Holiday Tea & Tours

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and select Sundays at 1 PM ~ December 2024

Celebrate the season and join us for tea and tours during our most sparkling time of year! Package includes a traditional holiday tea, docent-supported self-guided tours of the decorated Estate, and access to our seasonal vintage textile exhibition Dressing With Flair: Staff Favorites From the Pitcairn Collection throughout the second and third floors. Fundraising and outreach activities proudly hosted by Cairn Club, Inc.

Menu includes premium teas by master blender Harney & Sons, traditional tea sandwiches, soup du jour and seasonal salad, family style sweets, holiday cookies, and scones with clotted cream and jams provided by Karen Spire Catering & Events.

  • $70 per person (gratuities not included)
  • NOTE: reservations are by table; if you would like to join a group, please call 215.947.2004
  • Docent-supported self-guided tours included
  • Duration: 3 hours
  • Limited availability ~ Reservations Required
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Guided Christmas in Cairnwood Tour

Select dates in December at 11 AM

Enjoy the holidays with your family and friends at Cairnwood Estate. Guided Christmas in Cairnwood tours begin in the Garden House with an orientation video and include three floors decorated for the season by professional florists. Guests are greeted upon entering the Great Hall by our dazzling two-story Christmas tree—located in the same spot it once stood at the turn of the century. Tour participants discover the private side of the Pitcairn family and its integral role in founding the Bryn Athyn community while exploring this grand Beaux Arts country house and the vintage textile exhibition Dressing With Flair: Staff Favorites From the Pitcairn Collection. A visit to the Estate during the holidays will be a special treat for the ones you love! Fundraising and outreach activities proudly hosted by Cairn Club, Inc.

  • $25 per adult
  • $20 per senior/students
  • $15 for Cairnwood Estate members *present valid ID
  • Duration: 90 minutes
  • Limited availability ~ Reservations Required
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Children’s Critter Quest

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and select Sundays from 2 PM to 4 PM ~ December 2024

It is during this festive season that the Cairnwood Critters venture out of their secret homes in the walls to celebrate! Families will make their way through the glittering grand rooms of the Estate while on a quest to find the hiding (and cute) little critters. This is a wonderful after-school opportunity to build family memories while learning about the history of Cairnwood. Bring your camera–family photos by the Christmas trees are welcome! Fundraising and outreach activities proudly hosted by Cairn Club, Inc.

  • $10 per child (ages 4-12 years)
  • Children must be accompanied by an adult
    • $10 per adult
    • Cairnwood Estate & Cairn Club members receive FREE admission and half price on children tickets (limit 4) *present valid ID
  • Doors open at 2 PM and close at 4 PM ~ complete at your own pace
  • Duration: please allow 45 minutes
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Self-Guided Holiday Tour

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and select Sundays from 2 PM to 4 PM ~ December 2024

Explore the elegant rooms of the Estate at your own pace with professionally decorated Christmas trees, twinkling balustrades, festive mantels over nine 1895 fireplaces, and the vintage textile exhibition Dressing With Flair: Staff Favorites From the Pitcairn Collection. Learn the personal history of this grand Beaux Arts country house; Cairnwood docents throughout the mansion will enhance your visit. For a family experience you may add Children’s Critter Quest tickets (sold separately). Don’t forget your camera! Fundraising and outreach activities proudly hosted by Cairn Club, Inc.

  • $10 per person
  • Doors open at 2 PM and will close at 4 PM ~  complete at your own pace
  • Free for Cairnwood Estate members *present valid ID
  • Duration: 2 hours to explore at your own pace
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Christmas Cookie Stroll

Thursday, December 19th  from 5pm to 7:30pm

There is nothing more magical than an evening stroll through the Estate to collect a personal selection of traditional cookies by the candlelight glow of thousands of Christmas lights inside and out! This family-friendly event is the last self-guided tour opportunity to see Cairnwood’s halls decked with 8 sparkling Christmas trees and fantasy fireplace mantels throughout the Estate. Step back in time with the special exhibition of vintage textiles, Dressing With Flair: Staff Favorites From the Pitcairn Collection. Admission includes holiday cookies and a cup of hot chocolate per person—add to the fun with the additional purchase of the Cairnwood Critter Quest for the children and a holiday cocktail or beverage for the adults. Fundraising and outreach activities proudly hosted by Cairn Club, Inc.

