Rally the corgi has sniffed out the Christmas events for kids in Council Bluffs for 2026. Santa serves breakfast in the Historic General Dodge House ballroom on Saturday, December 5, PACE hosts a family gingerbread house competition at the Hoff Center on Wednesday, December 9, and Family Night brings Santa, crafts and cocoa to the Dodge House on Thursday, December 10. We check every date on the host’s own website or the official visitors bureau calendar and link straight there. For the rest of the state, see our Iowa Christmas events for kids guide.
What Rally found in Council Bluffs
- 3 Christmas events for kids in Council Bluffs
- Breakfast With Santa: Saturday, December 5, 10 am, Dodge House
- Family Gingerbread House Competition: Wednesday, December 9, 5 pm, Hoff Center
- Family Night with Santa: Thursday, December 10, 6 pm to 8 pm
- Every date checked on official pages on Nov 11
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Ticketed and paid Christmas events for kids in Council Bluffs
Admission, tickets or a fee apply. Where a host has not posted a price yet, the listing says so.
Event hosts: free events are listed first. The #1 spot puts your event at the top of this page.Inquire about the #1 spotAdd your event for free
Breakfast with Santa
Breakfast With Santa at the General Dodge House
- When: Saturday, December 5, 2026, one seating at 10 am (doors 9:45 am). Pre-registration required by December 3
- Where: Historic General Dodge House, 3rd Floor Ballroom, 605 S 3rd St, Council Bluffs, IA 51503 (opens in maps)
- Cost: $15 per person, children 2 and under free but still need a reservation. All sales final
- Ages: All ages
Expand to see the parent tip
Santa joins families for breakfast in the third-floor ballroom of the 1869 Victorian home of General Grenville Dodge, with a reading of “The Night Before Christmas” before the crafts start.
After eating, kids head to the basement for a holiday craft, and parents can take their own photos of each child with Santa and his sleigh.
Parent tip: There is only one seating and no elevator to the ballroom, so reserve early and leave the stroller in the car.
- Host
- The General's Ladies of the Historic General Dodge House (opens in a new tab)
- Address
- Historic General Dodge House, 3rd Floor Ballroom, 605 S 3rd St, Council Bluffs, IA 51503 (opens in maps)
- Confirmed
- On the host’s page, checked
New Council Bluffs events every week
Rally researches Christmas events in Council Bluffs daily and updates this page with new events. Enter your email to get a weekly update with new events in Council Bluffs.
Free. Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy policy (opens in a new tab)
Rally’s Christmas research
Rally the corgi has 2 more Council Bluffs events researched for you.
- New events every week We research new events daily and send you one email a week with the new ones we find in Council Bluffs.
- Exclusive access to free events Find the free Christmas events in Council Bluffs before they fill up.
- Unlock the filters Find Santa visits, free events and weekend plans in one tap.
- Rally’s Christmas Eve Express and a free advent calendar Get early access to Rally the corgi’s Christmas Eve tracker, plus a free digital advent calendar to count down to Christmas.
- One-tap add to calendar Save any event to your Google, Apple or Outlook calendar so you never miss it.
Coming up on this page
- 2 Santa
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Enter your email to get new Christmas events in Council Bluffs every week.
Santa visit
Family Night at the Dodge House
- When: Thursday, December 10, 2026, 6 pm to 8 pm
- Where: Beresheim House and Historic General Dodge House, 621 S 3rd St, Council Bluffs, IA 51503 (opens in maps)
- Cost: $15 per family of up to 2 adults and 6 children, pay at the door
- Ages: All ages
Expand to see the parent tip
This weeknight open house starts next door in the Beresheim House, where kids visit Santa and make a Christmas craft.
Families then walk over to tour the decorated Dodge House rooms and finish with cookies and cocoa up in the ballroom.
Parent tip: One $15 ticket covers a family of up to eight, and you pay at the door, so it is an easy last-minute plan on a school night.
- Host
- Historic General Dodge House (opens in a new tab)
- Address
- Beresheim House and Historic General Dodge House, 621 S 3rd St, Council Bluffs, IA 51503 (opens in maps)
- Confirmed
- On the host’s page, checked
New Council Bluffs events every week
Rally researches Christmas events in Council Bluffs daily and updates this page with new events. Enter your email to get a weekly update with new events in Council Bluffs.
