December might be the most underrated month to spend in the islands. Back on the mainland the malls are freezing and gray, and here we are stringing lights on the lānai in shorts and slippers, watching the surf get bigger by the week.
Christmas in Hawaiʻi looks nothing like a snow globe, and that is the whole charm of it.
You get warm trade winds, a giant Shaka Santa sitting downtown with his toes over a fountain, carols sung in Hawaiian, and beaches that stay open on Christmas morning. Never spent the holidays out here before?
Here is what actually happens across the islands, where locals go, and how we celebrate, so you can plan a December trip that feels like Hawaiʻi instead of a mainland mall with a few palm trees out front.
Related: Thanksgiving in Hawaiʻi: How We Celebrate and Where to Eat in 2026 · Best Time to Visit Hawaiʻi: A Month-by-Month Breakdown (2026) · Where to Stay on Oʻahu: 7 Areas Compared by Price, Vibe, and Drive Time
What December Actually Feels Like in Hawaiʻi
Let us set expectations first, because the weather in December surprises a lot of first-time visitors.
Daytime highs on Oʻahu sit in the low 80s Fahrenheit (about 27 to 28°C), and nights cool down to the upper 60s (around 20°C), which is sweater weather by our standards.
The ocean is still very swimmable, holding in the mid to upper 70s Fahrenheit (about 25°C). What changes is the sky.
December is our wettest month, with roughly eleven days of some rain and around 3 inches (about 82 mm) of it in Honolulu, though it usually comes as short passing showers rather than an all-day soaking.
Those same showers are why you see so many rainbows this time of year.
The other big shift is the surf. From roughly November through February the North Shore trades places with the calm summer south shore and starts taking the big winter swells.
That means the water can be glassy and gentle in Waikīkī while double-overhead waves are pounding Sunset Beach forty minutes up the road. We will come back to that, because watching those waves is one of the best free things you can do all month.
Pack layers, a light rain shell, and reef-safe sunscreen and you will be set. For a full month-by-month look at conditions and crowds, our guide to the best time to visit Hawaiʻi breaks it all down.
Honolulu City Lights: The Heart of a Hawaiian Christmas
If there is one thing to plan your December around on Oʻahu, make it Honolulu City Lights. This free community display takes over the civic center in downtown Honolulu, and it is where the whole island seems to show up.
The centerpiece sits in front of Honolulu Hale, the city hall, where a giant decorated Christmas tree glows next to the character everyone comes to see: Shaka Santa, a 21-foot (about 6.4 m) island version of Saint Nick lounging with a shaka and his toes hanging over the fountain, right beside his wife Tutu Mele in her muʻumuʻu.
Shaka Santa has held court here since 1989, and a family photo with him is basically a local rite of passage.
📍 Honolulu Hale, 530 South King Street, Honolulu, HI 96813
The 2026 season opens on Saturday, December 5 with an opening-night block party, a holiday concert, keiki train rides, and the Public Workers Electric Light Parade, which rolls down King Street from around River Street toward Honolulu Hale.
The parade steps off near 6:00 p.m. and the first units reach the tree lighting around 6:30 p.m., so get there early and bring a beach mat to hold your spot.
New for 2026, the display grows to two locations for the first time in its history, lighting up both Honolulu Hale and nearby Thomas Square Park.
The lights stay up through January 3, so you have the whole month to wander the grounds after dark, and weeknights are far calmer than that first weekend. Check the official schedule at honolulucitylights.org before you go.
📍 Thomas Square, 925 South Beretania Street, Honolulu, HI 96814
Getting there takes a little planning. Downtown parking fills fast on event nights, so we usually grab a municipal lot a few blocks out, take TheBus, or split a rideshare and walk in.
The grounds are flat and easy for strollers, food and shave ice vendors set up around the block party, and the honest tip is that any random weeknight in mid-December is nearly as magical as opening night at a fraction of the crowd.
Bundle the little ones in a light jacket, because once the sun drops those trade winds have a bite.
Mele Kalikimaka: How the Islands Say Merry Christmas
You will hear “Mele Kalikimaka” everywhere in December, on the radio, in shops, and in every hotel greeting.
