Austin. Mom. Blog.

We went to Galveston on the 20th and 21st. We stayed at the Moody Gardens hotel and loved it. We have stayed at the hotel before so we weren’t surprised on how kid friendly the hotel was. The hotel had a room set up as “Santa’s Workshop” where the kids could do multiple Christmas crafts. We got to enjoy writing a letter to Santa, making gingerbread necklaces, Christmas door hangers, cookie decorating, and playing several board games. The hotel also had a heated pool. We enjoyed the buffet breakfast in the Terrace Restaurant (which did cost) in the morning. It was a little pricey, but for a kid friendly hotel and the walking distance from the hotel to the Moody Gardens resort, it was worth it. We paid approximately $150, which included taxes. We stayed at the hotel because we were aware of the activities it offered for kids. We knew we wanted to enjoy the Festival of Lights at Moody Gardens. The lights were really nice and we had plenty walking room through the trail. We weren’t inching our way through like we were at “The Trail of Lights” in Austin last year. Last year it was too crowded for us and instead of looking at lights we were just fighting our way to get through. At the Festival of Lights there is a fee of $5.95 a person, but I believe it was worth it. They had an ice skating rink you could have paid to use, but our boys are too little for that. Also, there was plenty of concession stands you could buy hot dogs, nachos, hot chocolate, kettle corn, drinks, and even smores. We got each of our boys a smore kit and they had sticks where you could roast the marshmallows over a large fire pit. The boys really enjoyed it. The cost was $2 per kit. After the lights we had the option to enjoy the aquarium($5 a person), enjoy the 4D theatre Polar Express film ($5 a person), or go sit on Santa’s lap, but we decided to call it a night. We used to have Moody Gardens season passes a few years ago and enjoyed it back then. I would recommend Moody Gardens to any family looking for a small vacation. The weather was so nice over the weekend that we also got to enjoy the beach both days. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect small mini-vacation.