Christmas on the Farm: How to Start a Paid Christmas Experience on Your Farm (Trees, Santa, Wreaths and Light Trails) That Families Come Back to Every Year

3 days ago

23 min read

Christmas on the farm: an empty muddy field with a parked tractor beside a glowing red barn with Christmas trees, families carrying a tree, a wreath and a hot cocoa stall

In its first season, Hewitt's Farm Market near Coldwater, Ontario, lined its parking lot with 25 to 30 Christmas displays (reports differ), built with local businesses and clubs, and charged C$10 a carload. The family expected about 100 visitors and made gift bags for the first 100 people through the gate. By Saturday night the bags were gone and cars were backed up 2 km on three roads.

So can your farm earn real money in December? Yes. Families will pay for a Christmas day out on a farm, and you do not need to grow a single tree to start. Pick one paid experience (bought-in trees, a Santa visit, a wreath workshop or a light trail), sell timed tickets online, and build every other sale around that visit.

Field-Tested Play: The short answer

Your pumpkins are gone, but families are still looking for a day out. Charge for the experience, not just the tree. Start with ONE product line this December, sell timed tickets online, cap each slot, and add food, a photo spot and a small shop. Then grow it a little every year so families make you part of their tradition.

Most farms close the gate after Halloween. The fields go quiet and the bills keep coming. Meanwhile, another farm down the road is selling out its Santa days. Same families, same cold weather. One farm built something for December and the other did not.

This guide gives you the Christmas farm ideas, prices and plan to be the farm that builds it.

Why December Is the Month Most Farms Leave Money on the Table

The demand is already there. You do not have to invent it.

Choose-and-cut farms were the No. 1 place Americans bought real Christmas trees in 2023, with 25% of purchases, according to the National Christmas Tree Association (November 2024). From the same survey, NCTA projects that 21.58 million real trees were bought that season, at a median price of US$75.

Bar chart of where Americans bought real Christmas trees in 2023, with choose-and-cut farms first at 25% — Choose-and-cut farms were the top place to buy a real tree in 2023. Source: National Christmas Tree Association, Nov 2024.

The money in trees is growing too. USDA's Economic Research Service reports that about 16,000 US farms cut more than 14.5 million Christmas trees in 2022. That was about 550,000 fewer trees than in 2017, yet sales rose from US$377 million to US$553 million.

Fewer trees, more money: families are paying more for the real thing.

Bar chart showing US Christmas tree sales rising from 377 million dollars in 2017 to 553 million dollars in 2022 — US Christmas tree sales value, 2017 vs 2022. Source: USDA Economic Research Service, Dec 2024.

Farm visits are big business too. US farms and ranches earned US$1.26 billion from agritourism in 2022, up 12.4% from 2017 after inflation (USDA ERS, December 2024). See more in our agritourism statistics roundup.

It is the same story elsewhere:

United Kingdom: 4.9 million households (16%) bought at least one real tree in the 2024 season, spending £194 million, according to the Horticultural Trades Association (December 2025).
Canada: 1,364 farms grew Christmas trees for sale in the 2021 Census of Agriculture, and producers took in just over C$189 million in cash receipts in 2023 (Statistics Canada, December 2024).

Most of those sales are a tree and a goodbye. The farms that do well in December sell a family tradition. Of all the creative off-season revenue streams, Christmas is the one season when families plan a day out and expect to spend.

Four Christmas Farm Ideas That Earn Money (and Which to Start With)

Almost every paid farm Christmas experience is built from four product lines. You can run one, two or all four.

Choose-and-cut trees (your own, or bought in)
Santa experiences
Wreath-making workshops
Light trails and drive-thru lights

Guide chart placing four Christmas product lines by start-up effort and earning potential: wreath workshops, Santa experience, bought-in trees and cocoa, light trail — A rough guide to the four product lines, based on the farm examples in this article. Not measured data.

A wreath workshop is quick to start but earns less per day. A light trail brings thousands but takes months to build. A Santa experience sits in the sweet spot for many farms: it is ticketed, it sells out, and it fits in a barn you already have.

1. Choose-and-Cut Trees (and the Buy-In Model for Farms With No Trees)

Look at Jones Family Farms in Shelton, Connecticut. The family started its Christmas tree farm in the 1940s, and in 2025 its harvest-your-own trees cost US$114 on weekends and US$109 on weekdays, any height. Every one came with a 2025 Connecticut-made pewter ornament.