It simply means Merry Christmas, and the reason it sounds the way it does is a fun bit of language history: the Hawaiian alphabet has no “r” or “s” sound, so “Merry Christmas” got lovingly reshaped into Mele Kalikimaka.
The classic Bing Crosby recording made it famous worldwide, but out here it is a real greeting, not a novelty, so do not be shy about using it.
Christmas itself is a beautiful blend of cultures, the same way our food is. A local holiday table might have turkey and stuffing next to sushi, kālua pig, sticky rice, and of course a musubi or two wrapped in SPAM for the road.
Churches hold candlelight services with hula and Hawaiian-language carols, families gather for long backyard parties, and slippers stay firmly on.
If you want to taste your way through the season the way we do, our Thanksgiving in Hawaiʻi guide covers the same mix of local and mainland dishes that carries straight into Christmas dinner.
Drive through any neighborhood in December and you will see how we make the holidays our own.
Lights go up on palm trees and monkeypods instead of pines, inflatable Santas share yards with plastic flamingos, and more than a few families hang a surfboard wrapped in lights by the front door.
Loud red and green aloha shirts come out of the closet, offices throw white elephant parties with Kona coffee and Honolulu Cookie Company shortbread as the prize gifts, and somewhere a ukulele is always working through a slack-key carol.
Holiday Lights and Events Beyond Downtown
Honolulu City Lights gets the headlines, but the season spreads across the whole island. In Waikīkī, the Royal Hawaiian Center dresses up with a 34-foot (about 10 m) Christmas tree, Santa Saturdays where the kids can meet Santa and Mrs. Claus, and weekly hula and music performances under the banyan trees.
📍 Royal Hawaiian Center, 2201 Kalākaua Avenue, Honolulu, HI 96815
Ala Moana Center, the largest open-air mall in the islands, goes all out with keiki hula, a nightly tree lighting, and plenty of shopping if you still have gifts to sort.
For something festive with a view, the Waikiki Holiday Parade marches down torch-lit Kalākaua Avenue along the beach and doubles as a tribute to Pearl Harbor survivors and veterans.
In 2026 it falls on Friday, November 27, the day after Thanksgiving, so it kicks the season off. You can confirm the route and timing at waikikiholidayparade.com.
📍 Ala Moana Center, 1450 Ala Moana Boulevard, Honolulu, HI 96814
Families with a full day to give will find the cultural spots and ranches lean into the season too.
The Polynesian Cultural Center in Lāʻie and Kualoa Ranch on the windward side both run holiday programming, and the Bishop Museum makes a great rainy-afternoon backup when one of those December showers rolls through.
For even more ideas that work with little ones, our roundup of family activities on Oʻahu stays useful long after the tree comes down.
And this is just Oʻahu: every island lights up in its own way, from Kauaʻi’s long-running Festival of Lights in Līhuʻe to small-town holiday parades on Maui and the Big Island, so wherever you land, ask around and you will find the local celebration.
Big Waves and Winter Surf on the North Shore
December is when the North Shore earns its reputation. The same winter swells that make the water too rough for casual swimming turn beaches like Banzai Pipeline, Sunset, and Waimea Bay into a world-class arena, and watching from the sand costs nothing.
The waves break close to shore here, which is what makes them so dramatic to watch and also genuinely dangerous, so keep well back from the water line and never turn your back on the ocean.
📍 ʻEhukai Beach Park (Banzai Pipeline), 59-337 Ke Nui Road, Haleʻiwa, HI 96712
Two events are worth knowing about.
The Vans Pipe Masters usually runs a window in mid-December at Pipeline and crowns the surf season, so if the swell is firing you might catch the best surfers on the planet threading barrels a stone’s throw from where you stand.
The other is the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational at Waimea Bay, a legend of a contest that only runs when waves hold consistently at 40-foot (about 12 m) faces.
It does not happen most years, which is exactly why the whole island stops when it does. Both are best enjoyed by parking early, packing water and snacks, and settling in on the sand or the grassy bluff above the bay.
📍 Waimea Bay Beach Park, 61-031 Kamehameha Highway, Haleʻiwa, HI 96712
If you would rather get in the water than watch it, stick to the calmer south and west shores in December, where snorkeling stays good. Our picks for the best snorkeling spots on Oʻahu and the reservation details for Hanauma Bay will keep you on the right side of the island when the north is going off.
