When it comes to festivals in Sydney, there are a plethora of options! In fact, Sydney Festivals with kids seem to be available all year round. You see, Aussie’s love a good festival especially when it involves a whole lot of food, and they always seem to be so vibrant and fun.
So check out our list of what we think are the best Sydney festivals to enjoy with the whole family!
Worried about where to park? Head to our cheap parking in Sydney CBD resource guide
The Best Sydney Festivals with Kids
Table of Contents
Organised in months, we have listed
March
The beginning of autumn sees a range of Sydney Festivals ready to mark in your diary. As the folliage begins to change maybe a new festival should be up your sleeve with the kids.
Mardi Gras
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG) is one of the oldest continuously operating LGBTQI organisations in Australia. SGLMG was built on the foundations laid by early community activists who fought for LGBTQI rights in a time of wide-spread, institutionalised oppression and discrimination. From these origins, SGLMG has evolved to include a strong focus on celebration while maintaining a commitment to social justice for LGBTQI communities.
Whilst many of the activities are for ages 18+, Mardi Gras does have pockets of activities appropriate for families. Check the website for details
Website: Mardi Gras Website
Eel Festival
Discover the Indigenous heritage of Parramatta, on Darug country.
Join us for a family-friendly celebration of eel season with a day of performances, talks and workshops. Connect to country as the community comes together.
Taste traditionally cooked eel and learn about bush foods with Uncle Fred from Fred’s Bush Tucker. Try out some words in Darug language, participate in weaving and boomerang painting and join the yarning circle.
Experience Australia’s oldest homestead and hear about the connections between John and Elizabeth Macarthur and the local Aboriginal people.
Website: Eel Festival Webpage
Children’s Festival in Sydney
The Children’s Festival is a significant multicultural event in Australia.
It is unique in its celebration of cultural diversity with a spectacular day-long program of entertainment presented by over 30 groups from different cultural backgrounds. Thousands of children and their families participate in the day’s activities.
Under the motto “Play Together and Live in Harmony”, the Children’s Festival is a day for everyone but especially for children to get together in a multicultural environment to have fun, join in creative activities and share those new experiences with each other.
Website: Children’s Festival Sydney Webpage
Parramasala
Parramasala Festival transforms Parramatta into a rich playground of cultural wonder with a bumper program featuring live music, workshops for the whole family, incredible dance, delicious world delicacies and the iconic opening street parade.
The whole family can enjoy a wide array of workshops at Parramasala. From sustainable craft workshops such as Pacific Island weaving, Indigenous art with eel trap and spear making, plus recycled art workshops run by The Bower, to music and dance classes like West African Rhythms Drum and Dance to belly dancing and more all it takes to get involved is a hunger for creativity and a spirit of adventure.
Website: Parramasala Website
Sydney Design Festival
The Festival provides visitors with an opportunity to unpack design in all its forms – to understand and explore the processes, functions and narratives within design enterprise and to be inspired by the exhibitions and people involved in creating our futures.
Website: Sydney Design Festival
April
With Easter just around the corner, why not seek out a festival or two that helps you to celebrate the bunny season! To help -don’t miss out on our Sydney School Holiday resource!
The Complete Guide to Sydney School Holiday Activities – even better than a single festival!
Sydney Royal Easter Show
A celebration of Australian culture, from our rural traditions to our modern-day lifestyles, providing unique experiences for everyone.
Webpage: Easter Show Webpage
How to have a bloody good time at the Sydney Royal Easter Show
Sydney Comedy Festival
The Sydney Comedy Festival is Sydney’s biggest annual comedy event. Every April and May, hundreds of the world’s funniest comedians take to stages across Sydney to entertain an audience of more than 120,000 people, followed by a 50+ stop Showcase Tour across Australia that performs to over 25,000 annually.
Website: Sydney Comedy Festival Website
Sydney Writers’ Festival
Each year, Sydney Writers’ Festival presents more than 300 events, attracting audiences of up to 100,000 for a week-long conversation of books and ideas. From 29 April to 5 May 2019, thousands of readers and hundreds of writers will come together at our Festival hub at Carriageworks and venues across the city such as Sydney Town Hall and City Recital Hall.
