The holiday photos you take today will be the memories you cherish tomorrow and because free time is rare, we think that your holiday getaway to Port Aransas and stay in our La Mirage holiday hideaways would be the perfect time to put together some holiday photo sessions. Taking the been there, done that out of your traditional photos and adding in a whole lot of wow, sure to be the envy of who receive their own copy of the resulting photos. This guide to the best places to take holiday photos in Port Aransas will make it impossible to take a bad photo, ensuring that your memories will be safely memorialized throughout time.
Where To Take Holiday Photos In Port Aransas
All Christmas activities in Port Aransas begin with a visit to Roberts Point Park where a sand Santa sculpture takes a starring role in your celebrations and in your pictures. Providing a whimsical backdrop, no one can keep a straight face when they see Sand Santa, created by the world’s most talented sand sculptors, peeking over your shoulder, this unique attraction is popular with selfie takers and family photo enthusiasts. Taking center stage at Roberts Point Park from Thanksgiving through the New Year, you can pose with a genuine smile on your face and in your heart.
Oh Christmas Tree
Our holiday photos often feature a Christmas tree in the background and during your Port A getaway you will have multiple choices for posing in front of one. Stick with the sand theme and create your own sandy Christmas tree with a photo shoot on the beaches of Port Aransas, adding a prop of a colorful garland or star to add more cheer to your pic. Keep with the theme by donning holiday themed swimwear (we found a large selection on Amazon, in case you didn’t know such a thing existed!) and be sure to keep the camera handy as you work together as a family to create your sandy tree. Another popular photo location takes us back to Roberts Point Park, where the Memorial Christmas Tree (decorated with cards and photos of those who are no longer with us) awaits its chance to star in your holiday photo shoot.
A Deeper Meaning
When you believe in celebrating the reason for the season, you may want your holiday photos to reflect that belief and the Chapel on the Dunes is where you should pose. Its white stucco exterior, peaked tile roof, and sandy landscape add an importance to the photos you take here and although Christmas pictures are generally taken in full color, we think the moody beauty of a black and white photo would add more depth to the pics you take in front of the Chapel on the Dunes. Tucked away behind a bed of sea oats and offering a series of stairs created from sand, rope, and wood that lead from the beach, this photo may be the one that garners the most interest from your friends and family.
Sunset on Mustang Island
Sunset is known as the Golden Hour for photography purposes and Mustang Island State Park will serve as the centerpiece for your holiday photos as well as providing hours of endless entertainment. Pose barefoot with your toes in the sand with your smiles shining brighter than the white sand beaches, the blue skies, and the fire in the sky, also known as sunset, providing a colorful backdrop to the pictures you will remember forever. While you are hanging out on Mustang Island, be sure to explore all the fun you can have after touching shore for the first time. Timing can be the difference between taking the best pictures you have ever taken or taking the ones that people will look at, nod over, and promptly forget, so keep an eye out for the magic moment when the flames of purple, red, gold, and yellow set the sky afire and snap quickly.
Designed to be an Integral Part of your Vacation Experience
Our La Mirage holiday hideaways are designed to be not just a place to rest your weary body, but to be an integral part of your vacation experience, and that includes being used as a backdrop to your family photos. Take the photos to the balcony that overlooks the turquoise waters of the Gulf and line up Brady Bunch style along the railing with all that stunning color adding a vibrancy to each snap. Set your phone or camera on a tripod and timer and let the pictures you take provide a natural charm as you gather round the dining room table with the feast you prepared in our fully equipped kitchens taking second billing. Matching pajama pics next to the tiny Christmas tree you added for holiday beauty, candid shots of smiling children with messy hair gloriously tearing into colorful wrapping paper; the opportunities for a perfect holiday picture are as endless as the ones for finding comfort will be. Contact us to reserve your favorite holiday haven today!
That first Christmas song you hear on the radio, the beauty of the Christmas decorations in neighborhoods and shopping areas lighting up the night, the joy of finding the perfect gift for everyone on your list, and the sparkle in your children’s eyes when they catch their first glimpse of Santa Claus at the local mall—there is magic in these moments, a magic that can be found anywhere in the world, and when you take your holiday journey to the sandy beaches of Port Aransas for a stay in our La Mirage Christmas condos, that magic grows even stronger. This guide to adding an extra sprinkle of enchantment to the magic of the holiday events in Port Aransas!
The Best Holiday Events in Port Aransas
This event starts a little earlier than most, but is there really a downside to finding your Christmas spirit (and a large selection of gifts for the people on your list) earlier than usual? In our eyes, it just leaves you more time to play and experience all the other wonders of this most wonderful time of year! The Nutcracker Market, held the weekend before Thanksgiving this year, is your first chance to find the perfect gift for the most perfect people in your life, your family and your friends. It offers pop-up shops of your soon to be favorite stores, arts and crafts created by the most talented people in the state, and of course, food, drink, and merriment!
City Holiday in the Park, Roberts Point Park, December 7
By December 7, Christmas season will be in full swing in Port A, and City Holiday in the Park celebrates the season with all the magic the holiday can hold. It offers a lighted golf cart parade that meanders through the park, each golf cart representing Christmas in a warm and whimsical way, holiday games, activities, and a VIP visit that will rocket the wonder level into the stratosphere, because of course, the main man himself, Santa, is going to be there, taking requests and posing for photos while making your children’s dreams come true!
