Huntington Harbour's Holiday Lights Have a Deadline Before the Boats Do

Huntington Harbour's holiday season has two headline events, and both are built around the same decorated homes. The 64th Huntington Harbour Boat Parade runs December 12 and 13. Less than a week later, the Cruise of Lights starts five nights of narrated tours past the same docks, decks and rooflines. Before either one, waterfront homes, off-water homes and condos all face a deadline. Home entries for the decorating awards are due Monday, November 30, less than two weeks away.

For a Harbour household, the season runs from late November through the night of December 22. Here is how it lines up.

The parade is a thank-you to the houses along the channels

The Huntington Harbour Boat Parade describes itself as the Huntington Harbour Philharmonic Committee's way of saying "thank you" to Harbour residents for decorating their homes. The organizers also stress who runs it:

"Unlike many other boat parades, the Huntington Harbour Boat Parade is not produced or managed by a marina company, City, or Chamber of Commerce. It is an entirely volunteer effort."

So the decorated houses come first, and the boats come out to honor them. The committee itself is organized into six groups named Admiralty, Islander, Marina-Windjammer, Sandpiper, Seal Beach and Trinidad. Most of those names will be familiar to anyone who lives along the Harbour channels.

This year's theme is "America 250 Music To The Moon & Back," and the Grand Marshal is Norman Huniu. A theme matters to homeowners as well as skippers, because one of the home awards is judged on it.

What the November 30 home entry covers

The 2026 Boat & Home Entry Form is a single form for boats and homes. It sorts homes into three types:

• Waterfront Home
• Off-Water Home
• Condo / Townhome

That second category matters more than its placement on the form suggests. A house doesn't need a dock to enter, and a condo or townhome doesn't need a whole house. The form lets you enter as an individual or a group, and it asks entrants to "briefly describe your ideas" for their decorations.

For waterfront and off-water houses, the entry page lists seven awards: Sweepstakes, Best Tribute to Theme, Most Beautiful, Judges Special Trophy, Best Tribute to the Holiday Season, People's Choice and Most Religious. Condominiums and townhomes have their own Sweepstakes and Best Tribute to Theme awards. With Best Tribute to Theme listed for every home type, the "Music To The Moon & Back" theme is part of the judging. A household that plans for it before November 30 gives itself a shot at a category that a generic light display can't win.

Boat entries close a day later, on Tuesday, December 1. Individual, group and yacht club boats enter without a listed fee. The form lists a $300 fee only for boats that carry commercial references.

Parade weekend, from the water and from a screen

The parade runs rain or shine. The organizers state plainly that the public viewing areas at the beaches fill up quickly and that parking is very limited. They suggest that one of the best ways to see the parade is to be in it by entering your boat. For Harbour residents without a boat, the volunteers' own site offers a third option. The parade streams live at 6 p.m. on Saturday, December 12, and the hhboatparade.org home page links a live route tracker.

People's Choice voting for boats also happens on Facebook. During the parade, each boat shows a number. Voters "like" that number's photo on the parade's Facebook page on Saturday, December 12, and voting ends at 8 a.m. Sunday, December 13. The awards presentation streams live at 11 a.m. that Sunday.

The awards come out Sunday morning, but the decorated homes have a longer run ahead of them.

The four nights in between

The parade ends on December 13, and the Cruise of Lights starts on Friday, December 18. That leaves December 14 through 17 with no event on the calendar. For a decorated home, nothing changes during those nights, because the lights the parade honored are the same lights the ticketed tours come to see.

The organizers spell out the link themselves. Their events page calls the Boat Parade "the start of our fundraiser, Cruise of Lights®," with the money going to music education for Orange County schoolchildren. The cruise is described as narrated boat tours through Huntington Harbour's waterways, where "locals and visitors share the beauty of thousands of lights and animated displays on brightly decorated homes, docks, decks and boats."

So a home that enters on November 30 is part of the parade on December 12 and 13 and a stop on the fundraiser tour through December 22. From the entry deadline to the final 7:30 p.m. departure is 22 days.

The Cruise of Lights, by the numbers

The organizer's 2026 ticket form lists five nights, Friday, December 18 through Tuesday, December 22. Each night has departures at 5:30, 6:30 and 7:30 p.m.

Monday is the cheapest of the five nights, $2 less per ticket than the other four. For a family of two adults and two children, that's $88 on Monday and $96 on any other night. Each narrated tour lasts 45 minutes, according to the organizer's ticket page.

The Cruise of Lights FAQ sends guests to the rear lot of Huntington Harbour Mall at 16889 Algonquin Street. From there, a five-minute shuttle takes them to board at the Huntington Harbour Yacht Club, 3821 Warner Avenue. A few more details from the same FAQ are useful to know before you buy tickets:

• Parking at the Yacht Club is reserved for disabled parking. Guests with a California disabled placard can drive there directly and skip the shuttle.
• Tickets bought by phone within seven days of the cruise are held at will call at the Mall. Printed or digital tickets work as boarding passes.
• Drinks and snacks are sold onboard. Restrooms are available in the parking lots but aren't guaranteed on the boats.
• Wheelchair access is available, but power chairs are not allowed.
• Rain does not cancel cruises. The organizers recommend warm clothing and solid shoes.

For help with tickets, the committee's Huntington Harbour office is at 714-840-7542 or [email protected].

Where the money goes

The Huntington Harbour Philharmonic Committee supports the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, which the parade site calls the county's oldest nonprofit music organization. According to the same page, more than a quarter of a million Orange County students from kindergarten through high school take part each year in the youth programs run by the Society's committees. Over 1,500 presentations by professional musicians and trained docents are offered free to every public and private school in the county.

Every $28 adult ticket and $20 child ticket for the cruise feeds those programs, and the tour route is the Harbour's decorated homes. The committee's office number, 714-840-7542, also handles questions from anyone interested in joining one of its six groups.

Harbour homes are judged and toured on how they look from the water. At CART Group, Inc., we know the waterfront and off-water streets of Huntington Harbour, and if you're thinking about how your Harbour home's water frontage might affect a future sale, we're glad to talk it through. Schedule a Strategy Call.