The Festival programs some of the world’s most curious and compassionate, irreverent but respectful, intelligent and argumentative writers – from local and international contemporary novelists, screenwriters, musicians and writers of cutting-edge nonfiction, to some of the world’s leading public intellectuals, scientists and journalists. With the finest writing and storytelling at its core, our programming is driven by the ideas and issues that animate all types of literature.
Website: Sydney Writers Festival Website
Australian Heritage Festival
The National Trust Heritage Festival began back in 1980 and has become Australia’s biggest festival of heritage and culture. Thanks to the amazing involvement and support of thousands of volunteers every year we’ve become the nation’s favourite heritage festival – and things are about to get even better!
Events across Australia will be held at historic buildings, landmarks, shipwrecks and sacred sites. The festival will bring together communities from all walks of life to recognise and celebrate heritage and culture through ceremony, song and dance, performance art, art in various media and artefacts, talks on books and stories, and guided tours of towns, places and spaces.
Website: National Trust Webpage
May
Just as winter appears on the horizon, so do some of the most exciting Festivals in Sydney! Of course Vivid makes a spectacular entry with its amazing lights projections and innovations. This makes Sydney’s festival calendar very exciting.
Vivid Sydney
Vivid Sydney is a 23-day festival of light, music and ideas. Vivid Sydney features many of the world’s most important creative industry forums, a mesmerising free public exhibition of outdoor lighting sculptures and installations and a cutting-edge contemporary music program.
Webpage: Vivid Sydney website
Read all about Vivid Sydney with kids. Where to head first, which attractions to visit, how to plan your trip!
Head on Photo Festival
If you like what you see and are interested to take part in 2019, please enter to the internationally acclaimed Head On Photo Awards.
The work is selected by leading international professional photographers, curators and picture editors without the names of the submitting photographer to ensure quality and equity.
The Head On Photo Awards with a prize pool of $60,000, have helped hundreds of photographers promote their outstanding images in Australia and overseas and delivered over $600,000 worth of cash and prizes since 2004.
~Moshe Rosenzveig OAM, Festival Director
Website: Head on Photo Festival Webpage
June
Winter has arrived so this month many of the incredible festivals in Sydney are indoors! Which will you choose?
Sydney Film Festival
Enjoy the best features, documentaries and short films from across Australia and the world.
Webpage: Sydney Film Festival Website
Good Food & Wine Show
The Sydney Good Food and Wine Show will take place from Friday 21 – Sunday 23 June 2019. Details to come
Webpage: Good Food and Wine Show webpage
July
Whilst the snow is unlikely to fall in Sydney …. Parramatta has brought it to the Sydney with their annual Sydney festival: Winterlight. My goodness, winter is warming up with all of these festivals before us. Oh, and it’s the school holidays again!
The Complete Guide to Sydney School Holiday Activities – even better than a single festival!
Winterlight Festival
Get your skates on at the smoothfm ice rink, Sydney’s biggest open-air rink! With so much on offer, including an ice slide, a dedicated kids rink, and an illuminated ferris wheel, Winterlight is the place to be these July school holidays!
Website: Winterlight Festival Parramatta Website
Read all about our Winterlight Festival Experience
Way Out West (WOW) Festival for Young People
The 2019 Way Out West (WOW) Festival for Young People is a four-day event held in one of Australia’s most unique arts centres, the Casula Powerhouse. Dive into a packed program of theatre, interactive installations, dance, music, literature, food, yoga, workshops and FREE family events guaranteed to inspire joy, creativity and curiosity.
The WOW Festival believes that the arts should be FOR children as well as BY children. This year at the WOW Festival, children and young people take over the art centre as they share their stories and ideas about the world they live in.
Website: WOW Webpage
Bastille Festival
The Bastille Festival features glorious food across 70 stalls. Bite into the best baguettes, taste some stinky cheese and savour some traditional French cakes for an unmissable food experience.
