Christmas in July Isn’t About Christmas. At Least Not the Way You Think.

Jul 15

Around the country, Christmas in July usually means fake snow, Santa hats, and enough tinsel to make your vacuum cleaner file a complaint.

Our version celebrates the values that make Christmas meaningful in the first place.

Wait... Christmas in July Is a Real Thing?

If you're wondering who looked at the calendar, squinted at the middle of July, and confidently announced, "You know what this month needs? More Christmas," welcome to the club.

Most people assume Christmas in July is simply an excuse to wear a Santa hat when it's 90 degrees outside. And to be fair...sometimes it is.

Across the country, communities celebrate with fake snow, Christmas movies, decorated palm trees, and enough twinkling lights to make December a little jealous.

But that got us thinking.

What if we celebrated not the decorations of Christmas...but the values behind it?

Because when you strip away the wrapping paper, something beautiful remains.

Kindness.

Generosity.

Wonder.

Community.

Those things don't belong to one month on the calendar. They're needed just as much in July as they are in December.

That's the heart behind Santa's Secret Workshop's Christmas in July, taking place on Saturday, July 25, from 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM, hosted by our official community host partner, Frank Ottomanelli's by the Water, at beautiful Hunter's Point South Park in Long Island City.

Instead of asking families to shop for gifts, we're inviting them to give something even more meaningful.

Bring a new toy to help bring joy to a local child.

Sit down and create a handmade card for a hospitalized child who could use a little encouragement.

Or, if you're a teenager, parent, grandparent, or simply someone who knows how powerful a few encouraging words can be, write a letter to an older adult experiencing loneliness through our partnership with Letters Against Isolation.

One of our favorite parts of this day is that kindness doesn't have an age requirement. Maybe that's the real magic of Christmas in July. Not pretending it's December, but remembering that compassion doesn't wait for a season.

A six-year-old can color a card.

A teenager can write words that lift someone's spirits.

A parent can donate a toy.

A grandparent can encourage another grandparent they've never met.

Everyone has something meaningful to give.

So…Where Did Christmas in July Come From?

Believe it or not, Christmas in July wasn't invented by a department store trying to sell ornaments before anyone had finished their sunscreen.

The celebration is commonly traced to Keystone Camp in Brevard, North Carolina, where co-founder Fannie Holt created a midsummer Christmas celebration in 1933. Campers decorated, sang carols, exchanged gifts, welcomed Santa, and even enjoyed cotton standing in for snow, which feels both delightfully resourceful and considerably easier to shovel.

The tradition eventually spread to camps, cities, businesses, and communities around the country. Some celebrations now arrive with lights, parades, elaborate decorations, and enough festive enthusiasm to make December check its calendar.

We love the whimsy.

We are simply adding our own chapter.

Instead of asking, “How can we recreate December?”

We are asking:

How can we bring the best parts of Christmas into someone’s life today?

Kindness Is Better When It’s Shared

One of the things we are most excited about is that this is not simply a Santa’s Secret Workshop event.

It is a community effort.

We're grateful to our community partner, Hunters Point Parks Conservancy, whose stewardship helps make Hunter's Point South Park the kind of place where community naturally comes together.

We're also honored to partner with organizations making a difference every day, including:

Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens
Catholic Charities Brooklyn & Queens
Cards for Hospitalized Kids
Letters Against Isolation

Each organization reminds us that kindness may look different depending on who needs it, but it always begins with someone choosing to care.

On July 25, visitors will not simply attend an event.

They will become part of that story.

More Than an Event. A Summer Memory.

Close your eyes for a second.

It's a warm Saturday morning in July.

The Manhattan skyline stretches across the East River as music drifts through Hunter's Point South Park. Children are coloring kindness cards beside neighbors they've only just met. Beneath the trees, parents do something they almost never get to do: finish a conversation.

Nearby, a child carefully places a brand-new toy into the donation collection, knowing it will brighten someone else's holiday months from now.

At the shaded tables beneath the umbrellas at Frank Ottomanelli's by the Water, one family pauses to write a letter to an older adult who may otherwise spend the season without many visitors. Around them, conversations drift, children laugh, and kindness quietly takes shape one handwritten note at a time.

Then the music begins.

Then the stage comes alive as Grammy Award-winning children's artist Tim and the Space Cadets fills the park with joyful, interactive music that gets children dancing, parents singing, and grandparents clapping right along.

Throughout the day, the talented performers from Lightline Entertainment add even more energy with festive dance performances that bring smiles to audiences of every age.

It's not about watching from the sidelines.

It's about being part of something together.

There are crafts to create.

Music to enjoy.

Neighbors to meet.

Acts of kindness to share.

Memories to carry home.

And memories that will last long after July becomes December.

Because sometimes the moments we remember most aren't the biggest celebrations.

They're the ones that remind us how good it feels to belong to a community.

Why We Started Santa's Secret Workshop

Long before there was a Christmas in July event, there was a simple idea.

Children deserve moments that remind them the world is still full of wonder.

Not because life is perfect.

But because kindness has a way of making difficult seasons a little lighter.

Santa's Secret Workshop was created to give families something that feels increasingly rare: time together without rushing, genuine human connection, and memories that last far longer than a photograph.

Every experience we create begins with one question:

How can we help someone feel seen, valued, and remembered?

That question guides our Christmas season.

It's also what inspired Christmas in July.

Because kindness doesn't belong to one holiday.

It belongs wherever people choose to share it.

Join Us This July

Whether you come with a toy to donate...

Write a card for a child spending the holidays in the hospital...

Encourage an older adult through a handwritten letter...

Or simply bring your family for music, laughter, and a beautiful morning by the water...

You're helping create the kind of community we all hope to live in.