The Ainsley House at 300 Grant Street opens its 2026 holiday tours today, Thursday, Nov. 12. This year's theme is Hollywood Holiday, and each room is decorated after a Christmas film. The house has hosted holiday celebrations for 32 years, so it's easy to think of the season as permanent. The calendar says otherwise. Downtown Campbell's holiday season rests on two things, and both have limits. The museum opens for a fixed number of days before a winter closure. The street festival depends each year on donations.
Twenty-Three Holiday Days Before the Winter Closure
The tours run Nov. 12 through Dec. 20, Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. That covers six weeks of four-day weekends. The house is closed on Thanksgiving Day, which leaves 23 open days.
Two things make that window tighter than it looks. In the rest of the year, the museum's listed hours are Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The holiday season adds Thursdays, so this is the busiest stretch of the house's year. The themed run ends Dec. 20, and soon after that the house goes dark. Campbell Museums closes the house every January and February for its yearly renovation and reopens it in March.
Here is how the Ainsley House dates fit with the rest of the downtown calendar this season:
| Date | Event | Where | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov. 12 to Dec. 20, Thu to Sun, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Hollywood Holiday self-guided tours and Holiday Boutique | Ainsley House, 300 Grant St. | $8 to $12; museum members free |
| Nov. 13 to 15 | Shop Hop | Downtown Campbell | Free to join |
| Nov. 21, 9 a.m. to noon | Photos with Santa | Ainsley House | $20 per reservation |
| Nov. 26 | Thanksgiving; Ainsley House closed | ||
| Nov. 28 | Small Business Saturday | Downtown Campbell | Free |
| Dec. 4 to 6 and Dec. 11 to 13, noon to 2 p.m. | Holiday Tea & Tour | Ainsley House | $70 |
| Dec. 5, 4 to 7 p.m. | Carol of Lights | E. Campbell Ave. and N. First St. | Free |
| Sundays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. | Campbell Farmers' Market | Downtown Campbell | Year-round, rain or shine |
What Hollywood Holiday Brings to a 1925 Cotswold Cottage
The setting is part of what you're paying for. The Ainsley House was built in 1925 as an English Tudor Cotswold cottage in the Arts and Crafts style. It was the third home of John Colpitts Ainsley, a local canning pioneer, and his wife Alcinda. It first stood at the corner of Hamilton and Johnson Avenues, the street now called Bascom. After the remaining Ainsley family members donated it to the City of Campbell, it was moved to Grant Street in 1990. The house and its Carriage House were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
This year the rooms are decorated after Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Elf, The Polar Express and It's a Wonderful Life, with movie-inspired scenes in each room of the 1925 house. The tour is self-guided, so you set the pace. Admission per Campbell Museums:
- Adults 18 to 64: $12
- Seniors 65 and older: $10
- Youth 7 to 17: $8
- Museum members: free
The Holiday Boutique keeps the same hours as the tours. It's set up in the Carriage House and the Ainsley House kitchen and sells ornaments, jewelry, scarves, home décor and other seasonal gifts. If you're shopping for gifts, the boutique has the same 23-day limit as the tours.
The Ticketed Dates Fill First
General admission is the easy part. The two reservation events are harder to get into.
Photos with Santa is on Saturday, Nov. 21, from 9 a.m. to noon. A $20 reservation covers up to six family members. The morning also includes hot cocoa, crafts, coloring and dancers from the Academy of Classical Ballet. The museum's events page books the morning in hourly slots, and some were already marked sold out in early November.
The Holiday Tea & Tour has six sessions over two weekends, Dec. 4 to 6 and Dec. 11 to 13, each from noon to 2 p.m. Tickets are $70. Tea is served in the Carriage House, followed by a self-guided tour of the decorated house. According to the Campbell Museums listing, the tea includes:
- Finger sandwiches and desserts
- A custom Ainsley-blend tea
- Sparkling wine or cider
The Friday, Dec. 4 session was listed as sold out in early November, nearly a month ahead. Six sessions over two weekends don't add up to many seats, and the 2026 tea calendar ends on Dec. 13.
Dec. 5 Is When the Museum and Downtown Calendars Overlap
Most of the season, the Ainsley House and downtown Campbell run on separate schedules. On Saturday, Dec. 5, they overlap. A tea session runs at the house from noon to 2 p.m. Two hours after it ends, the Carol of Lights begins at East Campbell Avenue and North First Street and runs until 7.
One way to plan the day:
- Noon to 2 p.m.: Holiday Tea & Tour at 300 Grant St., if you can still get a seat.
- The gap: The tour hours run until 3, so there's time to stop at the Holiday Boutique before it closes.
- 4 to 7 p.m.: Carol of Lights downtown, with Santa visits, a petting zoo, donkey rides, bounce houses, craft tables, face painting, carolers, free festival snacks and community performances.
- Sunday morning: The Campbell Farmers' Market runs year-round, rain or shine, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 6 is on its calendar.
The two November dates on the downtown calendar fall between museum events. Shop Hop runs Nov. 13 to 15, the first weekend of the tours. Participants can win one of two $300 gift cards or one of four runner-up baskets valued at $60. Small Business Saturday follows on Nov. 28, two days after the Thanksgiving closure at the Ainsley House. The Downtown Campbell events page lists deals, specials, pop-ups and events that day.
The Free Festival Runs on Donations
Carol of Lights costs nothing to attend, and that can hide the fact that somebody has to pay for it. The Downtown Campbell Business Association's event page says who does:
"The Carol of Lights is completely free for everyone to attend, but it is not funded by the City of Campbell or from any other public sources."
The festival is produced independently by the business association and a group of volunteers, and it is paid for entirely by donations. The same page says the volunteers who organize much of what happens downtown also have to raise the money to pay for it. The association asks for $5, $10 or whatever attendees are comfortable giving, and it takes donations online. The listing also notes that the date or time may change.
That puts the downtown festival in a similar position to the museum. The Ainsley House holiday season depends on a city museum's staff and a renovation schedule. The Carol of Lights depends on whether enough people chip in. The holiday tours end on Sunday, Dec. 20, and the house closes for January and February before reopening in March.
The Ainsley House reached Grant Street because the remaining members of one Campbell family decided to donate it to the city. Many longtime Campbell homes have a family story behind them too, and the holidays are often when relatives talk about what comes next. If your family is starting that conversation, Melanie Kemp can help you work out where the house stands, quietly and on your schedule. Request a Confidential Home Valuation.
