Looking for something fun to do this weekend in New Jersey? New Jersey Monthly has you covered! Below we highlight recommendations for events across the state, from festivals to concerts to family-friendly events and more.
Indigo Girls 📅: Tuesday, December 3 (7:30 pm) ℹ️: The LGBTQ icons and folk rockers have been going strong since 1985. 📍: Count Basie Center for the Arts • Red Bank 💸: $39+
Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol 📅: Select dates from Wednesday, December 4 through Sunday, December 29 (times vary) ℹ️: See Neil Bartlett’s bold adaptation of the holiday classic. 📍: Shakespeare Theatre of NJ • Madison 💸: $5+
Samara Joy 📅: Wednesday, December 4 (7:30 pm) ℹ️: The Grammy-winning Gen-Z jazz singer performs a holiday concert, singing standards with members of her own family. 📍: Mayo Performing Arts Center • Morristown 💸: $39+
Jude Connally Warehouse Sale 📅: Wednesday, December 4 (10 am-6 pm), Thursday, December 5 (10 am-8 pm), Friday, December 6 (9 am-1 pm) ℹ️: Get up to 75 percent off women’s fashions from this New Jersey designer. Tops are $70, pants are $50, and shorts and skorts are $40. 📍: Kenilworth Hotel • Kenilworth 💸: Free
A Magical Cirque Christmas 📅: Thursday, December 5 (7:30 pm) ℹ️: Experience the holiday-themed, high-flying talents of trained acrobats. 📍: NJPAC • Newark 💸: $29+
Smokey Robinson 📅: Friday, December 6 (8 pm) 📍: NJPAC • Newark ℹ️: The legend of R&B and soul is beloved for hits like “The Tracks of My Tears,” “Tears of a Clown” and “Shop Around.” 💸: $49.50+
Strangers Stopping Strangers 📅: Friday, December 6 (8 pm) ℹ️: The Jersey natives are a popular Grateful Dead tribute band. 📍: White Eagle Hall • Jersey City 💸: $25+
📅: Friday, December 6-Sunday, December 8 (10 am-6 pm) 📍: 56 Main Street ℹ️: Head to Clinton—one of NJM’s favorite small towns—for a heated tented market of more than 50 craft artisans selling unique gifts. Grab some grub from food trucks and check out the annual Festival of Trees, too, 💸: $10 for seniors and children ages 6-12; $12 for general admission; $45 for family membership
📅: Saturday, December 7 (4:30-9 pm) 📍: 95 South Main Street ℹ️: Bring friends and family to this old-fashioned Christmas fest, featuring horse and carriage rides, food trucks, meetings with Santa and more. 💸: Free admission and parking
The Hip Hop Nutcracker 📅: Sunday, December 8 (2 & 7 pm) ℹ️: The classic holiday tale told through high-energy hip-hop. 📍: NJPAC • Newark 💸: $39+
The Muppets Christmas Carol in Concert with New Jersey Symphony 📅: Sunday, December 8 (3 pm) ℹ️: See the classic as told by Kermit, Miss Piggy and Michael Caine with a live symphony orchestra to accompany the film. 📍: State Theatre New Jersey • New Brunswick 💸: $69+
Mandy Gonzalez 📅: Sunday, December 8 (7:30 pm) ℹ️: The Broadway star and South Orange native returns home to perform holiday faves. 📍: SOPAC • South Orange 💸: $48+
📅: At the Grand Arcade of Convention Hall: Fridays (3-8 pm), Saturdays and Sundays (noon-5 pm) through Sunday, December 22; at the Asbury Hotel: Sundays (noon-5 pm) through December 15 ℹ️: Shop for gifts from local and regional makers and small businesses. Food, music and more are also on hand. 💸: Free admission
Old-Fashioned Christmas at Allaire Community Farm 📅: Now through through Sunday, December 29 (4-8 pm) 📍: 1923 Baileys Corner Road • Wall ℹ️: This family-friendly event features pictures with Santa, indoor and outdoor petting zoos, a Christmas village display, holiday movies, a model train display and more. 💸: $10 for adults; $6 for kids under 18
Want to find even more events? Browse additional events by date and category using our calendar below. And to submit your own event to the calendar, click here.
Wake Up Paul is a pop punk cover band based out of West Orange, NJ. Formed by longtime friends in 2022, the band rocks out with fun and energetic setlists full of nostalgic punk rock and alternative hits from the 90s and 2000s.
Holiday POPS! concert with Broadway vocalist Andrea Ross and the Princeton High School Choir brings on the spirit of the holiday season with festive melodies.
Join us for a joyful celebration of the holiday season as talented performers come together for “Sing Out, My Soul!” presented by Voices Chorale NJ in collaboration with the Trenton Children’s Chorus.
Warm up your holiday spirit with sprightly and sentimental tunes sure to fire up nostalgia. The Ocean County Library Brick Branch is pleased to present “A Ragtime Christmas Concert” by the legendary Fred Lehotay and the Ragtimers, 2 PM Saturday, December 14.
Grab your Captain's Hat and make that Pina Colada a double, cause the Yacht Lobsters are turning back time with the SMOOTHEST hits from the 70's & early 80's!
Orchestral music celebrating Christmas, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah, an audience singalong with Maestro Jed Gaylin on piano and a children’s choir appearance for several songs are all included in Bay Atlantic Symphony’s Holiday Expressions concert.
This event will feature a variety of holiday classics, including duets and solos from members of the band, and an arrangement of a holiday classic for brass band by one of our members!
