It's December, so the days are short but the party is long. Bundle up and head to a local festival.

Lakewood: Lego Building Contest

Return to childhood for a night with an all-ages Lego construction contest, operating in tandem with the city's tree lighting ceremony at Lakewood City Hall. The winning entries will be announced the night of the contest and will be displayed at the Children's Museum of Tacoma for the rest of the month. First- and second-place winners of each category, as well as the fan-favorite voted by the attendees, will be awarded full-sized Lego sets; all participants will receive $25 Bricks 4 Kidz gift certificates. Dec 2, 5–8pm

Vancouver: Enchant Christmas Light Maze and Market

The world’s largest Christmas light maze sits north of the border, consisting of more than 55,000 square feet of illuminated sculptures telling the story of Santa's lost reindeer (there's even a story book for sale). Along with the maze, Enchant includes a market with over 40 local vendors, 12 food trucks, and a dining area where guests can enjoy holiday drinks. For an extra fee ($60 for adults, $45 for children), guests can get into the VIP Christmas party and drink tickets, food vouchers, and VIP access to the light maze. Through Dec 31

Olympic Peninsula: 117th Annual Christmas Bird Count

In 1900, an ornithologist in the Audubon Society proposed a new Christmas Day tradition of counting, instead of hunting, birds, using the data to inspire bird habitat conservation. At the 117th edition of the bird census, participants will add their own data collected from locations around the Olympic Peninsula including Port Townsend, Sequim, and Neah Bay. More than 200 scholarly articles have been written using the information gathered from the past century of bird counts. Dec 17–19, 31

Spokane: Winter Glow Spectacular

Travel to the east side of the Cascades to witness more than a million holiday lights and two separate firework displays (December 9 and December 17). The Spokane County Fair and Expo Center hosts its third annual light ceremony with a holiday corn maze and photos with Tedi the Yeti, Winter Glow's mascot. The new Winter Glow Film Festival will hold a competition to see who can create the best holiday film and will be screening throughout the festival. Food booths, craft activities, and free parking are all included in the entry fee, and on December 15 two or more cans of food gets you $2 off. Dec 9–11, 15–23, 26–30

Tacoma: Dope Music Festival

In the past two years the Tacoma Dome's winter music festival has hosted performances from Schoolboy Q, Chris Brown, and Lil Wayne. Now in its third year, the hip-hop-centric music festival presents Gucci Mane, Lil Uzi Vert, Meek Mill, and Jeremih plus local talents like Curtis High School alumnus Clemm Rishad at the one-day event. Dec 17