{"id":77334,"date":"2025-12-01T22:57:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T22:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/77334\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T22:57:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T22:57:12","slug":"alone-over-break-4-ways-to-have-a-happy-holiday-season-solo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/77334\/","title":{"rendered":"Alone over break? 4 ways to have a happy holiday season solo"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Colorado Lagoon is a 29-acre public park in the Alamitos Heights neighborhood of Long Beach, pictured here on Nov. 11. Spending time outdoors can be a fun, free alternative to holiday activities. Charlotte LoCicero | Long Beach Current\n<\/p>\n

As the holiday season approaches, some people spend the holidays with friends and family, and others spend the time alone. Celebrating alone can be just as exciting as celebrating with others. <\/p>\n

From watching a movie at a local theater or giving back to your community, here are four ways you can celebrate the holidays solo.<\/p>\n

Enjoy Long Beach nature:<\/a><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking for a fun way to spend the holidays solo, consider spending a day at the beach or going for a hike through a park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Long Beach is renowned for its natural beauty, featuring stunning beaches, parks, and nature reserves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A great local park for hiking is the DeForest Wetlands<\/a>, which features a nature trail and several sports amenities, including a basketball court and volleyball court. Another great park is the El Dorado Nature Center<\/a>, which is described as an \u201coasis of natural habitat.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Colorado Lagoon is a 29-acre public park in the Alamitos Heights neighborhood of Long Beach, on Nov. 11. Charlotte LoCicero | Long Beach Current<\/p>\n

Some great local beaches to visit include Bayshore<\/a>,\u00a0a very popular and lively beach located near the bustling 2nd Street shopping district. If you\u2019re looking for a more cozy and intimate vibe, Mother\u2019s Beach<\/a> is a small, beloved and charming beach located in Alamitos Bay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you can\u2019t decide between a beach day and a nature day, you can have both at the Colorado Lagoon. It is a nature reserve surrounding a saltwater lagoon that is home to many animals, including stingrays, jellyfish, egrets, and pelicans, among others. <\/p>\n

One of the best things about enjoying nature for holidays is that it is free.\u00a0<\/p>\n

See a movie at the Art Theatre:\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

The Art Theater is a historic landmark in Long Beach, originally opening in 1925.<\/p>\n

In their mission statement, the theatre states that they \u201care dedicated in providing films of historical, cultural, and artistic significance, and to educate the public through discussion groups, workshops, and seminars. <\/p>\n

The Art Theatre screens a diverse range of films that are not available at mainstream cinemas, such as classic American, international, independent, documentary, and archival films, according to its website.<\/p>\n

This winter season, the theater will be showing two movies: \u201cJay Kelly,\u201d starring George Clooney and Adam Sandler, and \u201cWake Up Deadman: A Knives Out Mystery,\u201d starring Josh Brolin and Daniel Craig.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tickets start at $13 per adult.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The Art Theater of Long Beach, seen here on Nov. 13, is the oldest independent cinema house in the city. The theatre shows movies, both revivals and recent releases, every day of the week. Charlotte LoCicero | Long Beach Current<\/p>\n

The Rinks, Lakewood Ice<\/a><\/p>\n

Strap up some laces for solo ice skating this holiday season.<\/p>\n

Part of the larger rinks Development Program, first developed in 2009, the Lakewood Rinks location is only a 16-minute drive from Long Beach State.<\/p>\n

The rink offers public ice skating sessions, as well as private and group lessons.<\/p>\n

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Japanese figure skater Nobunari Oda, a four-time Grand Prix Final medalist, continuously practiced for four hours at the Lakewood Ice Rink in November. He announced his retirement at the end of the 2022\u201323 season. Diego Perez | Long Beach Current<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

General admission prices vary from $17 for a 90-minute session to $19 for a 120-minute session. Regular skate rental is $8.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Volunteer<\/a><\/p>\n

Volunteering is a great way to engage with the community over the holidays.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Great places to volunteer for the holidays include the Long Beach Rescue Mission,<\/a> an organization that assists community members experiencing homelessness, and the Long Beach Community Table<\/a>, which provides food to community members facing food insecurity.<\/p>\n

The L.A. Regional Food Bank,<\/a> which provides food to community members in the greater Los Angeles area, is another option. Additionally, Long Beach Animal Care<\/a> Services offers\u00a0care to animals in need.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Colorado Lagoon is a 29-acre public park in the Alamitos Heights neighborhood of Long Beach, pictured here on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-77334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}