Images via That’s 4 Entertainment

Christmas Con has spread holiday cheer to both the West Coast and the East Coast for the past few years, but in 2023… there’s no place like Christmas in the Midwest! That’s 4 Entertainment has announced that they will bring their beloved holiday convention filled with festive vendors, audience-engaging seasonal games and the opportunity to see your favorite Christmas movie stars up close when Christmas Con comes to Kansas in June—hosted by Jonathan Bennett!

The event will run from June 9-11 at Overland Park Convention Center in Overland Park—just minutes from the heart of Kansas City! Tickets are currently on sale at Thats4Entertainment.com.

Check out the full list of celebrity guests who are currently scheduled to attend the Kansas event!*

That’s 4 Entertainment

Despite a lot of setbacks due to the pandemic, Christmas Con NJ finally went off without a hitch last December for the second annual installment of the holiday event that brought Christmas movie fans, the stars, and festive activities together in one place to celebrate the ‘most wonderful time of the year’ — and it’s coming back this year for round three of holiday cheer!

That’s 4 Entertainment announced the first 10 celebrity guests out of the 30 who will be in attendance for Christmas Con New Jersey* when it takes place this December 9, 10 and 11th at the NJ Expo Center in Edison, NJ, including returning host Jonathan Bennett and headliner Lacey Chabert.  Show hours are: Friday 12/9 – 2pm-8pm, Saturday 12/10 – 10am-6pm and Sunday, 12/11 – 10am-5pm.  Check out the first batch of stars announced below!

UPDATE (9/18/22): We have updated the attendance list with a plethora of celebrities who will be taking part in the event!

UPDATE (11/7/22): Kimberley Sustad and Kristoffer Polaha had to cancel their appearances at Christmas Con: New Jersey 2022 due to scheduling conflicts.

UPDATE (11/10/22): Victor Webster had to cancel his appearance at Christmas Con: New Jersey 2022 due to scheduling conflicts. Jessica Lowndes and Benjamin Ayres have been added to the attendance list!

Photos via Christmas Is Not Cancelled

Jen Lilley, an actress who should be very familiar to you if you’re an avid viewer of Hallmark movies (especially at Christmas) or soap operas like Days of Our Lives and General Hospital, but she’s also a big believer in helping those in need. Lilley co-founded Christmas is Not Cancelled, which is an ‘action-oriented marketing company on a mission to save the world by raising awareness and funding incredible non-profit organizations’.

They have a goal of spreading Christmas cheer all year long while creating a sense of community. This summer the company launched Camp Christmas in July, a fundraiser to help children in foster care receive quality school supplies. For participants who donate, they will be helping to give kids backpacks full of school supplies and notes of encouragement, and participants will also have the chance to win amazing prizes. There is also festive merch available to show your support (click here)!

Need a little bit of holiday cheer to lift your spirits? Christmas Con has you covered!

That’s 4 Entertainment has announced Christmas Con Virtual, a special virtual event with some of your favorite Christmas movie actors that’s launching this weekend!

Scheduled across two weekends (August 22-23 and August 29-30), the virtual convention will feature four types of fan experiences you can purchase — and availability is worldwide! You can have a one-on-one video chat with your favorite Christmas Con star or a personalized recorded message, which can be used as a gift for a fellow fan or a friend. There will also be a celebrity panel hosted by Jonathan Bennett that will be held each day of the virtual con and will be free to all who sign up. Additionally you can purchase an autograph from the participating talent.

That’s 4 Entertainment

IMPORTANT UPDATE (10/02/20): That’s 4 Entertainment announced today that they have officially postponed the Christmas Con New Jersey event to next year due to the pandemic. The new dates are December 10th-12th of 2021. Refunds are available if you can not make the event next year, but if you can, hold onto your tickets as they will be valid for the new dates!

FYI: The California event has also been postponed.

Christmas Con is coming back to New Jersey! Last year That’s 4 Entertainment held the the first-ever Christmas convention that featured holiday fun along with many of your favorite stars from Christmas movies and other popular creatives in the festive field. The LollyChristmas.com team was able to attend, and we had a merry blast!

Many thought with the announcement of Christmas Con: California that the event would be moving location entirely, but due to the success, Christmas Con will be returning to the Garden State this December with several returning stars plus additional fan-favorites for a weekend filled with cheer.

That’s 4 Entertainment

IMPORTANT UPDATE (7/14/20): That’s 4 Entertainment announced on Twitter on 7/11/20 that they have officially postponed the Christmas Con California event to next year due to the pandemic. The new dates are June 25th-27th of 2021. Refunds are available if you can not make the event next summer, but if you can, hold onto your tickets as they will be valid for the new dates!

