It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Strings of Christmas lights are adorning guttering and blow-up Santas have been erected on front lawns. And families everywhere are driving very, very slowly through suburban streets pointing out lights to each other.
An evening drive in the weeks before Christmas is a ritual many Central Coast families love and with our Central Coast Christmas Lights Map and feature outlining the best-decorated homes we hope to make it that much easier for you to plan your route. Our map has loads of locations, including must-visit homes and full street displays to make Christmas Light finding super easy.
Want to see the Coast’s absolute MUST-VISIT homes? Scroll down to see photos of some of the Coast’s best-lit homes and to read our interviews with the owners. If you want to be considered for this must-visit section, please email us some photos and details to [email protected].
Plus, we’re giving away family passes to the Christmas Lights Spectacular at the Hunter Valley Gardens and to see Wind in the Willows at the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney! It’s our Christmas gift to you! Scroll down to enter.
Merry Christmas!
Get our 2024 Christmas Lights Map emailed to you!
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Add Your Home to Our Central Coast Christmas Lights Map!
The Playing in Puddles’ Christmas Lights Map is a map for all local families and we want you to be involved. If you decorate your house we invite you to include your home on the map. Know of a house in your street that puts on a great display, add them too.
Please add your address to the map below (where it says “Add Your Own Marker”).
Click Here for Information on How to Add Your Address to the Map
Marker Title: Give your home a festive name.
Marker Address: Add your address.
Marker Description: Tell us a little about your display. If you’re collecting for charity, let people know.
Marker Images: Please upload one image. Landscape orientation works best. Please keep the size of the image to no more than 300KB. The software will not accept images larger than 1MB.
Email address: Please add your email, so that we can contact you next Christmas to see if you’d like to remain on the map; it keeps our map fresh and up to date and it saves you having to add it yourself every year. Don’t worry, we promise the email won’t be published, we won’t send you any other emails and we won’t share your email with third parties.
Marker category: Everyone will automatically be included as a “House” marker (the bauble icon). If you’d like to be considered a “Must-see lights” display, please email us some images (no more than 300KB) of your fabulous display – [email protected].
Push “Add Marker”. Please note: The marker won’t automatically publish. We will get notified that you’ve added your marker and will then publish it within a couple of days. (we do this as sometimes people accidentally add markers in the middle of the ocean).
Click Here for Instructions on How to Use the Map
+ Use the drop-down “Filter” bar above the map to limit your search to individual homes, whole street displays, public displays, or only “Must-visit” locations.
+ Click on the map icons to see the relevant address and a photo.
+ Click on the “directions” arrow to get directions from your chosen location and click “Go” – ain’t that so clever!
+ Want to add your address to the map? Open the box above for instructions on how to do that or email [email protected] and we’ll do it for you :).
Icons:
Bauble = house display.
Star = must-visit display.
Candy cane = a display from the previous year that hasn’t been confirmed in 2024.
Santa = Public displays in parks, shops, churches.
Red geographical marker = the system is confused and has just added a marker. We’ll fix it when we have time 🙂
Add your own marker
WIN
WIN a Family Pass to the Christmas Lights Spectacular this Summer!
Want to win a family pass to the Christmas Lights Spectacular? Of course you do!
To be in with a chance to win, simply subscribe to our free newsletter by entering your details below*. Already a subscriber? Just add your details below so we know you want to enter this fabulous comp.
To view the competition terms and conditions, please visit our feature on the Christmas Lights Spectacular here.
WIN
A Family Pass to see Wind in the Willows in the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney this January!
Want to win a family pass to see Wind in the Willows? Of course you do!
To be in with a chance to win, simply subscribe to our free newsletter by entering your details below*. Already a subscriber? Just add your details below so we know you want to enter this fabulous comp.
To view the competition terms and conditions, please visit our feature on Wind in the Willows here.
Here are the best-of-the-best Christmas Lights on the Central Coast in 2024!
Some homeowners go that extra mile to put on the ritz – hanging more than 50,000 lights, creating music-accompanied light shows, and erecting double-storey Christmas trees and blow-up Santas that tower over homes.
There are the quirky and fun – Christmas cut outs and Santas made out of tinnies – and those who put on snow machines and fireworks!
We’ve chatted with the wonderful residents of some of our favourite must-visit homes across the Central Coast – from Wyongah in the north to Woy Woy in the south – to discover their motivation in installing such showstopping displays and about their love for the festive season.