That ornament changes every year, so collectors come back. Jones also sold pre-cut trees in 2025, from US$20–$45 for a small 3–4 ft elf tree and US$59 for a 5–6 ft tree up to US$200–$500 for a 10–12 ft tree, so families who do not want to cut still buy.

A row of Christmas trees growing in a field on a Christmas tree farm — Illustrative photo, not a farm named in this article. Photo: Loren Cutler on Unsplash.

No trees? You can still sell trees.

Growing your own trees takes years. A typical 6–7 ft tree in the UK is 10–12 years old, according to the British Christmas Tree Growers Association. Even the faster species grown in eastern North Carolina take 3–5 years to reach 6–7 ft, says NC State Extension.

So buy them in. NC State Extension notes that almost all growers in eastern North Carolina also sell some pre-cut Fraser firs bought from mountain growers.

Foxes Farm Produce near Colchester, Essex, did exactly this. Guy and Emily French started by buying in trees to stock their first retail site, while their own Nordmann firs (sourced from Denmark and grown on for up to 10 years) matured (Farmers Weekly, 2018). Today both retail sites sell their own trees.

Grange Farm in Leicestershire grows its own and still buys in extra. The family gave up dairy in 2002, sells up to 400 trees a day at peak, and now earns more than 80% of turnover from retail: trees plus the shop (CPM magazine). "We always find a use for unsaleable trees," says Jim Mount. They go into the café or the grotto.

Pumpkin farmers know this trick. During the 2026 drought, some patches bought in their pumpkins. Bought-in trees work the same way: you sell the day, and the tree is the souvenir. (Growing your own trees will get its own guide soon.)

Reality Check: Home-grown stock runs out

Bluebird Christmas Tree Farm in Tennessee had most of its roughly 300 home-grown trees gone by the end of Thanksgiving weekend in 2024. The owner bought 800 extra trees from North Carolina growers and still closed for the season on 6 December. Line up a buy-in supplier before you open, not after.

For the guest-welcome basics, see my earlier post on hosting a Christmas tree farm experience for the holidays.

2. A Santa Experience on Your Farm

A Santa experience on a farm is the product families book weeks ahead. It is personal, and parents will pay for it.

Park Hall, The Countryside Experience, in Oswestry, Shropshire, has made it a sell-out. Its 2026 prices are £21.95 per child over 2 and £14.95 per adult. The ticket includes all-day entry to the farm park, a visit to Santa and his elves, a gift for every child and a live Christmas show.

In November 2025, joint owner-director Richard Powell told Visit Shropshire: "Tickets are selling fast and usually sell out."

Adam Henson's Cotswold Farm Park in Gloucestershire (Henson and business partner Duncan Andrews are its directors) charges much more. In 2025, its Christmas on the Farm ticket was £56.95 per child and £14.95 per adult (Visit Cheltenham, October 2025). That child ticket covers farm entry, a personal visit with Father Christmas, a make-a-bear activity, a festive sweet-treats activity and a toy-shop gift.

The magic detail: for 2026, parents tell the elves a little about their child in advance, so Father Christmas can greet each child by name.

In the US, Holland Ridge Farms in New Jersey prices Santa per family (up to 10 people): US$20 Monday to Thursday and US$30 Friday to Sunday for 2026–27. Charmingfare Farm in Candia, New Hampshire, listed Santa's Christmas at US$39 in 2025: families ride a horse-drawn wagon or private sleigh to meet Santa in the Reindeer Barn, with live reindeer.

You can start small. The Press and Journal reported that Farm Ness near Inverness began in a farm shed with a pop-up café selling trees, while Donald Fraser of the farm family dressed as Santa. It now has a grotto, a tractor ride and a shop.

Field-Tested Play: Run Santa on your busiest days only

NC State Extension lists having Santa on the busiest days, such as weekends and the day after Thanksgiving, as a way to add value. That way you pay Santa for fewer hours, and the visit feels special.

3. Wreath-Making Workshops

A wreath making workshop is the easiest Christmas product to test. You need a heated room, tables, greenery, rings, wire and someone who can teach.

Here is what farms charge adults for one to two and a half hours:

Odds Farm Park, Buckinghamshire: from £60 standard and £45 for members, for a two-hour florist-led session on 2 December 2026, with a mince pie and mulled wine or tea.
Terhune Orchards, Princeton, New Jersey: US$60 per person for a one-hour wreath in 2025, all supplies included.
Elderberry Farms Estate, Traverse City, Michigan: US$85 in 2025 for a 2.5-hour session led by a florist, with hot cocoa and cookies.