This is a good moment to compare Oʻahu tours and book ahead; the popular ones fill first.
Pearl Harbor and the Meaning of December 7
December in Hawaiʻi is not all lights and surf. December 7 is National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, marking the 1941 attack, and 2026 lands on the 85th anniversary.
Ceremonies take place at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial, and the mood across the island is genuinely reflective. If you are visiting in early December it is a meaningful time to pay respects, though expect bigger crowds and book ahead.
Tickets to board the USS Arizona Memorial are issued through recreation.gov for a small reservation fee, and the National Park Service posts current hours at nps.gov/perl.
We walk through the whole site, including the parts most visitors miss, in our Pearl Harbor National Memorial guide.
What Is Open and Closed on Christmas Day
Here is the practical stuff, because Christmas Day catches people off guard. The good news is that the beaches and public trails stay open, so a Christmas-morning swim or an easy hike is very much on the table.
Most Waikīkī hotel restaurants serve right through the holiday, and beachside standbys like Duke’s Waikīkī, Hula Grill, and Tiki’s keep the mai tais coming.
If you want a true local backup, every Zippy’s on Oʻahu opens on Christmas Day, most from around 6:00 a.m. to midnight, which has saved more than one family holiday over the years.
The two big Waikīkī shopping centers, Royal Hawaiian Center and International Market Place, are typically open as well, and so are the Honolulu Zoo and the Waikīkī Aquarium if the kids need to burn off energy.
The catch is groceries. Most supermarkets, including Foodland, Times, and Whole Foods, close on Christmas Day, so do your shopping on the 23rd or 24th if you are cooking or stocking a rental kitchen.
Movie theaters like the ones at Ward tend to stay open, which makes for a nice low-key Christmas afternoon if a shower rolls in. When in doubt call ahead, because hours shift from year to year.
Snow, a Marathon, and Ringing in the New Year
Yes, it can actually snow in Hawaiʻi at Christmas, just not where you are staying.
Every winter the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island, which stands at 13,803 feet (4,207 m), can pick up a dusting of snow, and locals have been known to drive up and haul a little back down in the truck bed.
You need a four-wheel-drive vehicle and warm clothes for the summit, and our Mauna Kea guide covers how to do it safely.
Back on Oʻahu, the JAL Honolulu Marathon takes over the second Sunday of December, landing on December 13 in 2026.
It is one of the largest marathons in the country, and even if you are not running the full 26.2 miles (42.2 km), the 5:00 a.m. start on Ala Moana Boulevard opens with a full fireworks show that is worth setting an alarm for.
There is also the Kalākaua Merrie Mile, a fast and fun 1-mile (1.6 km) race the day before. Details and road closures are posted at honolulumarathon.org.
And once Christmas passes, the islands roll straight into one of the biggest nights of the year. Fireworks are a serious tradition here, and Waikīkī puts on a show over the water at midnight.
If your trip stretches into that last week, our guide to the best things to do for New Year’s Eve in Hawaiʻi will help you close out the year right.
What to Know Before You Go
A few honest heads-up notes so December treats you well. This is peak travel season, which means flights, hotels, and rental cars are at their priciest and busiest, especially the week between Christmas and New Year’s.
Book everything as early as you can, and if you are watching the budget, our Hawaiʻi money-saving guide has tactics that still work in high season.
Traffic around Waikīkī, Ala Moana, and the North Shore gets heavy on weekends, so give yourself extra time and try to drive out to the country on a weekday.
Most of all, come with the same aloha you would want shown to you.
Support the local shops and restaurants that make this place special, tip your servers well during their busiest stretch, pack your patience along with your slippers, and take a beat to notice how a Hawaiian Christmas trades tinsel and snow for warm nights, ocean air, and family.
That trade is the whole gift. Mele Kalikimaka from our ʻohana to yours.
More from Wanderlustyle
Thanksgiving in Hawaiʻi: How We Celebrate and Where to Eat in 2026
Best Things to Do for New Year’s Eve in Hawaiʻi
7-Day Oʻahu Itinerary for First-Timers (2026)
Best Sunset Spots on Oʻahu: Where to Watch and When to Go (2026)
Pearl Harbor National Memorial: The USS Arizona, Missouri, and Museums (2026)
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