I’ve photographed the Arboretum at Christmas more times than I can count, and there’s a particular moment I’ve come to expect: you round the path and there’s a 25-foot glass gazebo with eleven pipers mid-song inside it.
That moment has an expiration date now.
The Dallas Arboretum announced this month that 2026 is the final season for the 12 Days of Christmas gazebos. After twelve years, they’re being retired. If seeing them has been part of your December — or if you’ve been meaning to go and never have — this is the year!
What’s Happening to the Dallas Arboretum’s 12 Days of Christmas Exhibit
The gazebos will be up for one more full season, running November 11, 2026 through January 3, 2027. Nothing is being cut short; the Dallas Arboretum is giving them a proper send-off rather than quietly pulling them.
The reason is straightforward and, honestly, kind of respectful: the animatronics inside are wearing out. Sabina H. Carr, the Arboretum’s President and CEO, put it this way:
“The Arboretum made the decision to retire the Gazebos with the dignity they deserve, giving Dallas the sendoff twelve years of Christmas memories have earned, rather than allowing the experience to diminish.”
Which is the right call. I’d rather remember them lit and working than watch a drummer’s arm stutter for three more seasons!
They Were Never Supposed to Last This Long
Here’s the part I didn’t know until I went digging: the gazebos were only built for a five-year run. They lasted twelve because Dallas wouldn’t let them go.
“When the Gazebos first appeared in 2014, they were designed for a five-year run. What happened next is a testament to this community. Dallas embraced them, returned to them season after season, and made them part of its Holidays. Families built traditions around them. Children grew up with them. The city made them its own.” — Sabina H. Carr
My husband and I know this feeling all too well! Our first visit was just the two of us. But we’ve gone back year over year, now with two kids in tow. We’ve even made it a habit of capturing the same family photo in front of the charming Christmas Village houses!
(Sigh of relief at the fact that the Christmas Village isn’t going anywhere!)
One thing we’ve yet to do is see the 12 Days of Christmas gazebos after dark, so you can bet we’re adding that to our Christmas bucketlist this year!
What Went Into Building the 12 Days of Christmas Exhibit
I’d always assumed the gazebos were elaborate. I did not appreciate how elaborate until I looked up the numbers, and now I’m blown away:
- 25 feet tall, each one encased in glass
- 25,963 pounds of aluminum across all twelve — roughly 11.8 million soda cans’ worth!
- 536 individual panes of glass
- 28,328 rhinestones set into the columns
- 30,456 berries on the transoms, every one carved from wood
- 55 mannequins, every face hand-painted with its own expression
- 16,000+ hours of labor to build, and eight weeks just to assemble on site
- Designed by people from the Dallas Opera and Dallas Stage Scenery, with Texas artists and vendors doing the work
- Design started in 2012 — two full years before opening night
- The Arboretum has called it a $2 million, one-of-a-kind event
Twelve years of Decembers out of a five-year build. That’s a good run.
What Will Replace the 12 Days of Christmas Exhibit
The gazebos are going, but Holiday at the Arboretum isn’t!
In 2027, the Arboretum is bringing in HYBYCOZO — a light and geometric sculpture installation of large illuminated forms drawing on mathematics, science, nature, and traditions from around the world. It will run from November 2027 through February 2028, so it’s a longer season than the gazebos had.
Then in 2028, an entirely new holiday experience will arrive.
The Christmas Village and the light displays will stay through all of it. So the walk, the 500,000+ lights, the 50-foot Dazzling Musical Tree— those aren’t going anywhere. It’s specifically the twelve gazebos that are taking a bow.
How to See the 12 Days of Christmas Before They’re Gone
As a local who has visited the Arboretum at different times each Christmas season, my honest advice is to go on a weekday if you want fewer crowds — either early in the season or in that quiet window right after Christmas. If your family runs on early bedtimes, a daytime visit is lovely, and honestly better for clear photos. Since we’ve only ever visited during the day, the 6–9pm evening slot is the one we’re finally doing this year, to see all twelve gazebos lit.
A few other things worth planning around:
- Book ahead: Advance tickets are required, and this is the year I’m guessing a lot of DFW will decide they need to go one last time. December weekends will move fast!
- The full route is about three-quarters of a mile: Wear comfortable shoes, and give yourself more time than you think.
- Photography is allowed without flash: which, for glass-sided gazebos, is genuinely the better setting anyway!
- Watch for the sing-alongs: The Arboretum has said the final season includes special programming, including nightly sing-alongs in the Christmas Village.
I’ve put everything else — the Christmas Village, the DeGolyer House, food, parking, my favorite spots to shoot — in my full guide to Holiday at the Arboretum. Start there if this is your first visit!
One Last Time
Twelve drummers, eleven pipers, ten lords, and a partridge that’s been in a pear tree since 2014. Go see them!