Nautical & Nice Drive-thru Holiday Light Display, Roberts Point Park, December 7 through January 4
We remember the joy of a drive through the neighborhoods at Christmas, checking out and rating all the homes’ light displays, and we continue the tradition with our own children today, always starting with the Nautical & Nice Drive-thru Holiday Light Display. Blending the beauty of Christmas lights with the whimsy of the sea, visitors can meander through the park with their radios tuned to 89.7 FM (for the Christmas music, of course!), being dazzled by all that surrounds them. Chilly nights will encourage the use of Stanley mugs filled with hot cocoa, and because this event is a free one, you will have more money in your pockets to spend on Christmas gifts!
Holiday Shop Around, December 13, Various Locations in Port Aransas
Giving visitors and residents another chance to find the perfect gifts, Holiday Shop Around involves local merchants, special deals, and the probability that you will have to work very hard at not buying all the things for yourself! The shops in town celebrate the holidays with a day of super sales, sales that some say may even be better than Black Friday ones, so put on your comfortable shoes, grab your wallets and purses, and lose yourself in the fun and magic of Christmas shopping while saving even more money.
Lighted Boat Parade & Holiday Drone Show, December 14, Port Aransas Fisherman’s Wharf
The sea provides its own unique magic, and we think when you are sitting shoreside, watching the procession of colorfully decorated boats glide across the dark waters, that magic is magnified. Offering cash prices to the best decorated boats in each size category entices the captains to go all out, and as music plays, the moon shines, and the lights are reflected in the water, you may think nothing could top this moment. Of course, you would be wrong, because once the parade ends, attendees are invited to look to the stars, where the holiday drone show will be displayed! We have mixed feelings about drone technology under normal circumstances, but when the drones are lighting up the night sky with pure magic, we are 100% behind them!
Magic and Enchantment Will Be Yours with La Mirage
Believing in the magic of Christmas is easy when you choose La Mirage for your holiday hideaway. Contact us to reserve your favorite escape today! Search our rentals by bedroom here.
There is something beautiful in the faith our children have in a jolly elf who drives a sleigh led by flying reindeer and manages to make it to every home in the world in a single night, and it is a sad moment when they reach the age where they stop believing in the magic of Santa Claus. For this reason alone, if your children are of the age where magic is still real, it is of utmost importance that you continue to feed their beliefs, even as you are miles from home, perhaps enjoying a white sand Christmas on the beaches of Port Aransas and a stay in our La Mirage holiday hideaways. This guide to where your kids can visit Santa in Port Aransas will ensure that for at least one more year the sparkle in your children’s eyes will be bright and their dreams will be magical.
Sand Santa, December 1 through January 3, Roberts Point Park
We’re starting out with a slightly different version of Santa, one made of sand. Will your children be able to sit on his lap? No. Will they be able to tell him what they want for Christmas? Well, they can, but he won’t be able to respond. What we can tell you, however, that a Christmas without Sand Santa would be a sad one indeed, and the sight of this creative sand sculpture will still delight your littles. Offering a wonderful opportunity to take a family selfie, we wait anxiously for the day he returns every year and have actually measured our own children’s growth in the pictures we take there each December!
Illuminated Saltwater Christmas Parade, December 5 in Aransas Pass
We love parades, and the Illuminated Saltwater Parade in Aransas Pass offers a colorful and exciting way to see Mr. Claus as he serves as the anchor as well as taking time after to pose for pictures with your children. Offering floats that shimmer with colorful lights, marching bands, and official first responder vehicles, after the parade concludes there will be a celebration that provides pictures with Santa, craft adventures, and yummy snacks that will bring a smile to your face. There will also be a bike giveaway, so be sure and register if you think you can find a way to get the bike home when you win!
City Holiday in the Park, December 7, Roberts Point Park
You may be starting to recognize a trend here in Port Aransas, one that brings you back to Roberts Point Park again and again, especially at Christmas, as its natural beauty and wide open spaces help make the holiday shine bright. City Holiday in the Park offers a more traditional way to see Santa, allowing children to take pictures with the bearded elf, tell him what their secret wishes are for Christmas, and walk away after knowing that he heard and hopefully will “obey.” This free event begins at 6 PM and encompasses a Golf Cart Parade (Santa’s “sleigh” makes an appearance in the form of Christmas lights on a Golf Cart), holiday games, and all the holiday spirit excited children can exude.
Lighted Boat Parade & Holiday Drone Show, Port Aransas Fisherman’s Wharf, December 14
This boat parade and drone show is a celebration of the holiday that has the potential to last the entire day as you shop for the perfect Christmas gifts, visit Sand Santa at Roberts Point Park, dine on festive or not so festive meals, and wait for the sun to set and this fantastic parade to begin. Santa may be seen in many forms during this event, including in the form of whimsical inflatables on the boats or colorful drone displays in the sky, and rumor has it the man himself will be making an appearance, posing for photos and taking requests, giving your tiniest travelers a thrill they won’t soon forget. Making the magic real for adults who will be awed by the beauty of the boats and stunned at the technology used to create the party in the sky, this event is one the entire family will enjoy!
At Home with La Mirage
Christmas truly is the most wonderful time of the year, and some of your most magical Santa moments may take place at home in our La Mirage holiday hideaways. He will be found on the crystal-clear screens of our state-of-the-art television in the movies you watched in your own youth (Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer or How the Grinch Stole Christmas) and in the movies that have become classics in later years (Elf, Christmas Story, and the Polar Express). His booming “ho ho ho” will be heard in the voice of dad reading ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve, and he will be seen and heard in the dreams of your children as they sleep peacefully in our oh so comfortable beds. Reserve your favorite La Mirage Christmas sanctuary today!