The Richards’ Christmas Lights in Woy Woy
This house has long been a stand-out favourite for kids with its umpteen lights, lasers, festive inflatables, and candy canes, not to mention their many fabulous interactive elements! They have a snowmaker that the kids can dance beneath, a Thomas train, and lots of chocolate! Plus, new in 2023 were three wooden cutouts to get your photos taken in – a Santa, a Grinch, and a snowman. This year they’ve added some ginormous reindeers, and don’t forget to check out the new LEGO village in their window.
It’s not surprising that this display is so child-friendly, as Sharon Richards worked in childcare for 20 years.
The Richards started decorating the family home about 30 years ago, and last year they erected some 70,000 lights! What they can make they make (such as the giant snow domes), but they also buy a lot of their decorations at the Boxing Day Sales: “Each year we set a budget that we never stick to”, says Sharon.
“We enjoy doing it,” She adds. “My daycare kids from 20 years ago show up. They come every year so we get to watch them grow up”. Sharon also has a one-year-old grandson this year, so she’s very excited to show him the lights too.
Collecting for Ronald McDonald House at Gosford Hospital: They have a donation bucket out the front with all proceeds going to Ronald McDonald House. “One day we might have a grandchild who needs it,” says Sharon. Last year they raised more than $1500!
It’s a “Must-See” location on our map.
Where: 77 Watkin Ave, Woy Woy.
When: 1 December 2024 – 31 December 2024. Lights are on 7.30pm-10.30pm. The snow machine will be switched off at 10pm.
MORE DETAILS: Follow the Richards Xmas Lights Facebook page for updates.
Christmas Lights at Wyongah
Michelle Gribble has been decorating her Wyongah home for the past 15 years and every year her $8000-display gets bigger and better as she adds to her collection at the Boxing Day sales. This year you’ll find even more inflatables and lights.
Playing in Puddles has visited Michelle’s display and we were amazed at how many fun and festive elements Michelle has managed to include on her front lawn. There was Santa’s lounge room (complete with brick fireplace), loads of inflatables (including Santa on a motorbike, oversized penguins, Santa piloting a plane, prancing reindeer, and Santa driving a train), myriad fairy lights, a snow machine, and a ginormous Christmas tree adorned in tinsel, baubles, bows, lights, candy canes and, of course, a crowning star.
On two Saturdays this December Michelle will host a mini festival of fun on her lawn – with people dressed as various characters (in past years there’s been Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Anna from Frozen and Handy Manny) and Santa himself making an appearance and handing out lolly bags to visiting kids. Michelle is still working out which days this will occur, but we will update this feature as we hear more.
After 18 years here, sadly, this will be the last year she’ll be decorating here as Michelle’s family will be moving in 2025.
It’s a “Must-See” location on our map.
Where: 55 Darri Rd, Wyongah.
When: From 1 December 2024. Weekdays 7.30pm-11pm; weekends 7.30pm-11pm.
More Info: In the case of severe weather, Michelle’s lights won’t be turned on.
Booker Bay Christmas Lights Display
We’re excited to announce that Santa Claus will be visiting Shirley’s fantastic lights display in Booker Bay on the 20th, 21st and 23rd of December from 7pm to 9pm so be sure to head to her home on these dates where your kids can say “hi” to the big man in red!
They will be running a “Count the Santas” competition again this year. Shirley says, “Anyone can enter and they’ll receive a prize if they get within a good margin”. Plus there will be lots of candy canes being handed out to the children.
Shirley and her husband Noel have been decorating their home at Christmas for 26 years. Very sadly, Noel passed away from Pancreatic Cancer in October. Despite it being a big job without him, Shirley will be decorating again this year as “Noel wanted the lights to go ahead”.
“We were married for 61 years and courted for five years before we were married,” says Shirley. “We have been doing these lights for 26 years and each year it grew. My wonderful husband made all the houses and characters and I did the painting of all the work that he produced. We were a great team.”
Shirley says, “He was a very talented man in every way and unfortunately I will never be the same person without him, but I am trying to get on with life as his last words to me were, ‘Life has to go on and we will meet again one day my love’.
If you see Shirley at her home this Christmas, do give her some extra big smiles, thank yous and hugs this year. We think it incredibly special that she’s doing all of this after saying goodbye to her Noel.
