Saturday's holiday calendar at H-E-B is less a single party than a grocery-chain variety show. One store is staging a Roaring '20s countdown. Another is serving a Hawaiian Christmas. A third is parking Santa in a sea of poinsettias. The admission price, at least, does not change with the theme: it is free.
The annual Home for the Holidays celebration runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Nov. 14, CBS Austin reported. The free lineup can include Santa visits, letters to the North Pole, children's crafts, local choir performances and food samples. H-E-B's advice is the unglamorous part: check the local store, because each location is building its own holiday theme rather than running one copied program.
Themes That Do Not Share a Script
South Congress is compressing the season into one afternoon, with Thanksgiving and Christmas activities that end at a Roaring '20s New Year's party and hourly countdown toasts. Manor, at 13100 FM 973, heads the other direction: a Hawaiian Christmas with island-inspired dishes, plus Santa, the Grinch and the Bunny from A Christmas Story.
Dripping Springs, at 598 E. US 290, is putting up a 20-foot holiday display anchored by a 10-foot tree and a live Grinch. Burnet Road is doing a Dr. Seuss Christmas with the Grinch and Santa, then adding a mariachi band from 1 to 2 p.m. At Village at Westlake in West Lake Hills, 701 S. Capital of Texas Highway, Santa is surrounded by more than 300 poinsettias, two oversized nutcrackers and a DJ.
Crafts, Choirs and a Shared Canvas
Riverside is asking customers to paint numbered sections of a community canvas, with the store saying the artwork will be finished together by day's end. That store is also raffling three Buddy gift baskets. North Lamar and Rundberg, at 9414 N. Lamar Blvd., has a gingerbread house contest, a kids' building station and Santa with friends.
Georgetown's Parmer Ranch store is working a holiday-traditions theme with Santa, the Grinch and Cindy Lou Who, ornament painting, and a live tree decorated with ornaments shoppers can buy. Hutto Plus!, at 5000 Gattis School Road, brings Hutto ISD carolers, free crafts, Santa photos and a raffle drawn at 4 p.m. La Grange, at 450 E. Travis St., plans Santa and Mrs. Claus in a sleigh under the oak tree, a staged holiday dinner table, cookie-plate decorating, a Christmas movie corner and an Angel Tree gift drive.
Round Rock Plus! on Highway 79 is offering Santa photos and a wood-burned ornament station. Leander's Ronald Reagan store pairs a Thanksgiving-and-Christmas theme with demo stations, Santa and letters to the North Pole. Nutty Brown is going nutcracker, with live acoustic holiday music, Santa, a snowflake and hot chocolate. Bastrop has an Elf on the Shelf scavenger hunt, Santa, the Grinch, cookies with Buddy and a holiday cookbook activity.
Choirs are on the circuit too. Covington Middle School's sixth-grade choir is set to perform at the Brodie Lane store, 6900 Brodie Lane. Wells Branch is pairing Santa photos and a family photo booth with a middle school choir and a customer raffle.
Another Free Stop the Same Morning
The Saturday retail calendar is not limited to the grocery aisle. Austin Fun for Kids lists a free holiday-engine craft at Austin-area Lowe's stores from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
For H-E-B, the useful distinction is the store, not the chain logo. A family that wants mariachi, poinsettia Santa or a 4 p.m. raffle drawing needs the location that actually scheduled it. The chain's own instruction still does the last bit of work: check that store before you load the car.