Women making Christmas wreaths from fresh greenery at a workshop table — Illustrative photo, not a farm named in this article. Photo: Hillary Ungson on Unsplash.

Each sells seats, not wreaths, and two of the three add a hot drink and a treat. Elderberry Farms also shows a smart partnership: the farm supplies the setting, a florist supplies the skill.

Finished wreaths sell too. In a Mississippi State University-led extension project, 26 Christmas tree growers sought training in wreaths and garland. The eight who reported sales sold 177 items for US$6,585, an average of US$35 each (Journal of Extension, May 2025).

Drysdale's Tree Farm in Ontario adds a twist: a wreath fundraising programme for schools, churches and sports groups (2021). Every school that sells your wreaths spreads your farm's name.

4. A Christmas Light Trail on Your Farm (or Drive-Thru Lights)

A Christmas light trail on a farm turns a dark winter field into the busiest place in the county.

Big Daddy's Farms in Middlesex, North Carolina, is a family farm that runs a Christmas light show and a Halloween haunt (BusinessNC does not describe it as a tree farm). Co-owner Jason Champion estimates more than a million bulbs. Visitors ride a tractor-pulled hayride through the lights, meet Santa on a lit-up antique fire truck and toast s'mores.

BusinessNC (December 2025) reported more than 4,000 visitors to the Christmas Lights event. Published prices differ: BusinessNC gave admission as US$8 per person, while Triangle on the Cheap listed US$15 for the 2025 season.

Why? "This is to help pay the taxes on the land and keep it going," Champion told BusinessNC. The family wants to keep its 40-plus acres from developers.

The show started small, in Champion's front yard, and some structures serve both the haunt and the Christmas show. If you already run a pumpkin patch, your parking, paths, hay wagons and ticketing all carry over to December.

Families walking through a glowing archway tunnel of Christmas lights at night — Illustrative photo, not a farm named in this article. Photo: Bruce Barrow on Unsplash.

In the UK, Cotswold Farm Park launched its Enchanted Light Trail in 2020 with Tarren, a local events company. In 2023, the trail's fourth year, tickets were around £22 for adults and £17 for children, and the walk took about 60–90 minutes.

You can run it two ways. On a walk-through trail, like Cotswold's, families walk a lit route past food stalls and a shop. On a drive-thru, families stay in the car and pay per vehicle: Hewitt's charged C$10 a carload in its first season and C$15 per vehicle in 2021, including two cookie coupons for the farm store.

Reality Check: Lights take months, not weeks

Big Daddy's family starts putting up lights in September, and Hewitt's built its second-year displays from January to April. Plan a light trail for next year and start smaller this December.

How to Turn One Tree Sale Into a Whole Paid Visit

Stop asking "How many trees can I sell?" Ask "What will one family spend in one visit?"

Illustrative diagram comparing a 75 dollar tree-only sale with a 140 dollar whole family visit including ticket, drinks, ornament and Santa photo — Illustrative example only, not a real farm's figures. The tree price is the 2023 US median from the National Christmas Tree Association.

The farms in this article use six levers:

An entry or experience fee. Saunders Farm near Ottawa charges general admission from C$20 (2025), then sells trees, wreaths, cider and its Bear Factory as extras. The visit, not the tree, is the main product.
Upsell passes. Pingle's Farm Market in Ontario charged C$15 online for 2025 admission, or C$31 for a "Christmas Treats & Eats Pass" that adds a hot drink and a meal voucher. Families pay for lunch before they arrive.
Timed tickets. These cap the crowd and lock in the money before the day.
Ornaments and collectibles. Jones Family Farms' yearly pewter ornament gives families something to collect.
Food and hot drinks. Cocoa, cider, s'mores and mulled wine (where licensed) suit a cold day. Cotswold's 2025 light trail listed mulled wine, hot chocolate, pigs in blankets and turkey.
The shop. Grange Farm earns more than 80% of turnover from retail. Elliott Tree Farm in Ontario charges no entry at all and earns from trees, a waffle-bar canteen and its Heritage Barn shop.

Elliott takes the opposite route: free entry, paid everything else. Both models work. For the full method, read our guides on setting entry fees and ticket prices and upsells that lift revenue without more visitors.