Free. Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy policy (opens in a new tab)
Gingerbread house making
Family Gingerbread House Competition
- When: Wednesday, December 9, 2026, 5 pm to 7:30 pm
- Where: Hoff Family Arts & Culture Center, 1001 S 6th St, Council Bluffs, IA 51503 (opens in maps)
- Cost: Registration covers a family of up to 5 people, all supplies provided
- Ages: Families
Expand to see the parent tip
PACE turns the Hoff Family Arts & Culture Center into a gingerbread workshop where each family gets one hour to build and decorate a house together.
All the candy and icing are supplied, and the finished houses are judged against the other families, which makes it a fun first competition for younger kids.
Parent tip: Registration covers five people. For a bigger crew, contact the PACE box office to add extra family members.
- Host
- PACE (Pottawattamie Arts, Culture & Entertainment) (opens in a new tab)
- Address
- Hoff Family Arts & Culture Center, 1001 S 6th St, Council Bluffs, IA 51503 (opens in maps)
- Confirmed
- On the host’s page, checked
New Council Bluffs events every week
Rally researches Christmas events in Council Bluffs daily and updates this page with new events. Enter your email to get a weekly update with new events in Council Bluffs.
Free. Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy policy (opens in a new tab)
We check every event above on the host’s own page for the date, time and cost, plus the things parents ask about, like sign-ups and ages. Looking for a Santa train instead? Those are on our Iowa Christmas train rides page.
See every event on a December calendar
Plan your December
When each Council Bluffs Christmas event for kids happens
Book Breakfast With Santa first since it is a single seating that closes December 3, then keep the following week for the gingerbread contest and Family Night.
- Breakfast With Santa at the General Dodge HouseCouncil Bluffs · Dec 5
- Family Gingerbread House CompetitionCouncil Bluffs · Dec 9
- Family Night at the Dodge HouseCouncil Bluffs · Dec 10
Looking further afield? Our Iowa Christmas events for kids guide lists every confirmed event in the state, and we have city guides for Sioux City, Des Moines, Altoona and Ames. The national search sorts every event by distance from your town.
A story for the drive home
A morning with Santa or an evening of holiday stories tends to end the same way: tired kids, a long drive and one more book before bed. Our picture book follows Rally the corgi on his first train ride to see his grand-paw-rents, and every page is painted by hand. If your family is spending December missing someone, it was written for that too. For the car, print our free corgi and train coloring pages.
A bedtime story after seeing SantaRally Takes the Train is a five-minute rhyming picture book about a corgi’s first ride on a California train, hand-painted in watercolor. $16.99 on Amazon, ages 0 to 8.
Buy on AmazonKeep the Christmas magic going: track Rally the corgi on Christmas Eve, print free Christmas coloring pages, learn how to say Merry Christmas in 100+ languages, find train museums to visit with kids, or browse Christmas events in every Iowa city.
Council Bluffs Christmas events for kids: questions parents ask
What are the best Christmas events for kids in Council Bluffs this year?
Rally Takes the Train has confirmed 3 Christmas events for kids in Council Bluffs for 2026: Breakfast With Santa at the Historic General Dodge House on December 5, the PACE Family Gingerbread House Competition on December 9, and Family Night with Santa at the Dodge House on December 10.
When is Breakfast With Santa at the General Dodge House?
Saturday, December 5, 2026, with one seating at 10 am and doors at 9:45 am in the third-floor ballroom at 605 South 3rd Street. It is $15 per person, children 2 and under are free with a reservation, and registration ends December 3.
How much is Family Night at the Dodge House?
$15 per family of up to 2 adults and 6 children, paid at the door. It runs 6 pm to 8 pm on Thursday, December 10, starting at the Beresheim House at 621 South 3rd Street.
Is the Dodge House ballroom accessible?
The breakfast is held in the third-floor ballroom and there is no elevator, so plan on stairs.
Who do I contact about Council Bluffs Christmas events?
The Historic General Dodge House at gmdodge@dodgehouse.org, and PACE at boxoffice@paceartsiowa.org for the gingerbread competition.
Are there Christmas train rides for kids in Iowa?
Yes. Santa trains and holiday train rides have their own guide: Rally Takes the Train’s Iowa Christmas train rides page.
How do you confirm these events?
We list an event only after we find this season’s date on the host’s own website or an official city or tourism calendar. We last checked Council Bluffs on November 11, 2026. Rally is also contacting each organizer to confirm details like parking, restrooms and bad-weather plans.
Event names belong to their hosts. Rally Takes the Train is a family picture book and is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by any host listed here. Confirm dates, times and prices on each host’s own site before you go.