Charlotte’s Best Christmas Lights

Load up your mini’s, get your kids in their pj’s, pack a thermos of hot chocolate roadies and enjoy the last week of Christmas! We’ve put together our best list of Christmas lights of the season. If we’ve missed any, leave a comment below and we’ll share the news. There are loads of last minute Griswolds, and we want to give all of them props!

1. Hillside Hunger Drive-Through in Myers Park – Hillside Drive has coined the holiday ball craze throughout the city. Cutest idea we’ve seen in years! Hillside families have banded together with the cutest and most creative handmade chicken wire balls (or you could go all Martha Stewart and order fancy versions) hung high from the trees. They have a drop-off for canned goods for Loaves & Fishes. This photo doesn’t do it justice – the cool factor is that almost every house on the street appears to have agreed to a competition of who can hang theirs the highest. So fun!

2. The South Charlotte Santa on Sherwood Forest Drive off Colony Road. This is one of the most impressive streets in all of Charlotte. They hand out over 10,000 candy canes each season and collect donations for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

3. Brandenburg Court in Belingrath neighborhood in SouthPark – Props to my neighbors who make our holiday season so fun! To me, this is the best Clark Griswold display I have ever seen!

4. Allen Light Show in Ballantyne/Providence Country Club – 10820 Bay Hill Club Drive, Charlotte, NC 28277. With over 75,000 lights and choreographed tunes, this is the most professional display you’ll see. They do it nightly until Christmas 7-8pm and broadcast the synchronized music on 90.9FM. My bud lives literally right around the corner from this set-up, she’s the luckiest duck in town! (P.S. My pic doesn’t do it justice!)

5. Huntersville Christmas Lights – Huntersville Christmas Lights is a synchronized musical display at the Greenwald Home in Huntersville, NC. The display contains over 21,000 LED lights and features traditional Christmas lights, intelligent lights, color washing on the house and strobe lights all choreographed to Christmas music. In 2013, the Greenwalds won a national award for “Most Creative Display.”

For the 2014 show, they added a new song to the rotation of the two popular songs from the 2013 show, along with all new sound effects, and are collecting donations for A Child’s Place. P.S. If you scroll down the right of their website, you can find a holiday lights trail around the area. So check it out here!

www.huntersvillechristmaslights.com
www.facebook.com/HuntersvilleChristmasLights

The usuals include Carolina Christmas at the Speedway, McAdenville Christmastown USA, Holidays at the Garden – Danielle Stowe Botanical Garden and Christmas Wonderland of Lights – Zootastic.

What’d I miss?? Post your comments below and tell us where to check out your favorite neighborhood holiday displays. Be as specific as possible so we can all find the “ahhh”. Also, grab a pic and email your faves to us at info@charlottesmartypants.com. My fam is packing up the truckster and heading out tomorrow night! Merry, merry!