Rally the corgi has sniffed out the best Christmas events for kids in Surprise for 2026, and here is what he found: 3 family events. They are Clay Hand Impression Ornaments (from November 27), Merry & Bright Family Paint Night (December 4) and Kids Paint Night: Grinch Plate (December 11). We check every date on the host’s own website, and each listing links straight there. For the rest of the state, see our Arizona Christmas events for kids guide.
What Rally found in Surprise
- 3 Christmas events for kids in Surprise
- Also on the list: 3 craft workshops
- Season: November 27 (Clay Hand Impression Ornaments) to December 11 (Kids Paint Night: Grinch Plate)
- Every date checked on the host’s own site on Nov 10
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Ticketed and paid Christmas events for kids in Surprise
Admission, tickets or a fee apply. Where a host has not posted a price yet, the listing says so.
Holiday crafts
Clay Hand Impression Ornaments
- When: Friday, November 27, 2026 to Sunday, November 29, 2026 (Daily over Black Friday weekend, by 15-minute appointment. The organizer's page lists no appointment hours.)
- Where: As You Wish Pottery, 13276 N Prasada Pkwy, Surprise, AZ 85388 (opens in maps)
- Cost: $25 per ornament, appointment required
- Ages: Recommended for ages 10 and under
Expand to see the parent tip
During a short appointment your child presses a hand into soft clay, and the studio takes over from there. The team shapes the print into a Santa ornament, then paints, glazes and kiln-fires it, so there is nothing left for you to finish at home.
Appointments last 15 minutes and are offered only over Black Friday weekend, November 27 to 29, 2026. Each ornament costs $25, and you reserve a spot through the sign-up link on the studio's workshops page. The page does not list appointment hours or say when the finished ornaments can be collected.
Parent tip: The studio recommends this for children 10 and under, and at 15 minutes it suits babies and toddlers who would not last through a full painting session. The price is per ornament, so decide before you book how many prints you want for grandparents.
- Host
- As You Wish Pottery (opens in a new tab)
- Address
- As You Wish Pottery, 13276 N Prasada Pkwy, Surprise, AZ 85388 (opens in maps)
- Confirmed
- On the host’s page, checked
New Surprise events every week
Rally researches Christmas events in Surprise daily and updates this page with new events. Enter your email to get a weekly update with new events in Surprise.
Free. Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy policy (opens in a new tab)
Rally’s Christmas research
Rally the corgi has 2 more Surprise 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 Surprise.
- Exclusive access to free events Find the free Christmas events in Surprise 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
- 3 Crafts
Enter your email to get new Christmas events in Surprise every week.
Holiday crafts
Merry & Bright Family Paint Night
- When: Friday, December 4, 2026, 6 to 9 pm
- Where: As You Wish Pottery, 13276 N Prasada Pkwy, Surprise, AZ 85388 (opens in maps)
- Cost: $15 plus the price of the pottery you choose
- Ages: Families
Expand to see the parent tip
The whole family is invited to show up in Christmas pajamas and spend the evening painting pottery side by side. You choose your own pieces, so the night can produce handmade gifts, a keepsake for your own holiday traditions, or just something you made together.
It takes place on Friday, December 4, 2026, from 6 to 9 pm. The cost is $15 plus the price of the pottery you pick, and spots are reserved through the sign-up link on the studio's workshops page.
Parent tip: Three hours is a long stretch for small painters, so give the youngest a small piece and let them finish early. Pottery is priced on top of the $15 fee, so agree on a budget per child before you reach the shelves.
- Host
- As You Wish Pottery (opens in a new tab)
- Address
- As You Wish Pottery, 13276 N Prasada Pkwy, Surprise, AZ 85388 (opens in maps)
- Confirmed
- On the host’s page, checked
New Surprise events every week
Rally researches Christmas events in Surprise daily and updates this page with new events. Enter your email to get a weekly update with new events in Surprise.
Free. Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy policy (opens in a new tab)
Holiday crafts
Kids Paint Night: Grinch Plate
- When: Friday, December 11, 2026, 6:30 to 8 pm
- Where: As You Wish Pottery, 13276 N Prasada Pkwy, Surprise, AZ 85388 (opens in maps)
- Cost: $35 per child, all inclusive
- Ages: Kids
Expand to see the parent tip
Every child in this class receives a Grinch sticker made for the night that acts as a stencil and leaves a clean outline on the plate. After that it works like a coloring book: kids fill in the shapes with bright paint until the Grinch appears.