Field-Tested Play: Make the exit walk past the till

Route every family out past the shop and the hot-drinks stall. Cotswold's 2024 light trail included a shop, a festive menu and an onsite photographer selling printed souvenirs.

What Real Farms Charge: The Christmas Pricing Table

Use these real prices as a guide. Prices change every year, so check local competitors too.

Farm (location)	What it sells	Price	Season
Jones Family Farms (Connecticut, US)	Harvest-your-own tree incl. pewter ornament	US$109 weekday, US$114 weekend	2025
Hill Ridge Farms (North Carolina, US)	Festival of Lights, rides included	US$19.95 (ages 2–64)	2025
Schnepf Farms (Arizona, US)	Christmas admission, online	US$19.95 twilight, US$25.95 general	2025
Underwood Family Farms (California, US)	Christmas on the Farm admission	US$12 weekday, US$16 weekend	2026
Holland Ridge Farms (New Jersey, US)	Santa visit per family (up to 10)	US$20 Mon–Thu, US$30 Fri–Sun	2026–27
Holland Ridge Farms (New Jersey, US)	Heated private cabin, 60 minutes	US$150 Mon–Thu, US$200 Fri–Sun	2026–27
Terhune Orchards (New Jersey, US)	Wreath workshop, per person	US$60	2025
Pingle's Farm Market (Ontario, Canada)	Admission; Treats & Eats Pass	C$15 online (C$20 door); C$31 pass	2025
Saunders Farm (Ontario, Canada)	A Country Christmas general admission	From C$20	2025
Park Hall (Shropshire, UK)	Santa Experience with farm entry	£21.95 child, £14.95 adult	2026
Cotswold Farm Park (Gloucestershire, UK)	Christmas on the Farm with Father Christmas and gift	£56.95 child, £14.95 adult	2025
Tatton Park Farm (Cheshire, UK)	Father Christmas at the Farm (every date sold out)	£13 child, £11.50 adult	2025
Odds Farm Park (Buckinghamshire, UK)	Wreath workshop, 2 hours	From £60 (£45 members)	2026

Tatton charged £13 per child and sold out. Cotswold charged £56.95 and included far more. There is no single right price, only a price that matches what you include.

If you are nervous about charging, read the experience premium: how to price for profit, not just cost. Many farmers start too low.

Reality Check: Don't get greedy either

Jan Hardwick of Cobbs Cross Farm in Somerset told Farmers Weekly (2018) that greedy pricing simply stops people coming back. A Christmas business lives on repeat families, so price for value.

FREE KIT: The family is paying for the morning. Show them on the sign.

The free Christmas Tree Price Sign + Height Pole Kit includes a "Your Tree Price Includes" sign (saw, shaking, wagon ride, cocoa, photo spot) with price lines for wreaths, stands and Santa photos, plus ready-to-fill price signs.

Send Me the Free Kit →

Free Christmas Tree Price Sign + Height Pole Kit: fillable price signs and height pole for choose-and-cut tree farms

An Illustrative Saturday: What the Till Could Look Like

This is an illustrative example, not a real farm. Imagine eight hourly slots of 25 families each, so 200 families on a December Saturday.

Income line (illustrative)	How many	Price each	Takings
Experience ticket per family	200 families	US$20	US$4,000
Bought-in trees	120 families	US$75	US$9,000
Hot drinks and snacks	150 families	US$20	US$3,000
Ornaments and small gifts	80 families	US$15	US$1,200
Digital Santa photos	60 families	US$10	US$600
Total takings (before costs)			US$17,800

This is takings, not profit. Take off the trees you bought in, food stock, wages, Santa's fee, ticketing fees, insurance and electricity. The point is the shape: trees alone would have brought in US$9,000, but the whole visit brought in US$17,800 from the same families.

Start This December: Your 6-Week Plan

It is early November. You can still open this year if you pick one simple product and keep it small.

Six-week timeline to launch a Christmas experience on a farm this December, from picking one product in week one to opening weekends in week six — A 6-week launch plan starting in early November.

Week	What to do
Week 1	Pick ONE product line. Call your insurer, zoning office or council, and health department. UK food businesses must register at least 28 days before trading.
Week 2	Book your Santa (with checks, see the legal section). Order bought-in trees or wreath supplies. Agree a backup supplier.
Week 3	Set prices. Open timed tickets online. Draw your parking plan and the walking route.
Week 4	Build your photo spots and signs. Train staff and volunteers. Do a safety walk of paths, lights, fire pits and saws.
Week 5	Run a soft opening for friends and neighbours. Time every step and fix bottlenecks.
Week 6	Open on weekends. Collect every family's email. Note what worked and what broke.

