Seaport Village's events page lists a Happy Hour with Santa at Gladstone's on Thursday, December 17, from 3 to 6 p.m., with "beautiful views of San Diego Bay." On October 30, Times of San Diego reported that the restaurant's 9,680-square-foot bayfront building is still being converted to a Cape Cod-style design, and that it is now expected to open in early 2027.
That listing reflects how the season at Seaport Village is put together. Almost nothing on this year's holiday calendar is a single village-wide festival. A toy shop, a farm-to-table restaurant, an art gallery, a roller rink, a waterfront seafood room and a Mediterranean kitchen each run their own event, with their own hours and their own booking rules. For anyone living a few blocks away in the Marina District, planning the season means checking each host separately.
It Starts Today at Geppetto's
The first date on the calendar is today, Thursday, November 12. From now through Monday, December 14, Geppetto's is collecting unwrapped toys for the U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots program at all of its locations. You can bring a toy from home or buy one in the store and leave it there.
There is no stage, no ticket and no central organizer for the drive. One tenant set it up, and Seaport Village's events page lists it.
November 28 Is the Busiest Saturday Before December
The Saturday after Thanksgiving has two events from two hosts that overlap.
Malibu Farm runs gingerbread house workshops at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. The two morning sessions are for children and the 5 p.m. session is for adults. Registration opened November 1 and is required, so anyone who has not signed up yet is competing for whatever seats are left.
Surfin' Santa runs from 1 to 4 p.m. that day. Santa arrives from the bay in board shorts and a Hawaiian shirt and leads a parade along the boardwalk. Visitors can take a free downloadable photo with him on a giant surfboard riding a six-foot wave, and Ringer's Roller Rink has skating with Buddy the Elf. Ringer's lists its Seaport Village location as open seven days a week with public skating every day, so the rink is open on any December visit too, not only on Surfin' Santa day.
The 1 p.m. gingerbread session and the Surfin' Santa parade start at the same hour, which matters for a family with young children. A child in the 1 p.m. class misses Santa's arrival from the water. The 10 a.m. session ends early enough to leave time for lunch and the boardwalk.
December Belongs to the Restaurants
After Thanksgiving, most of the season moves into the dining rooms. Malibu Farm sets off artificial snow flurries, made with eco-friendly artificial snow, at 5 p.m. every night in December. The Chuck Jones Gallery is marking 60 years of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! with a three-day show from December 4 to 6. The special celebration is Friday, December 4, from 3 to 7 p.m.
Then come the meals with Santa. Each one is run by its restaurant, and each has its own booking terms:
- Shorebird Breakfast with Santa, Saturday, December 19, 9 a.m. to noon. Reservations are required by phone through the restaurant.
- Zytoun Lunch with Santa, Sunday, December 20, noon to 3 p.m. Reservations go through Zytoun's website.
- Malibu Farm Breakfast with Santa, Thursday, December 24, 10 a.m. to noon.
Two of these hosts are newer to Seaport Village than the event names suggest. In August 2025, the Port of San Diego named Shorebird and Zytoun among the village's latest openings, along with Miss Match, Raihan Café and The Best Donuts. Shorebird took a long time to arrive. According to Times of San Diego, it signed its Port lease in 2021, was originally expected to open in 2022, and held its ribbon-cutting on August 13, 2025. This December is Shorebird's second holiday season on the water, after waiting about three years to have a first one.
The December 17 Listing and the Building Behind It
Gladstone's is following a path much like Shorebird's. The Los Angeles-based seafood brand is taking over the bayfront building at 861 W. Harbor Drive where Edgewater Grill used to be. In January 2025, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Edgewater was serving its last meals and that Gladstone's was expected to take over the space by February 1, with an opening forecast for early 2026. The October 30 report from Times of San Diego moved that expectation to early 2027. The restaurant's own site, gladstonessandiego.com, shows "Opening Soon" and lists no hours.
The planned menu, as Times of San Diego described it, includes clambakes, ahi tuna towers, coconut shrimp and fish and chips. The design calls for a large wraparound patio. Once it opens, it will be one of the larger new rooms on this part of the waterfront.
For the December 17 happy hour, the practical step is to call before you plan an afternoon around it. Times of San Diego lists the restaurant's number as 619-663-8898. Seaport Village's own calendar has already had one change this fall. Bayside Boo, set for October 31, is marked canceled because of weather.
Why the Calendar Is Built This Way
The tenant-by-tenant format follows from how Seaport Village is run. The Port of San Diego owns the property and hires an outside property manager. In August 2025, when the Port renewed that management agreement, it reported 57 tenants and 97% occupancy. It also reported nearly $11 million invested or committed in tenant improvements, site upgrades and activations, and gross sales that had grown from $45 million to $68 million since 2019. Those are 2025 figures. They describe a property where the businesses themselves bring people in, which is why so much of the holiday programming carries a tenant's name.
The longer-range question for Marina District neighbors is redevelopment. The Port's Central Embarcadero project page lists the proposed Seaport San Diego plan as being in environmental review. The page says a groundbreaking date is too early to specify and that the work would be phased around successful existing businesses to avoid abrupt shutdowns. For this December, the village operates as it has in recent seasons, with each storefront running its own events.
The Season, Date by Date
| Date | Event | Host | Booking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu, Nov 12 to Mon, Dec 14 | Toys for Tots drive | Geppetto's | Drop off an unwrapped toy |
| Sat, Nov 28, 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 5 p.m. | Gingerbread house workshops | Malibu Farm | Registration required |
| Sat, Nov 28, 1 to 4 p.m. | Surfin' Santa and skating with Buddy the Elf | Seaport Village, Ringer's Roller Rink | Free photo |
| Every night in December, 5 p.m. | Snow flurries | Malibu Farm | None listed |
| Fri, Dec 4 to Sun, Dec 6 | The Grinch Turns 60 | Chuck Jones Gallery | Celebration Dec 4, 3 to 7 p.m. |
| Sun, Dec 13 and Sun, Dec 20, around 6 p.m. | Parade of Lights passes the village | San Diego Bay | None |
| Thu, Dec 17, 3 to 6 p.m. | Happy Hour with Santa | Gladstone's | Call ahead to confirm |
| Sat, Dec 19, 9 a.m. to noon | Breakfast with Santa | Shorebird | Reservations required |
| Sun, Dec 20, noon to 3 p.m. | Lunch with Santa | Zytoun | Reserve online |
| Thu, Dec 24, 10 a.m. to noon | Breakfast with Santa | Malibu Farm | Check with the restaurant |
On the two Parade of Lights nights, the boats pass Seaport Village around 6 p.m. Malibu Farm's snow starts an hour earlier, at 5 p.m., so a December 13 or 20 visit can include both, one after the other. Our Columbia District guide to Parade of Lights nights covers the upper part of the route along Harbor Drive.
If you own in the Marina District and are thinking about how the waterfront from Seaport Village to the Central Embarcadero may change in the coming years, the team at Denny Oh & Associates follows these projects building by building and is glad to talk through what they could mean for your tower. Contact Us whenever it's useful.
