Tulsa Ballet’s Nutcracker Festival

This morning, TulsaKids got to attend a press conference for the all-new Nutcracker Festival, coming to Expo Square this December! We are excited to be a “Mouse King” sponsor of this fantastic new holiday event.

The Nutcracker Festival is a project of Tulsa Ballet and Tulsa Go, and supported by the Hardesty Family Foundation. Organizers claim it is a brand-new and completely unique experience – in fact, “Oklahoma’s Most Exciting Holiday Experience – that will draw “Nutcracker” fans, young and old, from across the nation. Keep an eye out for a more in-depth article on Nutcracker Festival in TulsaKids’ November issue!

According to Tulsa Ballet’s press release for the Nutcracker Festival, Tulsa Ballet’s Managing Director Scott Black said, “For over fifty years, Tulsa Ballet’s annual production of ‘The Nutcracker’ has become a holiday tradition for generations of local families, who either attend a performance or have been involved in the children’s cast joining the professional dancers on stage. We have been dreaming of a way to extend the magic of this production beyond the stage and The Nutcracker Festival will do just that, by creating a family-friendly indoor holiday event that all ages can enjoy.”

Scott Black at the Nutcracker Festival press conference

Bag of goodies handed out at the press conference. “TulsaKids Media is NUTS About the Nutcracker” sticker designed by Annie Tyndall

Nutcracker Festival Activities

The Nutcracker Festival has been designed to be fun for all ages. Activities include:

• Drosselmeyer’s Toy Shop – full of nutcrackers of all sizes
• An indoor, ice-less ice skating rink
• Inflatables
• A 30-foot LED Christmas tree synchronized to “Nutcracker” music and other popular holiday tunes
• An indoor train that will take riders to meet the Sugar Plum Fairy
• Visits with Santa, plus opportunities to write letters to Santa and peek inside his workshop
• Reindeer feeding
• ..and much more

Additionally, an event stage will offer the best in local entertainment, story time, magic shows and sneak peeks of Tulsa Ballet’s “The Nutcracker.”

Some of these activities are included in ticket prices. Others, like inflatables, the ice skating, visits with Santa, etc., cost extra.

Eats and Sweets

But that’s not all! There will be an extensive Sweets and Eats section inspired by “The Nutcracker”‘s Land of Sweets.

• Nothing Bundt Cake-sponsored cake walks on the hour (you could win a full-size bundt cake! We had a sample at the press conference, and it was scrumptious!)
• Mother Ginger’s Sweet Shop, where you can buy candy by the pound
• Nutcracker-inspired drinks from Topeca (they’ve even created a custom Nutcracker coffee blend!)
• Gourmet chocolates from Glacier Chocolate

Adults can partake of mimosas or a special Nutcracker Festival beer produced by Marshall’s Brewing Company.

Chocolates by Glacier Chocolate

Shopping

Thanks to Tulsa Go, the Nutcracker Festival will offer an extensive vendor market – the Mouse King Market. Get some holiday shopping done with a ton of local businesses, all in one place!

Tickets

The Nutcracker Festival is Dec. 6-7, 2024. It’s not too soon to get tickets. In fact, tickets are on sale now, and there’s a discount on advance tickets. Currently, the website lists adult tickets as $13; tickets for children ages 3-12 are $11; and kids 3 and under get in free.

Most add-on activities are $5, and the ice skating is $15.

Learn more and get tickets today at nutcrackerfest.com

And follow @nutcrackerfest on Facebook and Instagram for all the latest Nutcracker Festival news!