A wreath workshop on two evenings, or a Santa barn on four weekend days, is enough to prove demand. If money is tight, our guide to how much it costs to start an agritourism business will help you budget.

Field-Tested Play: Sell one simple ticket

One ticket with "Santa, gift, hayride and cocoa included" is easier to sell than six add-ons in a list.

The Multi-Year Plan: From One Barn to a Christmas Tradition

None of these farms built it in one year. Bill and Anne Saunders moved to their farm in 1976 and began with pick-your-own strawberries. They added a fall festival in 1992 and, 28 years later in 2020, A Country Christmas.

Year	Focus	Example
Year 1	One product, small, ticketed	Santa barn or wreath nights, bought-in trees
Year 2	Add a second product and timed slots	Santa plus trees, food stall, photo spot
Year 3	Add a collectible and a new theme	Yearly ornament; new Santa show title
Years 3–5	Consider a light trail, with a partner	Events company or local clubs build displays
Year 5 and beyond	Your own trees start to mature (if planted)	Mix home-grown with bought-in stock

If you plant trees, be patient. A Country Land and Business Association adviser told Farmers Weekly (2018) to expect about five years to reach profit when growing your own. The visitor business pays you while you wait.

Crowds, Parking and Sell-Outs: Learn From the Farms That Got It Wrong (and Fixed It)

Remember Hewitt's? In that first drive-thru season, cars backed up 2 km on three roads, some people waited more than two hours, and Hewitt estimated hundreds of cars gave up and left. Hewitt told OrilliaMatters the farm was "not logistically ready for the cars".

The fix: more nights, longer hours, and paid Ontario Provincial Police officers directing traffic. In year two, tickets were nearly 40% sold before opening.

Barker's Christmas Tree Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, had the same problem. "We had people sitting on our road for an hour waiting to get in," Dale Barker told Kentucky Agricultural News in 2020. After 19 years of first-come, first-served, he switched to online reservations of 40 customers per hour. The line disappeared and his workload eased.

Crowd-control flow for a farm Christmas event: timed ticket, arrival email, marshalled parking, ticket scan, experience then shop — The crowd-control flow, based on lessons from Hewitt's, Barker's, Jones Family Farms and Saunders Farm.

Other farms steer demand:

Jones Family Farms requires reservations on its busiest days (Thanksgiving weekend and the first weekend of December in 2025). Walk-ins pay a US$10 on-site fee on top of the tree price, if there is space.
Cotswold Farm Park tells families which are its "calmest days" (Fridays and 17–19 December in 2026), which spreads the crowd.
Holland Ridge Farms charges less on weekdays than weekends.
Saunders Farm uses staggered timed tickets. As Montréal Secret put it in 2025: "Thanks to staggered, timed ticketing, the farm is never crowded."

Tatton Park Farm marked every 2025 date sold out, and Bluebells Farm Park in Derbyshire reported footfall up 10% for its 2023 Santa event.

Plan for mud, ice and storms too. Write your rules before you sell a ticket, using our farm bad-weather policy lessons.

Booking Online With Timed Slots

Timed tickets cap the crowd, bank the money early, and tell you how many trees, cocoa cups and Santa gifts you need.

Park Hall's homepage says tickets are cheaper online in advance. Cotswold's FAQ says its tickets are timed and non-refundable, with a £4 per-person fee to change the date.

A few rules:

Leave a few walk-in spaces, priced higher, as Pingle's (C$20 at the door) and Jones do.
Ask for each child's first name at booking if Santa will greet them by name.
Send a reminder email the day before with the map, parking notes and arrival window.

Ticketing fees eat margin, so read how to sell event tickets without losing money on fees before you choose a platform.

Photo Spots That Sell Themselves

Every family wants the Christmas card photo, and every shared photo advertises your farm. Three ways farms handle it:

Free, on your phone. Pingle's lets families take Santa photos on their own phones.
Free print, paid digital. Holland Ridge Farms gives one free printed group photo in a keepsake sleeve, then sells digital files at US$10 each or US$25 for all (its help page does not give a year).
Selfie stations plus a photographer. Cotswold's 2024 light trail had selfie stations and an onsite photographer selling printed souvenirs.

Build two or three photo spots, such as a tree with a farm sign, a wagon with a wreath and a lit barn door. Put your farm name in every frame.

