Tacoma's Best Holiday Light Houses

Fifteen houses and one foundry smokestack around Tacoma, University Place and Fircrest that went big on holiday lights, grouped into four free evening drives. Starts from Grit City Magazine's 2025 list.

Some of the best holiday lights in Tacoma don’t need a ticket. They’re on a house on South L Street with light-up toy soldiers, or strung up a foundry smokestack on Wilkeson. Last December, Grit City Magazine’s Sierra Hartman drove around town finding them, and her list is where this one starts.

The houses below are sorted into four drives, so you can pick one per evening: the North End, the west side out to University Place and Fircrest, central Tacoma, and the South End.

Prefer a map? Every house is on the holiday lights map, where you can filter by year and part of town and save the ones you want.

Before you go

These were last year’s lights. Every display here was up in December 2025. People change their setups, move, or take a year off, so some may look different this year.

There are no hours. Go after dark. Grit City found several displays knocked over or switched off after December storms, so a calm, dry night is your best bet.

These are people’s homes. Look from the car or the sidewalk, don’t block driveways, and drive slowly. Grit City suggests leaving the owners a thank-you note.

Small kids can see from the car. Several of these houses hang their lights high enough for small kids to see them from the back seat.

Want the ticketed displays instead? Zoolights, Fantasy Lights and the rest are in Holiday Lights Around Tacoma.

North End

1. 3724 N 22nd St

Large, very bright light balls hang in the trees, bright enough to make you squint. The address is spelled out in lights too. It’s a good place to get a photo of the kids.

2. 3302 N Villard St

The bare winter trees are covered in lights, which takes a lot of effort on a ladder.

3. 5120 N 44th St

There’s a manger scene with an inflatable baby Jesus. Last year the wind got to the manger, but the bushes were still completely covered in lights.

4. 4504 N Visscher St

Lots of tiny lights, hung high enough to see from a car seat.

West End, University Place and Fircrest

5. 6915 N 11th St

There’s a boat in the yard. Grit City couldn’t tell whether it stays there all year. The house is on a neighborhood street off the main road, so watch the house numbers.

6. 5110 S 11th St

This one uses hard plastic light-up statues instead of inflatables, mounted up high where kids in car seats can see them.

7. 2721 Sunset Dr W, University Place

Every light is a blue-white LED, which gives the whole house a cool, icy look. It’s easy to see from the car.

8. 3328 Sunset Dr W, University Place

This display has its own Facebook page, linked from Grit City’s article. The lights were off when Grit City drove past, maybe because of the weather or the hour, so this one is worth a second try.

9. 1311 Magnolia Ct, Fircrest

The greetings are in Tagalog, including Maligayang Pasko (Merry Christmas), and there’s a yellow fire hydrant in the yard.

Central Tacoma

10. 2918 S 14th St

Grit City spotted this one just driving by. The author’s five-year-old rated it above the top of the scale.

11. 2125 S Wilkeson St

The star is a helicopter inflatable that stayed up through the wind. You can see most of it from the car, but two other houses nearby have displays too, so park and walk the block.

12. Atlas foundry smokestack, S Wilkeson St near S 30th St

Farther south on Wilkeson, someone climbed the smokestack at the Atlas foundry and strung it with lights. It’s a working industrial site, so look from the street.

South Tacoma and the South End

13. 5611 S Huson St

Bright LED colors and iridescent deer. It’s a little out of the way, near South 56th Street.

14. 6466 S M St

Lots of pieces, all chosen to go with the house. Grit City called it classy.

15. 6464 S L St

Candy canes, lots of light-up figures and a clever sign. The wind knocked over a couple of the toy soldiers last year.

16. 6307 S C St

Rainbow lights. Look across the street too: 6308 is just as colorful.

Know a house we missed?

Email hello@tacomairl.com with the address and a line about what’s in the yard, and we’ll take a look. If it’s your house and you’d rather not be listed, email the same address and we’ll take it off.

Grit City also keeps a master map of houses from past years.