  • $15 per adult/child
  • $10 for Cairnwood members *present valid ID
  • Duration: 2.5 hours to explore at your own pace
  • Critter Quest booklets sold separately during the event
  • Cash bar available (21+ years of age)
  • Credit cards and cash accepted
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Cairnwood Literary Guild – Book Club Meeting

Tuesday, January 28th at 7:30pm in the Garden House

Winter selection:What The Lady Wants: A Novel of Marshall Field and The Gilded Age by Renée Rosen
Meeting in the Cairnwood Garden House. Tuesday, January 28, 7:30 PM

The night of the Great Fire, as seventeen-year-old Delia watches the flames rise and consume what was the pioneer town of Chicago, she can’t imagine how much her life, her city, and her whole world are about to change. Nor can she guess that the agent of that change will not simply be the fire, but more so the man she meets that night.…

Leading the way in rebuilding after the fire, Marshall Field reopens his well-known dry goods store and transforms it into something the world has never seen before: a glamorous palace of a department store. He and his powerhouse coterie—including Potter Palmer and George Pullman—usher in the age of robber barons, the American royalty of their generation.

But behind the opulence, their private lives are riddled with scandal and heartbreak. Delia and Marshall first turn to each other out of loneliness, but as their love deepens, they will stand together despite disgrace and ostracism, through an age of devastation and opportunity, when an adolescent Chicago is transformed into the gleaming White City of the Chicago’s World’s Fair of 1893.

RSVP: lisa@cairnwood.org

Fundraising and outreach activities proudly hosted by Cairn Club, Inc.

Dreamhouse Dance Party 2025

SAVE THE DATE ~ Saturday, February 15th at 7:00pm

“I don’t have anything big planned. Just a giant blowout party with all the Barbies, and planned choreography, and a bespoke song. You should stop by.” — Barbie, The Barbie Movie

Boogie the night away at Cairnwood’s very first Dreamhouse Dance Party! Get dolled up with your friends and enjoy libations (that are pink and good enough to drink), sweet and savory bites, and music that is sublime!

  • Dance party attire! Pink and Sparkles recommended.
  • $70/person
  • 25% off for Cairnwood & Cairn Club members– with valid coupon code
  • Duration: 3 hours
  • Limited availability ~ Reservations Required

Fundraising and outreach activities proudly hosted by Cairn Club, Inc.

Guided History Tour

Tuesday – Sunday at 11am

Learn the Personal History of this Grand Beaux Arts Country House!

Guided tours of Cairnwood Estate reveal the personal history of this grand Beaux Arts country house. Tour participants discover the private side of the family and its integral role in founding the Bryn Athyn community. Tours begin with an orientation video in the Garden House and includes three floors of the Main House, the Chapel in the tower, the Cairnwood Family Gallery, Servant’s Quarters, and the Carriage House collections of horse-drawn carriages and sleighs and a 1927 Packard. Fundraising and outreach activities proudly hosted by Cairn Club, Inc.

  • Admission: Adult (Ages 18-64): $15; Student (Ages 6-17) and Seniors (Ages 65+): $12; 5 & under: Free
  • Minimum 2 tickets; Single ticket – call to book.
  • Cairnwood Members – please call to receive your free tour(s) coupon code.
  • Tours are available Tuesday – Sunday at 11:00am
  • Duration: 1.5 hours
  • Purchasing tickets in advance is strongly recommended; the estate and grounds are occasionally closed for private rentals on short notice
  • Parts of the estate are not fully accessible due to 1895 construction; tours require a fair amount of walking and stairs. Call for more information or to request tour modifications.
  • Call 215-947-2004 or contact us at info@cairnwood.org to schedule your tour
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