It’s that time of year again! Christmas lights and decorations are popping up all over your area. Santa Claus is coming to the local mall. Cafes smell of cinnamon and allspice, puffy winter coats are visible on every street, and the grocery store is stocked with meats and chestnuts for roasting. Everywhere you go, the holiday spirit is palpable, and people are enjoying their favorite parts of the season.

Whether or not there’s snow on the ground yet, you know that the festive season is fast approaching, and you’re excited because this year, you’ll be making a map.

Whether you’re a content creator your locale is familiar with or just excited about the spirit of the season, making a holiday event map is a great way to contribute to the town you call home. Such a map would allow you and all of your neighbors to make the most of the local festivities. Pulling information from Facebook events, Nextdoor, Tripadvisor, and more, this map would be a one-stop shop for anybody seeking a dose of holiday cheer in your area.

With help from Proxi, making a custom map is easy, so you’ll be able to continue adding holiday hotspots full of cheer all season long. In this article, we’ll talk about popular places to add to your holiday event map, getting permission to include private property on your map (such as houses with awesome light displays), the nuts and bolts of how to make a map with Proxi, and the best tips and tricks to make your holiday map a success.

What To Add To Your Holiday Event Map

There are all sorts of people in every community. When thinking of things to add to your holiday event map, you should feature events for a variety of ages, cultures, and personalities. Now, we’ll go over a few examples of types of locations and events to add to your holiday map that will appeal to different people in your area.

Houses with Great Light Displays

Many homes will unroll a few strings of lights this time of year, but we all know of a few families that truly go above and beyond. Some may set up moving light shows to line up with musical scores, while others simply have so many lights out that the whole street can see! Whatever Christmas light traditions look like in your areas, consider listing houses with great light displays on your map. You’ll become an instant favorite for people trying to find a Christmas lights map and hit all the best spots in town!

Local Festivals

Whether your area has a mall Santa for families to get pictures with or a full holiday festival complete with hot cocoa stands (or both), there are probably a lot of local events happening! Be sure to include festivals for a variety of people, such as:

• Santa’s village experiences for families with young children
• Sledding events at parks for the young and young at heart
• Holiday tasting experiences, whether that involves alcoholic beverages just for the grownups, favorite sweets, or both!
• Christmas tree lighting events, both in your town and other areas nearby. Some may even include live music or great Christmas gift-shopping deals!

As you list local festivals on your map, don’t forget to include events for other seasonal holidays like Hanukkah. This is a great way to make sure everyone can feel included in spreading some cheer!

Holiday Concerts

From a local music studio’s recital to a full symphony concert, there are a wide variety of holiday music styles to choose from! What are some concerts that happen around this time each year where you live? Is there anything special happening this year? List them on your map, and as a bonus, include ideas for nearby places to eat before or after the show.

Top Christmas Shopping Destinations

When it comes to Christmas shopping, the best gifts can be hidden in plain sight! Whether your community has a thriving local shopping district or just a few hidden gems, it’s a great idea to list out places people can look for this year’s hottest gifts.

Getting Permission To List

While people who put up big Christmas light displays will appreciate passersby complimenting their style, they may not be interested in attracting a whole crowd. While we included houses with great light displays as a good thing to have on your map for a reason, it’s important to get permission from the people who reside there before putting the address online.

If you already know the residents of your town’s most well-lit homes, this can be as simple as sending them a text message or email asking for permission to include their home on your holiday map. If you don’t know them, however, a good way to ask could be to leave a polite message on their door. In your note, be sure to:

• Introduce yourself, including your name and some contact information
• Compliment their lights
• Explain your project
• Ask for permission to include their home on your map

Using Proxi To Make Your Map

So, once you’ve finished brainstorming places to list and getting any permissions you need, the next step is to go ahead and make the map! Just follow this simple tutorial, and you’ll be mapping like a pro in no time.

There are two main ways to use Proxi to make a map: on the web and in the Proxi Creator Portal. We will go over how to do it both ways, so you can stick with whatever is best for you!

Part 1: Mapping Locations from the Web

• Step 1: Install the Proxi extension by following this link and clicking on the “Add to Chrome” button. Please note that this will only work if you are using the Google Chrome browser, so if you don’t have Chrome, you’ll want to install that first.
• Step 2: Navigate to the page for one of the events you want to include in your map. This can be on any website, including but not limited to Facebook, Nextdoor, and Tripadvisor.
• Step 3: Highlight the event location with your cursor. Right-click on it and select “Add to Proxi Map” from the drop-down menu.

Part 2: Mapping Templates in the Proxi Creator Portal

• Step 1: Open your map template.
• Step 2: Input the location of the light display or event.
• Step 3: Add photos and details. This is where you can note the date(s) and time(s) of the event, as well as details like whether it is free or not, if tickets need to be reserved in advance, accessibility information, and other descriptive information.
• Step 4: Repeat as necessary. Get creative and have fun!

Whether you prefer to make your map from the web or the Proxi Creator Portal, remember to keep them handy as the season continues! You never know when a last-minute event or little-known concert will pop up, so you’ll want to be ready to add things to your map at any time.

To keep your Chrome extension ready to go, click the little puzzle piece in the upper right corner of your browser. This will open a dropdown menu of all your browser extensions, along with little pins to the right of each one. Click the pin next to the Proxi extension and it will stay visible and ready to use.

To keep your Proxi Creator Portal easily accessible, just bookmark the web page in your browser of choice.

Tips For Distributing Your Map

Once you’ve made your map and are ready to share it, it’s time to figure out how to get it into the right hands! Here are a few tips for making sure your map gets to everyone who needs it this year.

• Post a link to your map on whatever social media you use and connect with local friends and family. Some great places to start include Facebook, Nextdoor, and Instagram.
• If you have a website, you could create a page that features your map or post a blog about your favorite places listed on it.
• Share the news with influential people in your community who may be willing to share it, such as librarians, religious leaders, or members of your local Chamber of Commerce.
• Print flyers with a QR code that will take people directly to the map and post them around town. Busy places like community centers, bus stops, and coffee shops are great places to start! Consider leaving a few extra flyers at each location in case someone wants to take a flyer to share.

Now, all you have to do is enjoy the map you’ve made and continue spreading the word whenever you see an opportunity! Plus, you’ve learned how to make your own custom map, which is a great skill to have all year long.

Gone are the days of missing events because you logged off Facebook, frantically Googling “Christmas lights near me” because there’s no easy way to find them all, or only learning about local festivals as they’re already tearing down. Enjoying the holiday season in your town has never been as intuitive as it can be with your custom interactive lights and events map, thanks to Proxi. All you need to make it happen is an afternoon, an internet connection, and a vision for some holiday cheer.

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