Hanover’s Top 10 Weekend Events (December 12-14)

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If you have been waiting for that perfect mix of cozy, campy, and full-blown holiday chaos, this is your weekend. Grab your favorite people, charge your phone, and pick a lane, whether that is Nutcracker elegance, downtown stroll, queer cookie night, or Krampus-core Christmas cards.

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Without further ado, here are the standout events for a very packed holiday weekend…

Thank you to my Founding Supporters:

Darlene · Brian · Holly · Andy

Founding Supporters help cover the unglamorous pieces that make this newsletter possible, like software, hosting, and the coffee that fuels late-night editing. If Heart of Hanover has helped you find a new favorite spot or feel a little more at home here, I would be honored if you joined them.

Here are the best of the best. Full event details are listed chronologically below.

🧡 Meet the Grinch @ Shoe Orthodontics
💛 LGBTQIA+ Friend Mixer & Cookie Decorating Contest @ Little Fox Coffee & Books
💚 Unhinged Radio Presents A Christmas Carol @ Hanover Little Theatre
💙 Breakfast With Santa @ Pleasant Hill Volunteer Fire Company
💜 Hot Chocolate & Cookie Stroll @ Downtown Hanover
🧡 The Nutcracker @ Eichelberger Performing Arts Center
💛 Holiday Pet Photos & Harlow’s Haven Adoption Event @ Nature’s Pet Place
💚 Fat Bat Brunch with Santa
💙 Live Your Truth Brunch @ David’s Outlook
💜 Pay What You Can Krampus Photoshoot @ The Serpent’s Key

Consider this your permission slip to eat cookies for three meals and call it “supporting local.”

📆 Friday, December 12 | 4:30 PM – 7 PM
📍 1191 Eichelberger Street
💵 Free, toy donation requested for Toys for Tots

Shoe Orthodontics is rolling out the green carpet for their annual Grinch night. Bring your own camera, grab photos with the Grinch, grab complimentary snacks and hot drinks, and let the kids pick up a Grinch goodie bag if they are among the first 50 in line.

They are collecting new, unwrapped toys for Toys for Tots, so if you are able, bring something to help make another kid’s holiday brighter.

📆 Friday, December 12 | 6 PM – 9 PM
📍 125 Broadway
💵 RSVP encouraged

Come decorate cookies, drink eggnog, and actually meet other LGBTQIA+ folks in real life, which is wild, I know. Little Fox is hosting a queer friend mixer with a full cookie decorating setup and a trophy for the winning cookie artist.

It is cozy, low-pressure, and very “found family in a bookstore” energy.

🔗 RSVP Online

📆 Friday, December 12 | 7:30 PM – 9 PM
📆 Saturday, December 13 | 2 PM – 5 PM
📆 Sunday, December 14 | 2 PM – 3:30 PM
📍 360 Blooming Grove Road

Take a peek inside a 1930s radio studio while a full voice cast brings Orson Welles’ adaptation of A Christmas Carol to life. Think live sound effects, classic storytelling, and the comfort of a holiday favorite, just with a vintage radio twist.

Note: This is an Unhinged Productions show, so regular HLT membership benefits do not apply.

🔗 Get Tickets

📆 Saturday, December 13 | 8 AM – 11 AM
📍 3003 Baltimore Pike
💵 Ages 12+ $12, 4–12 $8, Under 3 Free

Pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, hashbrowns, fruit, juice, hot drinks, and the big guy himself. This is a classic “feed the whole crew and let the kids burn off energy at craft tables” kind of morning.

Pay at the door (cash or card), grab breakfast, and get those Santa photos checked off the to-do list.

📆 Saturday, December 13 | 11 AM – 2 PM
📍 805 Baltimore Street

Bring your pets and your people to Nature’s Pet Place for holiday photos and a chance to meet adoptable cats from Harlow’s Haven Cat Rescue. A festive backdrop will be ready. You bring your phone or camera and a cash donation.

High probability of leaving with a new lockscreen photo and a new favorite cat.

📆 Saturday, December 13 | 12 PM – 3 PM
📍 Center Square
💵 Tickets $25, kids 4 and under free with a ticketed adult

Walk your way through downtown while sipping cocoa and collecting cookies like a very festive side quest. Your ticket gets you a souvenir mug, treats at each stop, and a to-go box for the cookies you cannot finish on the spot.

Santa’s Cabin in the Square will also be open 10 AM – 1 PM and 2 PM – 6 PM, so you can stroll, snack, then go say hi to Santa without leaving downtown.

Tickets are expected to sell out, so do not wait until Saturday morning brain kicks in.

🔗 Buy Tickets

📆 Saturday, December 13 | 1 PM & 5 PM
📍 195 Stock Street, Suite 200
💵 $20–$45 in advance, $25–$50 at the door

The Carroll County Dance Center & Ballet Conservatory is bringing The Nutcracker back to the Eich for its 23rd year. From tiny mice to polished soloists, this one is packed with heart, sparkle, and full holiday magic.

Perfect if you want a big, traditional holiday moment that pairs nicely with fancy outfits and too many photos.

🔗 Buy Tickets

📆 Sunday, December 14 | 10 AM – 12 PM

📍 10 N Railroad Street

Free pancakes and sausage with Santa, seasonal crafts, and a laid-back brewery brunch that is totally kid friendly. Bring your camera, your tiny brunch people, and your Sunday morning energy level, whatever it is.

📆 Sunday, December 14 | 11 AM – 3 PM
📍 228 E Chestnut Street
💵 Tickets $25 presale, $35 at the door

Eteam Productions, Hope Project, and Rainbow Rose Center are teaming up for a Live Your Truth drag brunch with an unlimited buffet and drinks. Doors open at 10:30 AM, brunch at 11 AM, show at 12 PM.

It is 18+ (16–17 with an adult), queer-affirming, and guaranteed to be more fun than pretending you like small talk at a regular brunch.

📆 Sunday, December 14 | 11 AM – 3 PM
📍 28 Carlisle Street|
💵 Pay What You Can

Captured Minno Photography is back at The Serpent’s Key with their Krampus photoshoot, perfect if your holiday vibe is “slightly unhinged but festive.”

Reserve a time slot online for free, show up on Sunday, and pay what you can via cash or PayPal. Great for spooky holiday cards, goth family portraits, or bribing the kids into good behavior with the threat of Krampus.

These are just a few of the happenings around town. The Heart of Hanover events calendar is packed full of fun things to do.

👉 View the Full Calendar

If your December feels like a weird mix of joy, exhaustion, and cookie crumbs, you are not alone. You do not have to hit every event or squeeze in every tradition for this season to count. Pick one or two things that feel fun, show up as you are, and call it a win.

Thank you for reading, sharing, forwarding this to friends, and generally proving that Hanover really does show up for Hanover. I will be back soon with more stories, more events, and probably more reasons to eat baked goods in public.

Thank you to this week’s sponsors, Pique Life and Livelong Media.

I’ll be back tomorrow. Same time, same place!

XoXo,
Megan

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