See thousands of colorful and ornate lanterns light up the night sky when this ancient Chinese
tradition returns to the Missouri Botanical Garden for the summer season. The Lantern Festival features 22 all-new sets of lanterns crafted from silk and steel, offering visitors the opportunity to experience an event rarely staged outside of Asia.
Lantern festivals are a central part of Chinese culture dating back thousands of years. Today, lantern festivals traditionally mark the Chinese New Year, when complex and ornate lanterns fill cities. The 22 sets that make up the Lantern Festival: Magic Reimagined are constructed using traditional materials including silk, wire and porcelain. Each set is accompanied by interpretation detailing the design's tradition, symbolism and meaning.
The Lantern Festival: Magic Reimagined is open nightly through August 30 at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Tickets are $26 for adults ($13 for members) and $10 for children ages 3-12 ($5 for member's children). Daytime viewing is included with regular Garden admission.
More information and tickets: mobot.org
Photo courtesy of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Photo by John Evans.
It's the Not-So-Haunted House that is oh-so-fun, where storybook characters come alive! Kids are invited to dress in their most "boo-tiful" Halloween costumes and have a ghoulishly good time going on a spook-tacular scavenger hunt throughout The Magic House to find trick-or-treat locations and seeing their favorite storybook characters.
Get into the Halloween spirit with some spooky fun and celebrate with the animals at Grant's Farm. Enjoy Halloween tram rides featuring Halloween lights, spooky scenes, live actors, scare zones, a Halloween-themed show, monster mash party and more. Costumes are encouraged.
Kids can work on existing gym skills, learn new skills or just play around during Open Gym at Miss Kelly's Gym in Creve Coeur.
The Best of Missouri Market at the Missouri Botanical Garden features more than 150 vendors offering handcrafted items, locally produced food, native plants, herbs, live music and local brews, plus a two-acre Kid's Corner with farm animals (like llamas, alpacas and sheep!), circus performers, face painting, crafts, and a pumpkin patch with decorating let by Perennial.
Kids in kindergarten through 5th grade can fun evenings making spooky crafts. Parents can drop off their kids and enjoy an evening out. Enrollment is limited.