Buckhead's Holiday Season Turns on Two Saturdays: The Village on Dec. 5, Lenox and Phipps on Dec. 12

Which Saturday in December is Buckhead's big one? In 2026 there are two, a week apart, and each one is built around a different stretch of the neighborhood.

Livable Buckhead's Miracle on Peachtree series runs its Hot Chocolate Crawl twice this year. The first is in Buckhead Village District on Saturday, Dec. 5. The second covers Lenox Square, Phipps Plaza and Peachtree Road on Saturday, Dec. 12. The Village Saturday is the packed one, with a market, a wreath workshop, the crawl and the tree lighting all within a few blocks. The Lenox Saturday is longer and more spread out, and it takes place on a corridor that has been rebuilt for walking since last winter. Picking your Saturday comes down to how you want to get around for the evening.

Before the Saturdays, the Season Runs on Reservations

For most of November, holiday plans in Buckhead mean booked time slots and specific dates more than big gatherings. As of Thursday, Nov. 12, the first dates are only days away.

Big John's is marking its 77th anniversary, and its main lot sits right in the Village, on East Paces Ferry. At Phipps Plaza, Santa sees visitors by appointment only, in the Court of the South across from Tiffany's. Lenox repeats its pet photo night on Sunday, Dec. 13, from 7 to 9 p.m., the evening after the second crawl.

On West Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta History Center says its Entrance Gardens holiday lights go up in November. You can see them on foot or by driving past. Inside, the Pink Pigs Priscilla and Percival are on display in the Atrium for photos.

Dec. 5 Packs the Village Into One Long Afternoon

The first Saturday is organized so that each event hands off to the next. Most of them take place within a short walk of The Veranda and Charlie Loudermilk Park, so you can spend the whole day in the Village without moving the car.

1. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Winter Fest 2026 at Atlanta History Center, 130 W. Paces Ferry Road NW, has Santa photos, story times, crafts and the decorated Historic Houses. It is free for members, and other visitors buy tickets.
2. Noon to 2 p.m. Wreath Decorating for Atlanta's Heroes takes place in The Veranda in Buckhead Village. Entry is free.
3. Early afternoon. Lenox Square hosts Make Spirits Bright: Atlanta Opera Live in its Luxury Wing. The performance is free and open to everyone.
4. 3 to 7 p.m. The Miracle on Peachtree Holiday Market brings artisans, makers and specialty vendors to Charlie Loudermilk Park.
5. 5 to 7 p.m. The Buckhead Village Hot Chocolate Crawl checks in at The Veranda.
6. 7 p.m. The Holiday Tree and Menorah Lighting at Charlie Loudermilk Park lights a 24-foot tree. It is free.

The crawl ends at the same hour the lighting starts, and the market fills the park for the four hours before it. So the crawl is timed to lead people straight into the lighting. According to the Livable Buckhead holiday page, the Village crawl takes you through the district's streets and courtyards with local musicians along the way, and the lighting is "just steps away."

Both crawls have free admission. An $8 commemorative mug is optional, and the event listings describe both spiked and non-alcoholic drinks for an all-ages crowd. RSVPs are on the Dec. 5 Eventbrite listing.

The Village has also added a new place to stop since last December. The AJC's roundup of October openings lists Buckhead Brewing, a brewpub and sandwich shop at 128 E. Andrews Drive NW.

The Week Between Belongs to Phipps and Lenox

The two Saturdays share a week, and Phipps and Lenox schedule events on both sides of the first one. Grinch on The Green opens Phipps Plaza's outdoor lawn on Thursday, Dec. 3, from 5 to 8 p.m. The morning after the Village Saturday, on Sunday, Dec. 6, Lenox Square holds A Special Visit with Caring Santa from 9:30 to 11 a.m. It takes place on the mall level next to American Eagle, across from Bloomingdale's, and reservations are required.

This is when the season moves north along Peachtree. Through the first weekend of December, the main gatherings are in the Village. From Dec. 6 on, the dates cluster around the two malls.

Dec. 12 Spreads the Crawl Along Peachtree

The second crawl lasts three hours. It runs 4 to 7 p.m., checks in at Lenox Square, and sells mugs at both Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza. Livable Buckhead describes it as a holiday stroll along Peachtree Road, with Lenox Square, Phipps Plaza and nearby shops as the backdrop and live performers along the route. The Dec. 12 Eventbrite listing takes RSVPs.

Santa at Phipps is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. that day, which overlaps the whole crawl. You could book a Phipps appointment for late afternoon and pick up a mug on the same visit.

The Village crawl stays within one compact district. This one covers ground between two large shopping centers, and getting between them on foot has changed a lot since a year ago.

The Corridor Was Rebuilt Since Last December

Buckhead CID lists the Lenox Boardwalk as completed in January 2026, at a cost of about $15.6 million. The CID's December 2025 newsletter called it substantially complete and ready for use during last year's holidays. That makes this the first holiday season with the project fully finished. The boardwalk is an elevated path, 10 to 12 feet wide, that runs 0.44 miles along Lenox Road from the Lenox MARTA station at East Paces Ferry Road to Peachtree Road. It has new pedestrian lighting and is partly shaded by trees. For the Dec. 12 crawl, you can ride MARTA to Lenox station, walk the boardwalk to Lenox Square, and check in without driving.

On the other side of Phipps, the Wieuca Road and Phipps Boulevard intersection is now Atlanta's first multi-lane roundabout, according to the Buckhead CID. The $4 million project added bike lanes, crosswalks and an 85-foot landscaped island in place of what Urbanize Atlanta described as an asphalt expanse the size of a small parking lot. Urbanize reported the roundabout and the boardwalk as officially finished and open in late September.

The next stretch is still on the drawing board, so the walk between the two malls will feel different from the boardwalk. Phase two of the Lenox Road project is a roughly $10 million segment between Peachtree Road and Phipps Boulevard, and it is in final engineering, with groundbreaking anticipated next year. Plans include wider sidewalks, upgraded ramps and staircases, and more lighting. A third phase, an elevated pedestrian and bicycle bridge where Lenox Road crosses GA 400, is on pace to break ground in 2028.

After the Second Saturday

Once the crawls are over, the season goes back to fixed dates and store hours. Lenox Square's Santa Photos run through Christmas Eve, when the mall is open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Lenox is closed Christmas Day. The Phipps Santa schedule ends Dec. 23. The Livable Buckhead holiday page has the Miracle on Peachtree series. For mall dates, check the Lenox Square events page for current hours before you go.

At BOULEVARD, we follow Buckhead's calendar closely, from the boardwalk to the Village, and our consultants are glad to talk through how projects like the Lenox Road phases are changing the neighborhood around your home. If you'd like to know where your home stands this season, Request Your Home Valuation.