Las Vegas Holiday Happenings: Casino Displays, Ice Skating, NFR Concerts & New Year's Eve Fireworks

Bright holiday lights in Las Vegas combine casino excitement with seasonal cheer. (Image: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy) December is one of the busiest months of the year

Las Vegas is festive for the holidays, and there’s plenty to enjoy inside and outside of the casinos.

All casinos have decorations, but some do it better than others on and off the Strip.

As we teased last month, multiple casinos replaced their pool decks with roller and ice skating. Now that it’s officially the holiday season, there are even more places to lace up the skates.

The entertainment venues in Las Vegas cater to both the holidays and the 10-day rodeo. In the beginning of the month, they focus on country music, as many rodeo visitors are fans. This changes once we get closer to the end of the year. There’s a focus on the biggest names in music as the casinos and venues look to end the year with a bang.

Many Las Vegas residencies are scheduled around the busiest times of the month, so there’s plenty of crossover between one-off engagements and the artists who perform throughout the year.

December is also a major change in weather. Much like “dry heat’, “dry cold†can too be nasty. Las Vegas feels like it’s freezing even if the temperatures stay above 32 degrees. The weather forecast for the month has high temperatures dropping by as much as 20 degrees in December.

The swirling winds cut through everything and make the mid-50s feel much cooler. (Image: Courtesy of AccuWeather)

Casinos from the Vegas Strip to the edge of town have holiday decorations. Some are more elaborate than others. There are also holiday-inspired activities throughout the Las Vegas Valley for those looking to take the experience to another level.

No casino does holiday displays better than Bellagio. The conservatory and botanical gardens are already decked out in their holiday best. This is always a fun free attraction, but it’s the best on the Vegas Strip during the holidays.

One of the best holiday displays inside a casino is at Sam’s Town on Boulder Highway. Mystic Fall’s Park includes all of the holiday goodness one could ask for and a laser light show. You don’t see animatronic animals, a waterfall, and live Christmas trees inside every casino!

Aria and The Venetian are runners-up for the best casino holiday decorations. The decorations in both of these casinos are Instagram-worthy.

M Resort is home to the World of Illumination, the world’s largest animated drive-through audiovisual experience. This mile-long holiday display costs $39.99.

There are numerous casinos that focus the decorations in certain venues. A couple of examples are the Bad Elf Bar at Silverton and the Rouge Room at Red Rock Casino.

Last but not least, there are two casinos with Scuba Santa’s. Visitors at Mandalay Bay can see underwater Santa in the Shark Reef Aquarium. There’s also an underwater Santa a few miles south at the Silverton.

A few Vegas Strip casinos have transformed their pool decks into skating rinks.

Cosmopolitan: The Boulevard Pool is an ice skating rink until Jan. 12. The Boulevard Pool area is free to enter for those who want to enjoy the winter wonderland. Ice staking is $30 or $20 for locals, military, and first responders.

Fontainebleau: The Oasis Pool Deck is now an 8,000-square-foot ice rink. The fee is $25 for adults, $15 for children, and free for Fontainebleau Rewards members.

The Venetian: If skating on ice isn’t your thing, The Venetian has an alternative. The TAO Beach pool area is now Flipper’s World roller skating rink from Thursday to Sunday through early 2025. The fee is $20 per hour or $45 for the day.

There are more ice skating rinks around Las Vegas. Enchant Las Vegas is a massive holiday experience inside Las Vegas Ballpark across the street from Red Rock Casino. In addition to millions of lights and the “World’s Largest Christmas Maze," there’s another ice skating rink.

The Ethel M. Cactus Garden becomes a special holiday experience until early January 2025. The $3 entry fee for the walk-through attraction of cacti adorned with more than a million lights is donated to local charities.

Glittering Lights at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is one of the longest-running holiday displays in Las Vegas. The drive-through experience is about 35 minutes away from the center of the Vegas Strip and has nearly 40 sections to visit while driving around the race track. Visit Glittering Lights for more information.

Many of the regular Las Vegas residencies are shifted towards the appropriate timeframe. For example, Garth Brooks and Shania Twain's shows are during