Things to do in Boise this winter, 2025 edition

Things to do in Boise this winter, by category

Holiday lights worth the drive

Winter Garden aGlow at the Idaho Botanical Garden is the big one this year, running November 28 through December 31, Wednesday through Sunday, 6 to 9pm (the final nights run a discounted 6 to 8pm). It's the Garden's biggest fundraiser of the year, every bulb hand-strung by volunteers, and tickets are worth buying directly through the Garden rather than a resale site, since resale prices tend to run well above face value. If you'd rather stay in the car, Christmas in Color in Garden City is a drive-through animated light show, an easy pick for a night with young kids already in pajamas. Scentsy Commons in Meridian rounds things out with over 700,000 lights and 450 decorated trees, worth the drive out on its own.

Ice skating around the valley

There are three real options this year. Ice World on Eisenman Road in Boise is the standard drop-in rink. The Caldwell Ice Ribbon at Indian Creek Plaza adds a bit more atmosphere if you're already out that way. And The Village at Meridian runs its own seasonal rink too, though that one requires reserving a time slot ahead of your visit rather than just showing up.

Bogus Basin

Opening day for the 2025/26 season lands on Saturday, November 29, with day tickets running $15 for opening weekend. Full daily operations kick off December 1, with lifts running 10am to 4:30pm on weekdays and 9am to 4:30pm on weekends, and night skiing joins the schedule December 9, extending hours out to 10pm. Sixteen miles from downtown and genuinely easy to get to after work or on a weekend morning. Beyond skiing and snowboarding, there's an 800-foot tubing hill for anyone not ready to strap into skis, plus 37 kilometers of groomed Nordic trails if snowshoeing or cross-country is more your speed.

Festival of Trees

The Saint Alphonsus Festival of Trees runs its general exhibition November 26 through 30 at the Boise Centre, 10am to 8pm daily, with a more formal gala kicking things off on November 25 and a fashion show closing it out December 1. Admission runs $14 for adults and $9 for seniors, military, and kids ages 3 to 12, with a North Pole Village, a scavenger hunt, and Santa visits built into the general exhibition. It's an easy one to fold into a Thanksgiving weekend visit from family if you've got guests in town.

New Year's Eve

Boise closes out the year with its own tradition, the Idaho Potato Drop downtown, a free, all-ages, charitable event with an illuminated potato descending at midnight in place of a ball. There's also an Urban Rail Jam earlier in the night, skiers and snowboarders competing on rail features built right into the downtown streets, using snow trucked in from Bogus Basin. It's exactly as charming and as Boise as it sounds, and worth building your New Year's plans around at least once.

Winter is when Boise actually leans into the season. Holiday lights, a mountain sixteen miles from downtown, and enough going on that staying in isn't the only option.

Here's what's worth bundling up for this year.