Experience historic holiday fun featuring festive music, food, crafts, games and a breakfast meet-and-greet with Santa
EAGLE, Wis. – Old World Wisconsin welcomes guests back for its signature winter celebration, Home for the Holidays, and Breakfast with Santa on Dec. 5, 6, 12 and 13. Over two weekends, the events invite visitors to celebrate the season with family and loved ones through cherished traditions brought to Wisconsin by immigrants across generations.
Home for the Holidays transforms the 600-acre living history attraction into a rural Wisconsin winter wonderland featuring immersive seasonal experiences for all ages. Visitors will hear classic holiday tunes performed by carolers and brass quartets, craft take-home ornaments in the Ramsey Barn, meet seasonal characters — such as Victorian Santa, the jultomte and Krampus — and ride horse-drawn wagons adorned in jingling bells.
The holiday experience continues with activities inspired by early immigrant traditions: Guests can snap photos on the Welcome Green with a 14-foot-tall Julbock, an enormous straw goat symbolizing Christmas in Scandinavian countries, or have a chance encounter with Krampus, the mischievous holiday trickster from Austrian and German folklore who keeps an eye on naughty children. Visitors can view a traditional Irish Christmas Eve, sing wassailing tunes in the Crossroads Village, learn about the Festival of St. Lucia and even make an early 2027 resolution during a Yankee New Year’s Day observance featuring renditions of “Auld Lang Syne.” Along the way, recipes will be shared in the various immigrant homes.
Festive food, drink and shopping options will be available sitewide. Classic holiday drinks, including hot chocolate and warm wassail, will be available to purchase — stop by Wittnebel’s Tavern, decked in 1930s and ’40s holiday decor, for cocktails, a pint of Farmer’s Wagon coconut porter and merry memories. Sheboygan pasties with garlic roasted potatoes, chili with corn bread, Old World Ham and Cheese Panini, Bavarian chicken stew over potato dumplings will be on the menu at Clausing Café. Guests looking to pick up holiday souvenirs, clothes, books, games, ornaments and toys will find one-of-a-kind presents for every kind of history lover at shops throughout the site.
“Home for the Holidays is about leaving the hustle and bustle behind and rediscovering the simple joys of the season,” said Doug Raney, attractions director at Old World Wisconsin. “We want to give visitors an opportunity to slow down and reconnect while exploring customs and traditions from different cultures that have been brought and shaped by Wisconsinites over time.”
The celebration includes the return of the popular Breakfast with Santa experience, where families can enjoy a Buttermilk Pancake Bar with maple syrup, whipped cream, crushed candy canes and mini chocolate chips, baking powder biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, bacon and sausage, coffee and more alongside a meet-and-greet photo opportunity with Santa himself. The breakfast will be held in the rustic, octagonal Clausing Barn, built in 1897 and beautifully restored. A special commemorative gift is included for each child.
“Breakfast with Santa brings the entire Home for the Holidays experience together,” said Raney. “Families get to share a warm meal, enjoy the sights and sounds of the season, and create the kinds of memories that will last a lifetime.”
Admission to Home for the Holidays is $26 for adults and teens (13-64), $22 for seniors (65+), $18 for children ages five to 12 and free for children under five. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Dec. 5, 6, 12 and 13.
Breakfast with Santa includes a buffet breakfast, a photo with Santa, a special holiday gift for each child and admission to Home for the Holidays. Admission is $52 for adults and teens, $40 for seniors, $27 for children ages five to 12 and $5 for children under five. Breakfast with Santa takes place from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. during Home for the Holidays.
Advance registration is recommended for both events. Tickets and full event details for Home for the Holidays are available at oldworldwisconsin.org or can be found here. Tickets for Breakfast with Santa can be found here. Wisconsin Historical Society (WisHistory) members receive a 10% discount on all events.
About Old World Wisconsin
Old World Wisconsin is one of the Wisconsin Historical Society’s 12 historic sites and museums. Rated as one of the top attractions to take kids in the Milwaukee area, Old World Wisconsin is a 600-acre regional history attraction that features interactive environments and immersive stories of 19th- and early 20th-century Midwestern immigrant farm and rural life. The museum offers guests family-friendly, hands-on activities as they visit the Crossroads Village and eight working farmsteads, explore heirloom gardens, experience beer-brewing traditions, meet heritage animal breeds and try historic crafts and skills. Old World Wisconsin is located on Highway 67 just south of Eagle, Wisconsin, within day-trip distance of Milwaukee, Chicago and Madison. For more information and a list of upcoming events visit oldworldwisconsin.org or call (262) 594-6301. Wisconsin Historical Society members receive free general admission to this site during regular operating hours.
About the Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit www.wisconsinhistory.org.
