Recently, my seven-year-old son, Howie, came home from school with his first “big” homework assignment – each second grader had to write five sentences and draw a picture about one of their family’s holiday traditions. “What are you going to write about?” I asked, expecting something about making cookies or picking out a tree. But no. “Everybody said stuff like that, Mom,” he said with a mini eye-roll. “I’m going to write about our lights drive around! We always do that for that one website, with hot chocolate, right?”
It's hard to believe, but he’s right. For most of Howie’s life now, we’ve been driving around to find special light displays all over Bucks County for the From the Locals blog. What started as a fun whim of an entry is now five years old and has become a major seasonal fixture in our household. I get emails, texts, and word of mouth tips from locals all over the place throughout the year (thank you, readers!), and am regularly surprised by how much better I know the County’s geography all thanks to our annual driving routes. I can’t tell you all how grateful I am for coming along on this journey with me!
And so, given all of this, for our 5-year anniversary edition of the residential holiday lights driving tour, we decided to do something special, something new for our kids, something big: we structured the drive around a visit to Sesame Place for A Very Furry Christmas.
Somehow, with the pandemic timing and Howie getting older, we’ve never been to Sesame, in spite of always wanting to go. But now that he’s seven and our daughter Clover is 1.5 and obsessed with “Melmo,” it seemed like the ideal time – and wow, we were right. Their holiday lights display is so fun, with tunnels of sparkly pink and red lights, strands crisscrossing the famous Main Street, and decorations on signposts, rides, attractions and more. We were there for way longer than planned, just taking it all in. Plus, their parade at the end of the afternoon with Bert and Ernie, Zoe, Rosita, Elmo, Big Bird, and the rest of the crew was so big and exciting, it was almost more than Clover could handle. Turns out both our kids are amusement park ride fanatics too (cannot recommend the Magic Queue pass enough to avoid those inevitable long lines) and Howie is already asking to go back so he can try the water slides this summer.
We stayed until the park closed and – now that it was truly dark – we were ready to hit the road. Hot chocolate in hand, we decided to revisit some of our most memorable stops visited since we first began the driving tour back in 2019. The route starts at Sesame Place in Langhorne and then cuts northwest, up and across Bucks County toward Perkasie. It’s a great way to wind down and mellow-out after a long day of running around and riding roller coasters.
Stop 1: Colonial Drive Lights, 155 Colonial Drive, Langhorne, PA
We first visited Colonial Drive Lights back in 2021, and seriously still talk about that stop – it involved searchlights, a live Santa and Mrs. Claus, as well as a heaping helping of lights all over the yard and house. In the years since our first visit, it seems much of the house’s surrounding neighborhood has decided to get in on the decorating mania – so many houses nearby had yards jam-packed with light up decorations, inflatables, animatronics and more! But Colonial Drive Lights is still the cherry on top. With a seriously sophisticated, animated light show set to music you can play through your car’s radio, the entire house becomes a screen for scenes from classics like Nightmare Before Christmas while light up arches and trees blink in time to the score. We were one of many cars camped out on the street watching and listening to the show – definitely worth a visit. Make sure you look out for the incredibly realistic Santa projection moving around in the second-floor window!
Stop 2: 1215 Grenoble Road, Warminster, PA
I wondered if I had built up this stop too much from my memory of visiting in 2020; I remembered driving past dark farms and fields before seeing this home glowing in the distance like something beamed out of a Hallmark movie. Happily, it turns out my memory was exactly right, even when approaching from another angle this year. With a long driveway that glows like a landing strip at an airport, cars are welcome to pull in, drive around and admire the lights up close. I love that this family still does a major collection for the Ronald McDonald House Charities as part of their display, right near their front door – look for it near the Santa supervising reindeer on a baby swing set (yes, really – it’s amazing).
Stop 3: Keystone Drive between Church Road and Fairhill Road, Hatfield, PA
Of all the stops we’ve made over the past five years, this is the one I routinely get the most messages about, and I completely understand why. A display that’s only grown since our 2021 visit, this display is a true community undertaking. Each home on the street (and now, several surrounding streets as well) puts up a number of lit trees, each one a different solid color. With no blinking lights or music or projections, it’s simple in concept but dramatic in effect: I got goosebumps driving down the heavily wooded drive! Nearly impossible to photograph, you must go to get the full, magical effect. Make sure you pull over a few times and cut your headlights to take it all in – this one is special.
