A New York City Holiday Windows Guide

We’re officially in December and the holidays are a beautiful opportunity to fall in love with New York all over again. The city is alight and glowing and there’s a plethora of unique and cheer-inducing activities happening.

This week we’ve got a look at a classic New York December activity, visiting department store holiday displays. The big retailers in town don’t hold back when it comes to holiday displays. The care, attention to detail and resulting magic created by large teams of people over the course of the year are at the heart of this holiday tradition.

The star of the holiday season with the big Thanksgiving Day Parade, Macy’s follows it up with world class window displays. Since 1874, Macy’s has created whimsical worlds in its windows to share the spirit of the holidays. This year, the theme is “give love”. Macy’s now makes their displays interactive, and this holiday season, you can press a button to light up what you’re wishing for. And get ready to be a part of the display yourself: there’s a selfie station that puts your face in the display.

Macy’s Herald Square

151 W 34th St

New York, NY 10001

This year Elton John helped to inaugurate the Saks holiday display and light show.

The Saks holiday light show is composed of thousands of LED lights that are synchronized to holiday music. The lights are projected onto the side of Sak’s flagship store every 10 minutes from 5- 11pm daily. The lighting is illuminated from within the windows and coordinates with the light show on the building’s exterior. The show features a holiday medley of Elton John songs, including “Step into Christmas,”

The six center windows on Fifth Avenue were inspired by the theme of heartwarming holiday gifts from years past and the partnership with the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Bright colors and creative details bring the windows to life. There’s also a nod to John and his larger-than-life personality in this year’s decorations.

Saks 5th Avenue

611 5th Ave

New York, NY 10022

Not one to be outdone, this year, Bloomingdale’s opened its holiday windows with a performance from performer Billy Porter. The windows this year inspire the “spirit of the season,” through “gift-giving” and “memory-making”. Each window brings special moments to life with outsized panoramas that include wrapping paper, ribbon and scissors, champagne glasses and more. There’s also a toy workshop, and a three-dimensional camera with images of holiday cards.

Bloomingdale’s

1000 Third Ave

New York, NY 10022

Bergdorf Goodman’s theme this year is “Magic in the Making”. The show’s goal is to feature the behind the scenes work and labors of love that create luxury. The display was created in 10 months time with over 10,000 hours of work. The windows will feature the imagination and the highly skilled work that is needed to create specialty items such as woodcraft, dress-making, mosaics, papier-mâché, metal craft and more. They include a mosaic magician surrounded by colorful animals and wooden birds; 17th century paper artisans and more.

Bergdorf Goodman

754 5th Ave

New York, NY 10019

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*Due to Covid-19 our restaurant, cafe and gym will remain closed for a time.