I came to Philly 16 years ago, I was awed by the sheer amount of holiday experiences here. Over the years, I’ve set out to experience many of these traditions myself, and, by doing so, they’ve become a part of my tradition, too.

Of course there are the epic displays and events, like the enchanting A Longwood Christmas or the magical Miracle on South 13th Street, but this piece isn’t about those. It’s about the times the holidays get peculiar and the traditions that only happen here.

From listening to football players sing Christmas carols to building a giant bird just to watch it burn, here are 12 of the quirkiest (and coolest!) holiday traditions in the Philly region.

For nearly 70 years, Philadelphians have smooshed in between racks of women’s clothing on Macy’s second-and third-floor balconies or gathered around the Wanamaker Eagle statue on the first floor to watch the 11-minute old-timey lightbulb show on the wall of the Grand Court of the Wanamaker building in Center City.

Narrated by Julie Andrews (yes, I know some of you are still upset they replaced John Facenda), the show is such a healthy dose of nostalgia that it makes you forget you’re hanging out with a bunch of blouses.

Afterward, many will tour the store’s Dickens Village, where they’ll be visited by unsettling, dead-eyed animatronics as they walk through A Christmas Carol. It is nightmare-fuel and it is glorious.

The cardinal rule of the Macy’s holiday experience, one that many a parent has spoken to their child, is that if anyone gets separated, “Meet me at the Eagle.”

📍 1300 Market St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19107, 📞 215-241-9000, 🌐 wanamakerorgan.com, 🕑 Monday to Saturday 10:30 a.m., noon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m., and 6 p.m.; Sunday noon, 2 p.m., and 4 p.m.; through Dec. 31.

Inside of a crusty beige warehouse in South Philly that many believe is abandoned, Kindy’s Christmas Factory Outlet has been providing one of the quirkiest holiday shopping experiences in Philadelphia for 42 years.

The unmarked entrance is through a loading dock, the building doesn’t have heat, and dust covers the shelves like a blanket of old-fallen snow. Here, silver tinsel icicles are still in style, you can test your Christmas lights before you buy them, and holiday ornaments you haven’t seen in decades (like foil wreaths!) transport you right back to childhood.

Owner Richard Kinderman told me that his store is “organized chaos” and “not for everybody.”

But it is for me, and for many other locals who love a no-frills, “What the heck am I looking at?” holiday shopping experience. Every year, I can’t wait to put up our deformed plastic gingerbread men garland and say “Remember when we got this at Kindy’s?”

📍2900 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19145, 📞 215-271-7600, 🌐 kindys.com, 🕑 Friday to Monday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Dec. 23.

Beginning in September, members of the Phoenixville community — led by eccentric Denmark native Henrik Stubbe Teglbjaerg — start constructing a 20-foot-plus phoenix out of wood, which is then set ablaze during the annual Phoenixville Firebird Festival in December.

Now in its 20th year, the festival draws thousands of people to Veterans Memorial Park for a celebration with live music, fire breathers, food, and dancing, all of which culminates in the burning of the giant bird, the flames of which can reach at least 25 feet higher than the structure itself.

The festival is now the subject of a documentary, Firebird: Built to Burn, which is showing at the Colonial Theater in Phoenixville on select dates in December.

📍Phoenixville Veteran’s Memorial Park, 192 Mowere Rd., Phoenixville, Pa. 19460, 🌐 firebirdfestival.com, 4 p.m. Dec. 9.

Santa has his sleigh and Clark Griswold has his station wagon, but here in Philly, SEPTA keeps the holidays moving with its Festibuses and Jolly Trolleys.

Catching one of these vehicles, which are decked inside and out by staffers and featuring themes like the Grinch, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and the Eagles (of course), will surely fill up your holiday fuel tank.

SEPTA operators have been decorating their vehicles for years, but in 2013, SEPTA made an annual Festibus decorating contest, which has spurred competition and creativity.

Dates and locations for the Festibuses and Jolly Trolleys have not yet been released. Check iseptaphilly.com/festibus for details.

If you’ve ever wondered what a bar would look like if Buddy the Elf vomited all over it, look no further than the annual Christmas-themed pop-up bar, Tinsel.

Now in its seventh year, Tinsel is a sensory overload of holiday sights, sounds, and sips, from snow globe cocktails to a nativity scene featuring Gritty as Mary and the Phanatic as Joseph.

In October, the Center City bar transforms into the Halloween-themed Nightmare Before Tinsel, and last January, when the Eagles were in their Super Bowl run, it turned into Tinsel Takes Flight, a Birds-themed bar (because of course it did).

📍 116 S. 12th St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19107, 🌐 facebook.com/Tinselphilly/, 📷 @tinselphilly, 🕑 Monday to Tuesday 4 p.m. to midnight, Wednesday to Thursday 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., Friday to Saturday 2 p.m. to 2 a.m., Sunday 2 p.m. to midnight.

This one’s a little far off, in Claymont, Del., but it’s also really far out, which earns it a spot on this list of quirky holiday traditions.

