Kansas City's holiday season centers on the Country Club Plaza Lighting, among the longest-running of its kind in the United States since the 1920s, and on the city's identity as the home of Hallmark Cards. The combination of jazz heritage and Heartland traditions gives the season a distinctive Midwestern character.

• Country Club Plaza Lighting: The Spanish-styled Plaza shopping district lights up in late November, a holiday tradition the rest of the country's outdoor lighting displays were partly modeled on.
• Mayor's Christmas Tree: The official city tree at Crown Center stands at the base of the Hallmark Cards headquarters, an apt setting for the holiday-card capital of America.
• Kansas City Barbecue: The burnt-end sandwich invented at Arthur Bryant's, with rival temples at Joe's KC, Gates, and LC's, makes Kansas City barbecue the centerpiece of any holiday visit through the season.
• 18th and Vine Jazz District: The historic African-American district hosts holiday jazz programming at the American Jazz Museum and surrounding venues, a uniquely Kansas City contribution to the season.