Festival of Trees & Lights

If this is your first time to Festival, here’s what you can expect:

• 90 beautifully decorated trees of different sizes displayed across the Ballroom.
• Children’s area with crafts and activities.
• Festival Express Train for children 70 pounds and less.
• Sock Skating Rink for children to “skate” in their socks.
• Food area that offers snacks, chips, drinks (water and soda), popcorn, and fresh baked cookies.
• People’s Choice voting for your favorite tree.
• Scavenger Hunt among the trees and participants earn a prize.
• Festival Gift Shop with a wide variety of holiday gifts, toys and décor.

This annual event is the largest fundraiser for Blank Children's Hospital and is a Central Iowa tradition to kick off the holiday season. The 42nd Annual Festival of Trees & Lights will feature beautifully decorated trees, special performances from local music and dance groups, visits with Santa, a scavenger hunt, fun crafts and activities, and the chance to be inspired by impactful stories of children cared for at Blank Children's. In addition, visitors can shop the Holiday Gift Shop for gifts and more.

About Center for Advocacy & Outreach
While the Child Life team helps children throughout their health care journey, the Center for Advocacy & Outreach's goal is to keep children out of the hospital. They create programs that promote safety and injury prevention, provide education on healthy living, partner with other medical organizations across the state for neonatal, pediatric and obstetric education with their staff, advocate on behalf of children and families with our legislative officials - along with many other programs. They are a state-wide resource by taking Blank Children's beyond the hospital walls.

Your attendance means you are supporting valuable programs at Blank Children's Hospital. Programs that would not be possible without the generous support of our community.

What Festival Supports
For decades, Festival of Trees & Lights has supported valuable programs and services at Blank Children's Hospital. In more recent years, Festival has supported the Child Life program and the Center for Advocacy & Outreach at Blank Children's. Both the programs are provided to patients, families and community members at little to no cost, and no one is ever turned away for any reason. That is why community support of Festival is so important. Festival revenue helps ensure these important services are available to all children, including the nearly 50 percent of young patients who are either uninsured or under-insured.  

About Child Life
Child Life Specialists are specially-trained to work with children to help reduce the stress and anxiety that many experience in hospital and health care settings. They also explain procedures in terms that children, no matter what their age, can understand. The Child Life team helps children in the clinics, emergency room, surgery and radiology as well as in the hospital. The Child Life program has grown over the years and that expansion would not have happened without the generous support from Festival.

In 1984 the Festival of Trees & Lights made its debut in Des Moines, and since that time families and friends of all ages have eagerly awaited this fun-filled event to kick-off the holiday season. With beautifully decorated trees, a fun-filled children's area, food, entertainment and special events, Festival has become a central Iowa tradition.

In its 42-year history, the Festival has provided more than $18 million in financial support for Child Life, the Center for Advocacy & Outreach and other special programs and projects to serve the unique needs of children and their families.

Festival is a volunteer supported event. Hundreds of volunteers give of their time and talents each year.