Staffing Your Christmas Season

Christmas needs more hands than you think. Foxes Farm used up to 10 part-time staff per site on festive weekends (Farmers Weekly, 2018). Plan for these roles at minimum:

Car park marshals in hi-vis jackets
Ticket scanners at the gate
Tree helpers (netting, carrying, loading cars)
Santa, plus a second adult helper or elf in the grotto
Food, drink and shop staff
One person in charge of safety, with a first-aid kit and a radio

Our guide to hiring seasonal staff for your agritourism farm covers contracts, pay and young workers.

Legal, Insurance and Paperwork: Questions to Ask Before You Open

This is general information, not legal advice. Take these questions to your attorney or solicitor, insurer, council or zoning office, and health department.

Does your state's agritourism law cover Christmas activities?

A 2019 Ohio State University and National Agricultural Law Center factsheet counted 31 US states with agritourism immunity laws. The count may have changed, so check our agritourism laws by state guide.

The catch: most statutes we checked do not mention Christmas trees by name. Some may cover them through wording like "harvest-your-own" (Washington and Kentucky, for example). Louisiana's agritourism rules are an exception: they list "Christmas Tree Farms Visits and Tree Cutting". Maryland lists "cut your own" produce, but that is in a land-use definition that local governments can adopt, not a liability law.

Ask your attorney:

Does our state's law cover a Santa visit, a hayride, a light trail and a wreath class, or only the tree cutting?
Does it exclude food and drink? Pennsylvania's 2021 law does not cover injuries from food and beverage service, for example.
What warning signs do we need, and where? Washington and Kentucky require signs at the entrance and at each activity, with black letters at least 1 inch tall. See where to post agritourism warning signs.
Will a waiver help us here? Read do liability waivers protect your farm? first.

Does your zoning allow events?

In 2015, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled against Forster's Christmas Tree Farm in a case with the Town of Henniker. Growing trees was agriculture, but hosting weddings and events was not protected as agriculture. Ask your zoning office before you add events, not after.

Who is your Santa, and how is he checked?

UK: a seasonal Santa role usually does not qualify for an Enhanced DBS check, because it is not "regulated activity". uCheck suggests asking for a Basic DBS check instead, for elves too. NSPCC advice (via PTA UK) says a volunteer Santa would not need a DBS check, but recommends references, a short interview, parents staying with their children and another adult in the grotto.
US: there is no single federal rule. A KY3 report (October 2025) suggests asking whether your Santa has passed a background check and carries his own liability insurance, and looking for white gloves so hands stay visible in photos.

Are your lights safe outdoors?

Use only cords and decorations marked for outdoor use. In the US, plug outdoor lights into GFCI-protected circuits, says the Electrical Safety Foundation International. In the UK, NICEIC suggests RCD-protected weatherproof outdoor sockets fitted by a registered electrician.

Electrical or lighting equipment was involved in 45% of US home Christmas tree fires (NFPA, 2014–2018 average). Falls matter too: the US Consumer Product Safety Commission counted about 14,900 emergency-room visits from holiday decorating between November 2022 and January 2023, nearly half from falls.

Fire pits, saws and wagons

Fire pits: NFPA guidance, as quoted by Telgian, says fires should be not less than 50 ft from any structure unless local rules differ. Ask your local fire marshal about rules for public events.
Saws: a sensible starting rule is hand bow saws only, no chainsaws for customers, gloves, and an adult doing the cutting. Ask your insurer what they require.
Hayrides: check brakes, keep maintenance logs and avoid steep slopes. Use wagons built for passengers. The 2014 Harvest Hill Farm hayride crash in Maine shows what is at stake.

Food, hot drinks and mulled wine

UK: register a food business with your local council at least 28 days before trading. To sell mulled wine, a Temporary Event Notice covers up to 499 people at a time and costs £21, with 10 working days' notice (Rother District Council).
US and Canada: rules vary by state, province and county. Ask your health department about cocoa, cider and baked goods, and ask about a liquor licence before you pour alcohol. Start with our guide to permits for selling food on your farm.

Sales tax

Christmas trees are generally taxable in the US unless a state exempts them. Mississippi passed a law in 2016 making Christmas trees non-taxable, but only when they are cut and sold at the same time and place (TaxJar). Ask your state revenue department whether your admission tickets are taxable too.