Collecting for Vision Australia: Each year Shirley collects for Vision Australia for their training of Seeing Eye Dogs for people who are blind. Last year, visitors to the house generously donated and raised over $2,700!
It’s a “Must-See” location on our map.
Where: 380 Booker Bay Road, Booker Bay
When: Lights will be turned on on 29 November 2024, from 6.30pm.
Gigant-a Santa, Green Point
A gigantic 6m Inflatable Santa towers over this two-storey home in Green Point – making it (and the Santa in Chittaway) the largest inflatable on the Central Coast! The Gigant-a Santa sits alongside fellow inflatables of the gingerbread man and snowman plus lights.
Claudia and Ben are the owners and Claudia says, “We’ve only been decorating for a few years in our new house, and since having our little one we really wanted to go all out as this is the first year he’s obsessed with Christmas… he’s 3 years old. Haha”.
Claudia adds that Peckham Place is a great street for lights, saying, “Our neighbours also have inflatables, and there are coloured Christmas lights all along our street in Peckham Place”.
It’s a “Must-See” location on our map.
When: From 1 December 2024.
Where: 21 Peckham Place, Green Point.
Christmas Lights in San Remo
Jody Heterick’s home has been a must-visit home for many many years. Some years ago her window display outgrew the window and now takes over the entire garage. It’s full of Christmas village homes, plush reindeers, Santa statues and more.
Plus, you can have a photo taken with Santa on his big red chair every weekend in December! The Grinch, a walking gingerbread, Santa and one of their very busy elves make an appearance to hand out candy canes at Jody’s house every Friday and Saturday night (7.30pm-10pm).
Sad side note for those who will miss it: For many years, from early November, Jody Heterick would erect a special post box out the front of her home that would deliver children’s letters directly to the North Pole. And every child who posted a letter to Santa received a letter back from Saint Nick himself. Sadly, some people decided to post some rather nasty letters last year, so the post box will not be out in 2024 (We say bah humbug and “dash away, dash away” to those silly people).
Where: 57 Katoomba Avenue, San Remo
When: LIGHT UP DATE: 1 December 2024.
Chittaway Christmas Lights
Vanessa and her family have been decorating their home at Chittaway Bay for the past 14 years. Each year the family decks out the front lawn & house in lights and a giant six-metre tall inflatable Santa – the largest on the Central Coast along with Green Point’s Giganta-Santa.
And in 2024 they’re happily bringing back the sweet treats. and will be handing out lollies every evening throughout December (weather permitting)
Last year they collected donations for the Sydney Children’s Hospital; this year they’re bringing it closer to home and collecting donations to raise money for a local family who’s 12-year-old son is going through grueling treatment for cancer.
It’s a “Must-See” location on our map.
When: From 1 December 2024 (7.45pm-10/10.30pm).
Where: 9 James Watt Dr, Chittaway Bay.
MORE DETAILS: Follow their Chittaway Christmas Lights Facebook page.
Reindeers of cans in Saratoga
Have you seen the tin can Christmas display in Saratoga? It garnered a bit of a cult following as it’s grown over the years.
We spoke with owner Shelly about how this all began.
“In December 2016,” Shelly says, “we had to move out of house for the 2 weeks leading up to Christmas as we were renovating our house. We were staying in a hotel and to make it feel like Christmas for the kids, I used the only thing colourful to build a Christmas tree – my husband’s VB cans. LOL”.
Shelly says, “The following year one of our friends wanted to see a bigger and better can tree, so 400 cans later we had a bigger and better tree. Then the year after that they wanted to see something different, so I challenged myself to building Rudolf. We placed him out the front of the house and everyone loved him. Throughout the night you’d hearing people sneaking up to him to have their photo taken with him and run off giggling”.Â
Since then, each year, Shelly adds a new addition to the display.
It’s a “Must-See” location on our map.
When: From 1 December 2024.
Where: 10 Mimosa Avenue, Saratoga.
Christmas Winter Wonderland in Saratoga
Andrew is the owner of the “Christmas Winter Wonderland Central Coast” in Saratoga. He’s a truly passionate Christmas decorator and is always the first person to contact us every year to share his display. 2024 is the 5th year he’s been decorating and putting on quite the show for locals.
They have an 8000+ piece LEGO display in the front window and five snow machines going every weekend. Andrew says his new SNOW5000 machine “shoots snow out over 20 metres and is the same machine used in Hollywood movies to make snow!” It allows him to have an annual traditional massive snow ball fight every Christmas eve, as it produces 52 litres of snow balls!