NEW UPDATE ALERT (04/05/21):  With June 2021 being too soon for large gatherings in California, That’s 4 Entertainment announced that they will have to once again push Christmas Con back another year.  The company posted today on Instagram that Christmas Con: California will now take place August, 5th-7th of 2022!

If you weren’t able to attend That’s 4 Entertainment’s first Christmas Con in New Jersey last year, and wanted to attend but you lived on the West Coast, you’ll be excited to know that Christmas Con is coming to California! The event was originally scheduled to be a fun-in-the-sun Christmas in July convention, but due to the current COVID-19 global crisis, they had to push the event to a later date.

Join your favorite actors from beloved Christmas movies (including a whole slew of Hallmark Channel stars!) for a jolly weekend of professional photo ops, special Q&As, and many more surprises, at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California on August, 5, 6 & 7 of 2022*!

“Christmas Made to Order” star and “Cake Wars” host, Jonathan Bennett, will return as the official host, and his former “Mean Girls” co-star (and Hallmark Christmas movie princess), Lacey Chabert, will be the official headliner. Many of the actors that attended the 2019 event will also take part in the California event, so if you missed out on seeing them last year, here’s another chance!

Photos: Crown Media

Christmas Day is Wednesday and Hallmark is kicking off the super festive week with a few paw-liday specials filled with the cutest little furry friends!

On Monday, December 23rd at 6pm/5c, Larissa Wohl will host A Puppy Christmas, a half-hour special showing adorable, adoptable puppies as they play amongst a warm Yule Log setting on Hallmark Channel. The special will be followed by the Cameron Mathison-hosted A Kitten Christmas as they take over for some cozy Yule Log fun and frolicking.

On Tuesday, December 24th at 5pm/4c – aka Christmas Eve – Hallmark mascots Happy the Cat and Happy the Dog will be joined by Pip Squeak the Pig and other beautiful animals for the annual A Very Happy and Friends Yule Log event on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. Watch as the adoptable kittens and puppies play amongst a holiday back drops complete with traditional tunes.

Merry Christmas!

Stay Merry!

Photos and screengrabs: Crown Media

Elizabeth Mitchell leads her first Hallmark holiday movie this year, alongside Cameron Mathison, in “The Christmas Club”. This heart-warming film tells the story of two strangers who are brought together during the ‘most wonderful time of the year’ after helping a woman who lost her Christmas savings. Maybe a little bit of Christmas magic is all they need.

Nola Chaters was the costume designer and shared the details of what Mitchell wore in the movie as her character, Olivia. During the most pivotal part of the movie we see Olivia wearing a cute short double-breasted grey coat by Club Monaco.

Hinske behind the scenes of THE CHRISTMAS CLUB! | Photo: Barbara Hinske

Guess what this week is? I’ll tell you — it’s premiere week for Hallmark Channel’s The Christmas Club starring Cameron Mathison and Elizabeth Mitchell. This heart-warming story about a random act of kindness and the irresistible pull of love was based off the novella by best-selling author Barbara Hinske, and this month has been a treat in getting an in-depth look behind the writing of the story thanks to an exclusive Q&A with Hinske and a guest blog where she explained how a homily lead her on this journey.

In her second guest blog, Hinske shares some tidbits about what it was like when she went to the set of the Hallmark Channel original movie and watched her novella come to life on the small screen!

The Christmas Club: Behind the Scenes

The Christmas Club, my Christmas novella, was purchased by Crown Media and made into a 2019 Hallmark Channel Christmas movie. I’ve written about what a dream come true that was here. As if having my story made into a Hallmark Christmas movie wasn’t enough, my husband and I got to spend a week on location during filming. That was an experience I’ll cherish for the rest of my life. In addition to every single cast and crew member being extremely professional, warm, welcoming, and downright kind, here are my “best of” moments:

Photos: Barbara Hinske/Crown Media

The Christmas Club, starring Cameron Mathison and Elizabeth Mitchell, is one of the 40 original holiday movies premiering during Hallmark’s iconic Christmas programming event during ‘the most wonderful time of the year’ and it’s based off of a novella by author Barbara Hinske.

This touching story tells the tale of two strangers who show a random act of kindness to a woman who loses her Christmas savings, and as fate would have it, find the love they were both missing.

Earlier this week, I featured a Q&A I conducted with Hinske to celebrate The Christmas Club [read it here!], which premieres on November 27th on the Hallmark Channel, and Hinske has also stepped in to share a couple of guest blogs that I will feature now and next week.  Check out the first post below!