Stop 4: Tis the Simpsons, 502 Timber Court, Perkasie, PA
One of our very first stops in 2019, my husband Ross was really excited to revisit this house. With a joyous mix of advanced projection, singing light up trees, over the garage, two enormous color-changing trees in the yard (one of which transforms into a shooting star somehow), a Bumble snow monster, Santa, presents, an igloo and more, all of which is set to music playable over the car radio – Tis the Simpsons goes hard. We loved their music choices, the animations were really fun, and had a blast driving through yet another neighborhood where so many houses have major displays.
Stop 5: 308 N 5th Street, Perkasie, PA
We were so glad to end with this incredible, classic house in Perkasie, which we haven’t been back to since 2020. North 5th Street as a whole has a host of wonderful holiday displays (be on the lookout for the light up classic Ford pick-up truck!), and this home sits right in the middle, a celebration of vintage lights, figurines, snowflakes, bows, and more. Complete with a bench swing in front for pictures and a lit walking path through the back yard, there are too many elements in the display to list here – you’ll just have to go and see for yourself.
Our drive home to New Hope from Perkasie was a really sweet one. We drove past Peddler’s Village, Misfit Meadows, and this year’s absolutely stunning display at 4318 Route 202 in Buckingham, all while Clover snored in her car seat and Howie bragged about how this was the first year he’d stayed awake the whole time. But it didn’t take long for him to fall asleep too once we pulled into our own driveway, happily exhausted after a full, beautiful day.
He did an amazing job on his report, by the way. He even rigged up the car in his drawing with some string so it could “drive” past his drawn light displays. “My favorite lights are the colorful ones,” he wrote as his closing sentence. So, a big thank you from Howie and from all of us for each and every display full of so many colorful lights this year – we’re incredibly lucky to live in a community made brighter by all your hard work.
Happy holidays! Here's wishing you all a safe trip, bright lights, and a healthy New Year!
Looking for more holiday lights in Bucks County? Find other popular houses on the map below.
2023 Driving Tour Route:
Stop 1: Sesame Place, Langhorne, PA
Stop 2: Colonial Drive Lights, 155 Colonial Drive, Langhorne, PA
Stop 3: 1215 Grenoble Road, Warminster, PA
Stop 4: Keystone Drive between Church Road and Fairhill Road, Hatfield, PA
Stop 5: Tis the Simpsons, 502 Timber Court, Perkasie, PA
Stop 6: 308 N 5th Street, Perkasie, PA
2022 Driving Tour Route:
Stop 1: Yule on Yale, 15 Yale Drive, Richboro
Stop 2: Autumn Drive, Langhorne
Stop 3: Lights on Lumpoc, 2512 Lumpoc Court, Bensalem
Stop 4: The Warrells' Elderberry Lights, 257 Elderberry Road, Levittown
Stop 5: 15 Raab Drive, Yardley
Stop 6: 301 Matthews Lane, Newtown
2021 Driving Tour Route:
Stop 1: 1445 Bartlett Ct, Yardley
Stop 2: The Blinking House, 9 Franklin St, Levittown
Stop 3: Stonybrook Lights, 56 Stonybrook Dr, Levittown
Stop 4: Colonial Drive Lights, 155 Colonial Dr, Langhorne
Stop 5: MaloneyLights, 644 Cypress Rd, Warminster
Stop 6: 901 Catalpa Rd, Warminster
Stop 7: Keystone Drive between Church Road and Fairhill Road, Sellersville
Stop 8: 227 Beech Ln, Perkasie
BONUS Stop 9: Peddler’s Village, 100 Peddlers Village, Lahaska
Stop 10: Misfit Meadows, Aquetong Rd & Stoney Hill Rd, Solebury Township
2020 Driving Tour Route:
Stop 1: Green Heather Lights, Green Heather Court, Buckingham
Stop 2: 12 Boulder Drive, Sellersville
Stop 3: 308 North 5th Street, Perkasie
Stop 4: 764 North Limekiln Pike, Chalfont
Stop 5: 1215 Grenoble Road, Warminster
Stop 6: 1220 Carolyn Drive, Southampton
BONUS Stop 7: Shady Brook Farm, Yardley
2019 Driving Tour Route:
Stop 1: Stoney Hill & Aquetong Road, New Hope
Stop 2: 4318 Route 202, Buckingham
Stop 3: 212 Stags Leap Circle, Doylestown
Stop 4: 61 Cherokee Road, Doylestown
Stop 5: 502 Timber Court, Perkasie aka ‘Tis the Simpsons
Stop 6: 37 East Ridge Avenue, Sellersville
