A Christmas Party - in an Igloo!
As I mentioned in a previous post, Omaha Zoo’s Zoolightful is really delightful!
Since we were going to be in town on Christmas this year, I decided to surprise my family and reserve a decorated igloo at the zoo for the evening (6-9 pm) of December 26. While the family did happen to figure out the surprise, it was still fun to watch their reactions when they saw the light displays and the inside of our igloo, named Frosty and Bright. The igloo was decorated as cute as a button and was the perfect size for our group of five (I told the kids they could invite two friends and my son invited a friend.)
The igloo was fairly warm despite the recent snow but there were a couple of blankets available. There was a cute small couch, two comfortable chairs, and 3 smaller metal chairs. The door was able to be zipped so the heat stayed in. The cozy space also featured a skinny decorated Christmas tree, a small fireplace, several cute pillows, several games, a music speaker which we didn’t use because we could hear Christmas music playing outside, a table to put food and play games, plush snowballs for a snowball fight, and a few adorable snowman. You could either order food ahead of time or visit the Treetops Restaurant, the theater, and one other location and bring food back to the igloo. I had preordered a charcuterie board and a tray of cookies, plus a s’mores kit. If you needed drinks or something, you could press a button on the table and someone would come to your igloo and assist.
We dug into our food, walked around and viewed the dazzling lights and took outdoor photos, and then went back to the igloo to play UNO Wild and “roast” (I.e. heat) marshmallows on a tiny heater and made s’mores. And of course we took photos and had a snowball fight! I think that might have been my daughter’s favorite part. 😉
I have to admit the experience was the highlight of my Christmas with my immediate family. It was a total hoot and everyone enjoyed it. If the zoo offers this next year, I’d encourage you to tuck a bit of money away each month and reserve an igloo for an evening with family and friends!