The class meets on Friday, December 11, 2026, from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. The $35 price is all inclusive, and you sign up in advance through the studio's workshops page.
Parent tip: The sticker outline means a child who is not confident at drawing still goes home with a plate that looks like the Grinch, which makes this a good first pottery class. The page gives no age range, so ask the studio before signing up a preschooler.
- Host
- As You Wish Pottery (opens in a new tab)
- Address
- As You Wish Pottery, 13276 N Prasada Pkwy, Surprise, AZ 85388 (opens in maps)
- Confirmed
- On the host’s page, checked
New Surprise events every week
Rally researches Christmas events in Surprise daily and updates this page with new events. Enter your email to get a weekly update with new events in Surprise.
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 Arizona Christmas train rides page.
See every event on a December calendar
Plan your December
When each Surprise Christmas event for kids happens
The first is Clay Hand Impression Ornaments in Surprise on November 27; the last runs to December 11. Each bar spans an event’s dates, not every hour in them, so check the host’s page for times.
- Clay Hand Impression OrnamentsSurprise · Nov 27 to Nov 29
- Merry & Bright Family Paint NightSurprise · Dec 4
- Kids Paint Night: Grinch PlateSurprise · Dec 11
Looking further afield? Our Arizona Christmas events for kids guide lists every event we have found in the state, and we have city guides for Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa and Chandler. 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 Amazon2026 Christmas events are coming in late November
More Christmas events arrive in late November. We add them here as soon as we confirm them.
The story of Christmas in Surprise
Surprise was founded in 1938 by Flora Mae Statler, and one version of the story says she chose the name because she would be surprised if the town ever amounted to much. More than 143,000 people live here now, and each December families gather at a local pottery studio to make Christmas keepsakes by hand.
How Surprise celebrates
Christmas for families in Surprise has a hands-on side. As You Wish Pottery opens the season over Black Friday weekend with Clay Hand Impression Ornaments, where a child's handprint becomes a Santa ornament. On December 4 it holds a Merry & Bright Family Paint Night that invites everyone to arrive in Christmas pajamas, and on December 11 kids paint a Grinch plate at a class of their own. The city also puts on its own Christmas event, Sparkling Surprise, at the recreation campus at the city center, the same campus that holds Surprise Community Park and the Surprise Regional Library.
Fun facts about Christmas in Surprise
Surprise was founded in 1938 and incorporated as a city in 1960. When the land was first subdivided, the one square mile townsite held only a few houses and a gas station. City Hall stands on the site of a former auxiliary airfield of Luke Air Force Base, and the outline of the old runways can still be seen in aerial photos. The population reached 143,148 at the 2020 census, up from 30,848 in 2000.
Traditions today
- Clay Hand Impression Ornaments: Over Black Friday weekend, As You Wish Pottery takes a child's handprint in clay and turns it into a painted, kiln-fired Santa ornament.
- Merry & Bright Family Paint Night: On the first Friday of December, families paint pottery together at the studio, many of them in Christmas pajamas.
- Grinch Plate Paint Night: Kids use a Grinch sticker as a stencil and fill in a holiday plate with bright paint at a class on December 11.
- Sparkling Surprise: The city's own Christmas event, Sparkling Surprise, is held at the recreation campus that is also home to Surprise Community Park.
A fact for kids
Nobody is completely sure how Surprise got its name. One story says the founder would have been surprised if the town ever amounted to much, and another points to a town called Surprise in Nebraska.
Questions about Christmas in Surprise
When was Surprise, Arizona founded?
Surprise was founded in 1938 by Flora Mae Statler, the daughter of Charles Gillett, an Arizona pioneer who helped found Glendale. For years city officials credited her husband, Homer C. Ludden, but property records found in 2010 showed Statler owned the land before she met him.
How did Surprise get its name?
The usual story is that Flora Mae Statler said she would be surprised if the town ever amounted to much, and her daughter backed that account. The claim is contested, because her husband came from Surprise, Nebraska, and settlers often named new places after their hometowns.
