There’s a Christmas Village Coming to Garden State Plaza [dedicated]

If you’re reading this, you live in North Jersey, and you have a pulse, chances are you already know and love the Westfield Garden State Plaza. But the thing about that massive, marvelous mall is that it’s always bringing new and novel things to the venue, especially around the holidays, when GSP turns into the best kind of winter wonderland – namely a warm, indoor one with fun festivities, divine decor, and a lot of great shopping. 

This year Garden State Plaza will kick off the season with the return of Big Santa. And we mean big. The supersized guy – clocking in at 50 feet tall – used to mark the start of the holiday season at the mall for years, all the way through the ‘80s. After a few decades out of commission, he returned last year and is ready to usher in the holiday festivities again in 2019 with the Big Santa Lighting Extravaganza at 7pm (pre-event festivities start at 6:30 in the Design Within Reach parking lot). That’ll be followed by a guided holiday-themed experience where shoppers will follow a trail through the mall complete with five different stops set to include giveaways, prizes and more along with a big old Santa-style surprise at the last stop, the sure-to-be-happening Holiday Market. Running daily (other than Christmas Day) through the end of December, the Holiday Market will offer two villages, gift-wrapping stations, multiple musical evenings of carolers, and a post office dedicated solely to getting lots of important letters to Santa. 

Beyond winter festivities, the mall has a few other updates to share, including the opening of one of our favorite fitness apparel lines, Athleta and, coming soon, our go-to cool-and-casual wear brand, Tillys. And we’re not sure how they pulled it off but that legendary chain from our childhood – that would be Toys “R” Us, of course – has come back to life and will set up shop at the mall just in time for grabbing everything your kids put on those lists they mailed to the North Pole. So you’ll want to don your comfiest shoes, clear out the trunk, and get to it. Where are all those helpful elves when you need them, anyway?