The  pièce de résistance, though, is Andrew’s popular 5-metre Cold Spark Fireworks! At 9pm every Friday and Saturday til Christmas eve, these fireworks are let off synchronised to music and YouTube videos on a screen.
Andrew uses his display to raise money for Coast Shelter. He says, “A QR code is provided for mobile phone online donations as well as donation boxes. We will match every donation $ for $ up to $500 also to the Coast Shelter. We are humbled to have the greater Central Coast community support us every year!”
It’s a “Must-See” location on our map.
When: From 1 December 2024.
Where: 1 Colin St, Saratoga.
MORE DETAILS:Â Follow their Blog here.
Christmas Lights in Wamberal
Monica always puts on a wonderful show with her Christmas lights and, after a front yard update this year, she’s gone even bigger and better in 2024! Make sure you add this one to your tour!
It’s a “Must-See” location on our map.
Where: 8 Ghersi Avenue, Wamberal
When: From 1 2024 – each night as it gets dark.
Christmas Lights in Tuggerah
Mel and Pete have been decorating their Tuggerah home with Christmas lights for 25 years and counting!
Over the years they’ve created multiple cut outs of kids’ favourite characters, such as Elsa from Frozen, Peppa Pig, Bluey and Bingo, Dora the Explorer, a Minion and even a snow man and gingerbread man that you can put your head through for a selfie. Kids just love this.
Their favourite feature this year is the light arches across their driveway. They want to give a special shout-out to their adult kids who love helping out with new cutout designs to keep the tradition fresh and exciting!
It’s a “Must-See” location on our map.
Where: 4 Anniversary Place, Tuggerah
When: LIGHTS TURN ON: 1 December 2024. Weekdays 7.30pm-10pm; later as it gets closer to Christmas. The cutouts are not put out on the lawn if it’s raining.
A Whole Street of Christmas Lights to see in Hamlyn Terrace
This street is a pull-over and walk-style street. Multiple homes go all out decorating their homes every year and the whole place has a fun festival vibe.
It’s a “Must-See” location on our map.
Where: Stan Johnson Drive, Hamlyn Terrace
When: Throughout December 2024.
A few favourites are taking a break in 2024!
A few favourites are taking a well-deserved year off from decorating in 2024, but they promise to return in 2025.
+ Christmas Lights on Bayberry, Woongarrah.
+ Christmas Lights at Killarney Vale (38 Thomas Mitchell Road, Killarney Vale).
+ Christmas Lights for Angels (66 Settlement Dr).
A few of our favourite families are retiring their lights in 2024
Christmas Lights in Erina
Alicia and Shannon are a husband and wife team who started decorating their family home in 2012 and a couple of years ago, they decided to open their gates to local children so that they could get a photo in Santa’s sleigh! The display took them some 60 hours to set up each year (and then to pack down), so this year they’ve made the difficult decision to not continue with it. They have some beautiful grandchildren they’d like to have that time with – and we think that’s pretty special.
Thank you, Alicia and Shannon, for wowing us all and for inviting us into your front yard for so many years.
The Fabulous Christmas Light Show on St Hubert’s Island
For many years Matthew Mosse-Robinson’s house on St Hubert’s Island’s Cuttlefish Parade has been totally decked out. Each November he would erect 200 statues and strings of lights which he synchronised to music. It would take six days to set up and hundreds of hours throughout the year tinkering with his Light-o-Rama software. The result was always an incredibly impressive Christmas light show set to music.
Matt’s decided to retire this year. We want to thank him for providing us all with such a spectacular display for so many years.
Thank you to all of the wonderful locals mentioned above and to the many others who turn on fantastic light displays each year. Thank you for your generosity and time and for bringing so much joy to so many people.
Enjoy your Christmas Lights drive this festive season! And above all, please remember that these are people’s homes and they’re putting all of this on for everyone’s enjoyment. As always, please be kind and respectful.
Do you decorate your home each year and want to be featured as a must-visit destination? Please email us some images to [email protected], so we can be in touch.
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Written By: KATIE STOKES
Founder & Editor
After working in print and online media for more than a decade, Katie launched Playing in Puddles in 2017. A mum of three young boys and local of the Central Coast, Katie loves discovering and sharing all that’s happening in our region.Â
