Illuminate Festival of Lights at Maplewood Mall

Experience handcrafted Chinese lanterns, live acrobatic performances, kids inflatables, included free activities, tasty food and more at Illuminate Festival of Lights at Maplewood Mall open now through December 31st. Keep reading for your chance to win tickets!

Have you heard about Illuminate Festival of Lights at Maplewood Mall? When I saw some pictures of the handcrafted Chinese lanterns– I knew we were going to have to check it out!

But the festival is so much more beyond the beautiful lanterns – we truly enjoyed the live acrobatic performances, the fun Red Lantern Market with tasty food and interesting treasures, the Kids Play Zone (with LOTS of inflatables) and the other included family activities.

Located inside the old Sears at Maplewood Mall, Illuminate Festival of Lights is the perfect place to celebrate the holidays with the whole family. I really loved that it was inside– it makes this a great option for little kids that can’t last as long outside at the many outdoor festivals we have going on during this time of year.

Immediately when you walk in, you see the gorgeous handcrafted, larger-than-life lanterns. There’s scenes of traditional terracotta warriors, sea life, Christmas trees, lotus flower gardens, arctic animals and so much more. We were completely awestruck walking around and exploring these amazing creations!

Illuminate Festival of Lights was created by La and Donny Heu in memory of their beloved daughter, Serafina, who passed away at only 2 months old. In their grief, they turned to light and made their heartbreak into beauty. Illuminate Festival of Lights has traveled around the country and this is their first time in Minnesota!

Performing every day, the Ameriking Yan Dong Chinese Acrobats are absolutely breathtaking! Their show was around 30 minutes and featured a contortionist, balancing feats, unicycles and more. We ended up watching their performance twice while at the festival because we enjoyed it that much!

The Kids Play Zone is filled with inflatables for kids of all ages. From bounce houses to mazes and basketball and baseball themed inflatables– there was something for every kiddo to enjoy! Plus free activities like the origami crane station, the wish wall, lego build area, photo opps and more- make this a super fun festival for the entire family.

There’s also a bunch of games from ClawZone Park. These do cost extra to play, but their machines are 1 coin/$1 per try. As a mom of 3 kiddos, I appreciate them keeping their machines at 1 coin! They also have a human claw machine as well. My son had been begging to do this at the Mall of America and he finally got to try it here. He had a blast “being the claw!”

Lastly Red Lantern Market had tasty treats and interesting vendors. Most of the vendors preferred cash, so be sure to bring some or use the on-site ATM.

Illuminate Festival of Lights Admission + Hours

The Illuminate Festival of Lights is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays now through December 31st. It’s located in the old Sears in the Maplewood Mall. Tickets are on an extended Black Friday Special for $14.95 on their website! Kids 3 and under are free. Normal pricing: Adults $24.95, Kids (4-11) $14.95, plus 10 percent off for seniors and military.

• Fridays 4- 9pm
• Saturdays 4-9pm
• Sundays 2- 7pm

Holiday Hours:

• Christmas 12/24 and 12/25 5pm to 9pm
• New Year’s Eve 12/31 5pm to 9pm

Acrobats performance schedule:

• Friday and Saturday 6pm and 8pm
• Sunday 4pm and 6pm
• Holidays 7:30pm

Illuminate Festival of Lights Ticket Giveaway

We are giving away a family four-pack of tickets to the Illuminate Festival of Lights! Enter to win in the giveaway form below. Good luck!

Illuminate Festival of Lights Ticket Giveaway