Oʻahu events in December 2026 give visitors four firm planning windows: December 5, 7, 12–13, and 16. The first is a free public holiday-season event. The second marks the 85th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The third now combines marathon weekend with the Hawaiʻi ʻUkulele Festival, and the fourth is an evening holiday concert.

December 12 also brings an important correction for history-focused travelers: the public tour at Honouliuli National Historic Site is already full, with a waitlist of at least 320 people. Do not build a Waipahu morning around the tour just because a general NPS event card still shows a registration link.

Give Pearl Harbor its own day. Choose fixed dates first, then build lodging and flexible beach days around them. Use the linked organizer or agency source for each date, and check it again close to travel.

The Honolulu City Lights FAQ schedules opening night for Saturday, December 5. The ceremony begins at 5:30 p.m., the city tree is scheduled to light at about 6 p.m., and the Public Workers' Electric Light Parade steps off on King Street at about 6 p.m. Admission is free.

A large crowd gathers near Honolulu Hale on opening night. Chinatown and the downtown stretch between River Street and Fort Street Mall are less crowded. Arrive before street closures if the parade matters. The organizer warns that drivers in some parking areas may need to wait for streets to reopen before exiting.

If your trip does not need the parade, go on a later evening. The Civic Center display is scheduled to remain open daily through December, with outdoor decorations lit nightly. Use our Honolulu City Lights guide to plan that evening.

The National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Ceremony is scheduled for the morning of Monday, December 7, at Pearl Harbor National Memorial. The main ceremony is open to the public. Recheck the official schedule before setting your arrival time.

The December 6 USS Utah ceremony and December 7 USS Oklahoma ceremony are listed as open to the public, but only for attendees who already have Ford Island access through military or government identification. They are not general visitor planning anchors. The December 8 Blackened Canteen ceremony is invitation-only.

Read our Pearl Harbor 85th anniversary guide before choosing December 7 for your visit.

The Hawaiʻi ʻUkulele Festival organizer confirms a two-day event on Saturday and Sunday, December 12–13, at Neal S. Blaisdell Exposition Hall. The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority's 2026 community-events list independently names the same dates and Kala Foundation as the organizer.

The dates and venue are settled; the daily timetable is not. The organizer's schedule page currently says “Coming Soon”, while its site provides general Blaisdell parking information. Hold the weekend if the festival matters, but do not build a timed itinerary until the schedule appears.

This is not the similarly named International ʻUkulele Festival of Hawaiʻi. That separate organizer scheduled its main 2026 Kapiʻolani Park festival for July 12. For December plans, use the Hawaiʻi ʻUkulele Festival site above rather than recycling the July schedule or venue.

The festival shares its weekend with the Kalākaua Merrie Mile and Honolulu Marathon. If the festival is your priority, wait for its daily hours before choosing Saturday or Sunday and leave room for marathon-related travel changes. If you are racing, protect packet pickup, the early Sunday start, and recovery first; do not assume the festival will fit until its schedule is public. Use our Honolulu Marathon guide before setting the weekend plan.

The official 2026 Honolulu Marathon page lists a 5 a.m. start on Sunday, December 13. Its course runs from Ala Moana through downtown, Waikīkī, Diamond Head, Kāhala, and Hawaiʻi Kai before finishing at Kapiʻolani Park. The Kalākaua Merrie Mile runs Saturday, December 12.

Runners also need packet pickup at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center on December 10, 11, or 12. Use our Honolulu Marathon guide before finalizing race weekend.

Check the organizer's current course and traffic information before scheduling an airport run, east-side tour, or Pearl Harbor reservation on Sunday morning.

The NPS event card for the December 12 Honouliuli public tour still displays a registration link. The park's more specific public-tour availability page says the tour is full and its waitlist has at least 320 people. Use the detailed park page as the controlling source.

Honouliuli has no public access outside its guided tour. The December program begins at Hawaii's Plantation Village in Waipahu, but showing up there does not create a walk-in path to the national historic site. If you already hold a confirmed reservation, follow the park's preparation instructions. If you do not, plan a different history stop and watch the same NPS page near the end of 2026, when the park says it will release its 2027 tour dates.

For a separate Waipahu visit, use our Hawaiʻi plantation heritage guide, then confirm the museum's own current hours and admission before going.

The Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra's official 2026–27 season brochure schedules Hapa Holiday Extravaganza for Wednesday, December 16, at 7:30 p.m. at Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall.

Unlike the parade, commemoration, and marathon, this concert has a fixed indoor venue and evening start time. It leaves the day open for other plans. Check the orchestra's current schedule and ticket availability before travel, and leave margin for dinner and event traffic around the Blaisdell Center.

For the downtown and Blaisdell dates, use our lodging guide below to compare Waikīkī and Ala Moana. The marathon starts on Ala Moana Boulevard and finishes at Kapiʻolani Park, so runners should decide whether start or finish proximity matters more.

Pearl Harbor National Memorial is west of downtown Honolulu. Give December 7 its own early start and avoid pairing it with a fixed evening across the island. If the commemoration is the main reason for the trip, choose lodging with that early westbound trip in mind rather than booking by beach view alone.

Use our where to stay on Oʻahu guide, then compare current Waikīkī hotel inventory on Booking.com. Confirm the map location and cancellation terms before paying.

Once lodging is set, leave room for weather and late organizer announcements. Use our December Hawaii guide for the rest of the trip.