Insurance

A general farm policy often does not cover agritourism without a specific agritourism rider, says the Ohio State University insurance factsheet (2019). Ask your insurer:

Is every activity covered, from tree cutting to hayrides and food?
Do we need special event cover or liquor liability?
What are the exclusions and limits?

See our guide to agritourism insurance coverage, then write it all down in a risk management plan so your staff know the rules.

Reality Check: Market only what you will deliver

If your website shows reindeer and a sleigh, families expect reindeer and a sleigh. Photograph what you really have and describe it honestly.

Why Families Come Back Every Year

Done well, a Christmas visit becomes a family tradition, and traditions repeat.

The Real Christmas Tree Board's October 2025 survey found that 37% of first-time real-tree buyers named a more authentic holiday experience as a top reason, and 90% of switchers hope their children will keep the tradition.

Four ways farms build that tradition:

Change the show every year. Park Hall has run a new Santa show every season since 2022: "Elf Academy" (2022), "Elf Academy – Mission Impossible" (2023), "The Flying Reindeer School" (2024), "The Elves Go Crackers" (2025) and "Tree Trimming Training" (2026). New story, new reason to return.
Give a collectible. Jones Family Farms' yearly pewter ornament turns a tree purchase into a collection.
Make it personal. Cotswold's Father Christmas greets each child by name.
Keep in touch. Every ticket sale gives you an email. Send a "booking opens" email in October.

A man carrying a freshly cut Christmas tree across a tree farm — Illustrative photo, not a farm named in this article. Photo: Julianna Arjes on Unsplash.

Word of mouth does the rest (see our word-of-mouth agritourism marketing study). To keep those families coming all year, see strategies to convert seasonal footfall into recurring revenue.

What a Durian Farm Taught Me About Short Seasons

I don't run Christmas events. I founded Bloopy Durians, a durian farm in Bentong, Malaysia, which has been featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun.

Our durian seasons are short, roughly December to February and June to August. You cannot waste a single week.

So we build the visit around the season. Visitors from all over the world come to the farm, and they reach it through a four-wheel-drive adventure. Many companies send their staff and management. And we keep a WhatsApp list of loyal customers who buy whenever durians are available.

That list is the lesson. A Christmas season is short too. Treat every visitor as the start of a relationship: collect the contact, invite them back, and give them a reason to make it a yearly trip.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I start a Christmas experience if I don't grow Christmas trees?

Yes. Buy in pre-cut trees, as Foxes Farm in Essex did to stock its first shop while its own trees grew, or skip trees and run a Santa barn, a wreath workshop or a light trail.

What should I charge for a farm Santa experience?

Real examples range from £13 per child at Tatton Park Farm (2025) to £56.95 at Cotswold Farm Park (2025), which includes a bear-making activity and a gift. Holland Ridge Farms in New Jersey charges US$20–$30 per family (2026–27).

How much should I charge for a wreath-making workshop?

Recent farm workshops charged about US$60–$85 in the US and £45–£60 in the UK, with materials included and often a hot drink and a treat.

Do I need insurance for a Christmas event on my farm?

Almost certainly, and your normal farm policy may not cover it. Ask your insurer about an agritourism rider, special event cover and liquor liability, and list every activity.

Does a Santa need a DBS check in the UK?

Usually not an Enhanced check, because a seasonal Santa is not normally "regulated activity". Many organisers ask for a Basic DBS check instead. Either way, check references and keep a second adult in the grotto.

How do I stop traffic jams at my Christmas event?

Sell timed tickets online, cap each slot, and email an arrival window and map. Barker's Christmas Tree Farm switched to 40 bookings an hour and its line disappeared.

Is it too late to start this December?

Not if you keep it small. Pick one product, book Santa or order supplies this week, and open timed tickets within three weeks.

Your Next Step

You have the plan. Is your farm ready to welcome families this December? Take the free Farm Readiness Quiz to see where your farm is strong and what to fix first.

Take the Free Farm Readiness Quiz

Want ideas for every season? Get my free ebook with 150 ways to earn more from the land you already have.

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P.S. Hewitt's Farm Market expected about 100 visitors and got a 2 km traffic jam. That was not failure. It was proof that families will queue for Christmas on the farm. Your job is to be ready when they arrive: timed tickets, a parking plan and one great experience. Start small this December, and next year they will bring their friends.

Stephen Loke of AgritourismSuccess.com, whose farm is featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun. This article is general information, not legal, tax or insurance advice; check the rules in your state, province or country.