When did Surprise become a city?
Surprise incorporated as a city in 1960. In its early days the townsite was a one square mile parcel subdivided for inexpensive houses for agricultural workers, with only a few houses and a gas station. The original townsite lies between Greenway, El Mirage, Bell and Dysart roads.
How many people live in Surprise?
The population was 143,148 at the 2020 census. That is up from 117,517 in 2010 and 30,848 in 2000, so the city grew more than fourfold in twenty years. It sits in Maricopa County and is part of the Phoenix metropolitan area.
What happens at Christmas for kids in Surprise?
As You Wish Pottery runs three holiday events: Clay Hand Impression Ornaments on November 27 to 29, a Merry & Bright Family Paint Night on December 4, and a Kids Paint Night with a Grinch plate on December 11. The city also hosts a Christmas event called Sparkling Surprise.
Who organizes the Christmas events listed for Surprise?
The three listed events are run by As You Wish Pottery, a paint-your-own pottery studio that posts its workshops and sign-up links on its website. Sparkling Surprise, mentioned in the city's Wikipedia article, is a city event held at the recreation campus.
Are the Christmas events in Surprise free?
The pottery events are paid. The studio lists $25 per handprint ornament, $15 plus the price of pottery for the family paint night, and $35 all inclusive for the Grinch plate class. All three ask you to sign up in advance through the studio's workshops page.
What is at the Surprise recreation campus?
The recreation campus at the city center includes Surprise Community Park, a 25 acre park with a playground, a fishing lake, sport courts and dog parks. The Surprise Regional Library and the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex are there too, and the city holds its Sparkling Surprise Christmas event on the campus.
What used to be on the land where Surprise City Hall stands?
City Hall is located on the site of Luke Air Force Base's former auxiliary airfield No. 3. The airfield is gone, but the outline of its runways can still be made out in aerial photos of the area today.
Sources
- Surprise, Arizona, Wikipedia
- Workshops & Events, As You Wish Pottery
Keep 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 Arizona city.
Surprise Christmas events for kids: questions parents ask
What Christmas events for kids are happening in Surprise in 2026?
Three hands-on events are listed at As You Wish Pottery. Clay Hand Impression Ornaments runs November 27 to 29, the Merry & Bright Family Paint Night is Friday, December 4 from 6 to 9 pm, and the Kids Paint Night with a Grinch plate is Friday, December 11 from 6:30 to 8 pm.
Are there free Christmas events for kids in Surprise?
None of the three events listed here is free. The handprint ornament is $25 each, the Merry & Bright Family Paint Night is $15 plus the price of the pottery you choose, and the Grinch plate class on December 11 is $35 all inclusive.
Where can kids meet Santa in Surprise?
None of these listings includes a visit with Santa. The closest thing is Clay Hand Impression Ornaments on November 27 to 29, where the studio turns your child's handprint into a painted Santa ornament. Check city and community calendars if a Santa photo is what you are after.
Which events need sign-up or tickets?
All three do. Each has a sign-up link on the As You Wish Pottery workshops page. The handprint ornaments are booked as 15-minute appointments, and the studio suggests reserving early because they are offered only over Black Friday weekend. The two paint nights on December 4 and December 11 are also reserved ahead.
What is a good Christmas activity for babies and toddlers in Surprise?
Clay Hand Impression Ornaments, November 27 to 29, is the best fit. The appointment takes about 15 minutes, your child only has to press a hand into clay, and the studio paints and fires the ornament. It is recommended for children ages 10 and under.
Is there a Christmas event the whole family can do together?
Yes. The Merry & Bright Family Paint Night on Friday, December 4, from 6 to 9 pm is meant for the whole family, and everyone is encouraged to wear Christmas pajamas. You paint pottery together, whether that means gifts, keepsakes or just a shared project.
Are there Christmas train rides for kids near Surprise?
Santa trains and holiday train rides have their own guide: Rally Takes the Train’s Arizona Christmas train rides guide. This Surprise guide covers Santa visits, story times, light shows and other events off the rails.
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 every listing on November 10, 2026. Hosts change details, so always confirm on the host’s page before you go.
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.