For the last 25 years, folks have gathered along Philadelphia Pike for the annual Claymont Christmas Parade, starring the Claymont Christmas weed (typically a goldenrod), which the community proudly decorates, celebrates, and displays on the median of the highway.

According to the Delaware News Journal, it all begin in 1993, when the paper published a photo of a tiny wild fir tree growing in the crack of a concrete island on the pike that had been decorated by motorists. The headline read: “O Christmas Weed.”

DelDOT removed the weed, another was put up, and then somebody stole that one. Eight times the Christmas weed was stolen and replaced until it finally made it to Dec. 25, securing its status as a Christmas legend and inspiring its own holiday carol, “The Claymont Christmas Weed,” and a parade.

📍Philadelphia Pike, Claymont, Del., 19703, 🌐 claymontchristmasparade.com, Dec. 2 at 10 a.m.

At any other time of the year, it’s easy to find area residents cursing out Comcast, but during the holidays, people willingly pour into the lobby of the only Fortune 100 company headquartered in Center City for its annual Holiday Spectacular.

Now in its 15th year, the high-definition, 15-minute video show on an 83-foot lobby wall features the Philadelphia Ballet, holiday songs, and a sleigh ride. It’s so impressive that it might make you forget about your Comcast bills for a while (but Comcast won’t forget — like Santa, it’s always watching).

📍 1701 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103, 🌐 comcastcentercampus.com/holidays, 🕑 through Jan. 1, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

Waiting in line is rarely fun, unless you’re doing it with Philadelphians on Christmas Eve while waiting for cannoli and other tasty treats at Isgro Pastries or Termini Brothers, both Philly institutions for more than 100 years.

At Isgro’s in the Italian Market, the line wraps around the block, but the festively dressed staff keeps customers’ spirits bright by handing out pastry samples and, sometimes, eggnog and amaretto.

Over at the original Termini Brothers in South Philly, people begin lining up before dawn on Christmas Eve under heat lamps and are treated to live music ”and if you’re lucky, they hand out shots,” one reader told me.

📍Isgro Pastries, 1009 Christian St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19147, 📞 215-923-3092, 🌐 isgropastries.com

📍Termini Brothers, 1523 S. 8th St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19147, 📞 215-334-1816, 🌐 termini.com

Move over calling birds, French hens, turtle doves, and partridges in pear trees, because here in Philly, the only birds we celebrate Christmas with are the Eagles.

With just two holiday albums under their belt — 2022′s A Philly Special Christmas and this year’s A Philly Special Christmas Special — singing along with Eagles Jason Kelce, Jordan Mailata, and Lane Johnson while putting up your Eagles ornaments — I know you have them — has quickly become a Philly holiday tradition.

🌐 phillyspecialchristmas.com

If you’re looking for more unconventional holiday music offerings, tune in to WXPN (88.5 FM) on Christmas Eve, where DJ Robert Drake will be spinning 29 hours of eclectic and obscure seasonal tunes as part of his 31st annual The Night Before on WXPN with Robert Drake.

Just when you think you’ve heard every Christmas song, Drake pulls something from his collection to surprise and delight. (You might not think you need space-age lounge holiday music, but you do.) He also intersperses other audio offerings, like the original soundtrack to the Wanamaker’s holiday light show (for those who miss John Facenda) and the 1947 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast of It’s a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed.

📻 88.5 WXPN, Dec. 23 at 7 p.m. through Dec. 24 at 11:59 p.m. 🌐 xpn.org/program/the-night-before/

If you want to celebrate New Year’s with the sweetest chicks in Pennsylvania, head out to the PeepsFest in Bethlehem, where they’ll be dropping a 400-pound, 4½-foot fiberglass Peep to ring in 2024.

For 15 years, folks in the Lehigh Valley town, which is home to Just Born, the manufacturer of Peeps, have feted the sugarcoated marshmallows with a two-day festival that includes a Peeps diorama competition, a run and walk, live music, fireworks, and the dropping of the giant Peep.

📍The SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, Pa. 18015, 🌐 steelstacks.org/festivals/peepsfest/, 🕑 Dec. 30 and 31 from 3 to 6 p.m.

For more than 120 years, Philadelphians have donned dem golden slippers, put on fancy satin costumes, and strutted with tiny parasols through the streets on New Year’s Day for the annual Philadelphia Mummers Parade.

The beloved-yet-often-controversial tradition (which has been marred in the past by incidents involving individuals in blackface), traces its roots to European immigrants who performed songs, poems, and skits around the city asking for food and booze on Dec. 26 or Jan. 1. New Year’s Day.

After the family friendly parade, Mummers return to their clubhouses for a welcome-back parade down Two Street — do not call it Second Street — where Philadelphians gather for a Mardi Gras-like night of debauchery, and some residents invite strangers into their homes to party.

📍 Begins at Philadelphia City Hall, then heads south on Broad Street to Washington Avenue, 🌐 phlvisitorcenter.com/Mummers, 9 a.m. Jan. 1, 2024.