Theresa's Mixed Nuts: A Christmas Story House is a Must Visit for Movie Fans!

Thursday, December 1, 2016

A Christmas Story House is a Must Visit for Movie Fans!

Most people know that A Christmas Story is one of my most favorite holiday movies of all time. I've dragged my family to Hammond, Indiana several times just to look at the window displays and get a family photo on top of Santa's Mountain (you can read about that here and here). So, you can imagine how bad I've been wanting to visit the actual A Christmas Story house that's located in Cleveland, Ohio. It's just a short drive (about 45 minutes) from Cedar Point, and since we go to that amusement park almost every summer, I've been royally pissed off at Jason every year since he's refused to take out additional time for the drive so I could get my visit in. Royally. Pissed!

When we started making our Canadian vacation plans, I put my foot down and insisted that since we would be going through Ohio on our drive, we were stopping at the house. No if. No ands. No buts. It was happening!

My mom went last year on a weekend and said that it was packed. The streets were jammed with cars lining both sides of the road, making it very difficult to drive down. We went on a Tuesday, arriving at about 9am, and we were the first people there. I was thrilled since it made for some great photo opps without extra people in the background. I would recommend a week day visit when school is still in session unless you like dealing with crowds. (Warning- this is a photo heavy post!)

A Christmas Story House
A Christmas Story House Leg Lamp
A Christmas Story HouseA Christmas Story House

The house doesn't open for tours until 10am, and you do have to go across the street to the gift shop to purchase entrance tickets. I believe the price was $10 for adults and $8 for children. You'll end up touring in small groups. There were about 30 people in ours, so it didn't feel too crowded in the house.

Once inside, the tour guide will give you a brief update on the history of the house, as well as some fun movie facts. Afterwards, you are free to roam around on your own for about 20 minutes. 


Since everyone was milling around downstairs trying to get snaps next to that iconic leg lamp, we started from the upstairs and worked our way back down. Our first stop was the bathroom where we thought it would be fun to recreate that famous soap scene and I tried my hand at the decoder ring. 

A Christmas Story House

A Christmas Story House

When Ralphie said the Queen Mother of All Dirty Words and blamed Schwarz in the movie, you could hear his mother screaming on the other end of the phone. If you pick up the phone in the hallway at the house, you can her Schwarz's mom screaming at him about saying that "oh, fudge" word.


Allison had a grand time in the boy's room, lounging around on the beds. 



Next, we explored the kitchen, where the table was getting ready to be set for the neighbor's dogs to come steal the Thanksgiving turkey.


Of course, the living room is probably the most popular room in the house. You'll see a replicas of the famous movie props, which you can touch and take photos with.

A Christmas Story House
A Christmas Story House
 A Christmas Story House

Mariah loved having her photo taken with the Red Ryder B.B. Gun! Thankfully, she didn't shoot her eye out ;)

A Christmas Story House

A Christmas Story House

All of the props in the house are replicas, but across the street in the museum (included in admission price) you can find some of the actual props from the movie set. Here you'll find one of the 6 Red Ryder guns that was actually used in the movie, as well as a piece of the blackboard where Ralphie daydreams about getting an A+++++++ on his school assignment. 

A Christmas Story House

Between the museum and the gift shop, you can see the dad's car and the firetruck that were used in the movie.



What made the trip even more special for me, was we realized that we would be driving right by the schoolhouse with the famous flagpole scene on our way to Toronto. The school is located in Canada and has since been turned into a women's shelter, so it was closed off to visitors, but I did stop outside to grab a quick photo.



For any fan of A Christmas Story, I highly recommend making a trip to Cleveland for a tour of the house! It's worth the drive. I promise!



Do you watch A Christmas Story each year? What's your favorite holiday movie?


27 comments:

  1. I have still never seen it. Crazy right?? I am just going to make that a goal this year and do it! The visit you had looks fun. :)

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    1. Rosey, I am so disappointed in you ;) Seriously, woman. Carve out a little time and watch it this year. You can't go through life without seeing it at least once. It's a classic!

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  2. I've never seen the movie! But, if I remember correctly, I've never seen Jason's fave either, Please, don't kill me.
    That sure is one ugly lamp! Loved the family photo in the end, I always love it when you four are together in photos!

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    1. People hate the selfie stick, but we've gotten more family photos with all 4 of us together since it was invented. Great little gadget ;) I'll forgive you for not seeing the film. I'm not sure you'd like it much as it has a lot of American humor tossed in. It's a bit slow too, but for those of us growing up with it playing on our screens throughout the holiday, it's a tradition to watch it at least once during the Christmas season.

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  3. That is the coolest! I have to go there with the kids. A Christmas Story gets played several times every Christmas around here.

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  4. I would love to see the Christmas Story house. It's my favorite Christmas movie ever. It's HUGE here in Chicago.

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  5. I hate to admit it...I have never seen the whole movie from start to finish! Growing up my dad never liked it, so we just never watched it - now, it's my husband who won't watch it. So neither my kids nor me have seen it. I do love National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Elf, though, although hubby fusses about those too. (He's a bit Grinchy when it comes to Christmas movies).

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  6. This is just awesome! I loved The Christmas Story even before it started playing all the time in TV 😋

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  7. Now that would be fun to visit indeed and scope out. I enjoyed the movie but I always found it a tad slow.

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  8. My daughter and husband would have a blast visiting this house. This is one of their favorite movies as well.

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  9. I have a friend who lives near The Christmas Story house! They were just telling me how cool it is.

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  10. Oh my goodness, coolest spot ever! My husband absolutely loves A Christmas Story and passed that obsession on to me and all three of our kids.

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  11. How fun! I love that movie. We saw the play last year. It was great too! I love how you guys acted out scenes along your tour.

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  12. I love all the concept of the house. The Christmas story is so cool and great.

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  13. I didn't know this existed. My husband would have so much fun with it.

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  14. Wow! What an awesome tour! I love all your photos! I really love the movie and I want to visit this-house too! Thanks for sharing!

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  15. Oh how cool! I had no idea you could visit the Christmas Story house! How fun I want to go!

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  16. I need to show this to my family. It's a tradition to watch the movie on AMC all day on Christmas Day!

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  17. Awesome place to visit this Christmas season. Everything in the house looks so cool. I just wonder where they got all those vintage stuff that were props in the movie! I live so far from Cleveland, but I will remember to drop this Christmas story house a visit if and when I find myself in the area.

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  18. I've never heard of this before! I haven't ever seen a Christmas Story! How cool, looks like it would be a really fun place to take the family and visit. I love the holiday season, and everything about it so this would be a lot of fun to do! - Jeanine

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  19. What a neat place to visit!
    My whole family loves that movie.

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  20. Oh my gosh! I need to go! This movie has been a staple for my family since before I was even born.

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  21. how exciting indeed, Theresa. If it is close, I would definitely come and visit..looks like a great place and fun as well!

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  22. I love the movie A Christmas Story. It would be amazing to visit this house one day. I watch this movie at least 5 times when they have the 24 hour marathon on television.

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  23. This is so awesome! I love that you can touch everything and take photos. Smart idea, starting at the top.

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  24. I watch A Christmas Story every year. It's an iconic Christmas movie. So glad that you got to go and visit the house. My nephew (26 yoa) is a huge fan of the movie and has a pink bunny suit, a leg lamp, and other memorabilia.

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Thanks for your comments! I appreciate every one of them :) Except promotional posts with added links. Those will be deleted.

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