Visiting Bastille Festival Sydney is like going on a culinary trip around France. Embark on a culinary journey through France’s most loved regional food specialties such as The Raclette and Fondue from the Alps, The Choucroute and The flammkuchen from the East of France, Crepes and some tasty cheeses from Normandy or Brittany. Overall, more than 100 mouth-watering food specialties.
Website: Bastille Festival Sydney Webpage
August
Spring comes early to Sydney with a bevy of festivals ready to celebrate the blossoming of new calendar treats.
Sydney Cherry Blossom Festival
The award-winning Sydney Cherry Blossom Festival is back in 2019 with a massive Line-up for all lovers of blossoms.
Website: Auburn Gardens Website
Italian Wine + Food Festival
Everything that’s good about eating and drinking in Italy comes together under one roof in August with the Italian Wine + Food Festival. Just as the appeal of Italian food runs from street-style pizza-fun for the whole family to fresh-pasta finery for the connoisseur, the festival has food and drink, entertainment and information to suit everyone from spaghetti-loving kids to the most engaged Italian-speaking wine lover.
Webpage: Italian Wine and Food Festival
Sydney Tea Festival
The Sydney Tea Festival is an interactive experience designed to help people discover and experience specialty tea; encourage and grow passion for tea through education; and showcase quality specialty tea providers.
There’s also workshops, talks and masterclasses hosted by leading specialists where you can participate in a tea tasting, learn about tea basics, food pairing, blending and tea ceremonies, or just discover more about the history and health benefits of tea.
Website: Sydney Tea Festival Webpage
Sydney Science Festival
The Science Festival celebrates National Science Week. Held at the Australian Museum, there are around 400 interactive workshops, talks and shows tailored to students, community visitors and industry professionals. The event creates an opportunity for students and the general public to talk to scientists and educators from leading institutions to discover the relevance and role of science within their local community, and find out how they could get involved with it all.
Website: Sydney Science Festival @ Australian Museum
September
Spring is here! I wonder what festivals Sydney has in store for us this month!
Sydney Fringe Festival
“With events spread out across our sprawling city, the festival celebrates, and highlights the amazing work of our local independent artists, art makers and performers. Inviting our audiences to visit undiscovered parts of the city, a new venue or a secret bar, and discover the fantastic creative offerings our artists prepare year-round.”
— FESTIVAL DIRECTOR, KERRI GLASSCOCK
Webpage: Sydney Fringe Festival webpage
Chocolate Festival
The smooth Festival of Chocolate is serving up two days of decadent desserts and sweet treats. Bring a friend, or the family, there’s something for everyone with more to do than ever before.
Website: Chocolate Festival Website
October
It’s the school holidays again! What do you have planned? Are you wondering how to keep the kids busy? We may have a Sydney festival for you.
The Complete Guide to Sydney School Holiday Activities – even better than a single festival!
Spot On Children’s Festival
Riverside Theatres has gathered some of the best children’s entertainment from across the country for their seventh annual Spot On Children’s Festival. The five-day Festival will feature a fantastic line-up of theatre, musical performances, film and free activities that are guaranteed to keep the kids entertained these October school holidays.
The Spot On Children’s Festival is where children and their families can explore the world of the arts, delve into stories of magical creatures and places near and far, and experience the power of live theatre and dynamic cinema.
Webpage: Head to the Riverside Theatre for details
Sculptures by the Sea
It isn’t often you can experience art on the edge of a jagged coastline. Sculpture by the Sea, a free public art exhibition held in Sydney’s east, sees remarkably-built sculptures dotted along the iconic coastal walk from Bondi Beach to Tamarama Beach. Stroll along as you peer at over 100 sculptures, enjoying not only the art but also the wide ocean horizon behind it. Past exhibitions have included sculptures of pink eggplants, a giant fishing lure, and faces gazing up from the grass.
Webpage: Sculptures by the Sea Website
Parramatta Lanes Festival
Parramatta Lanes. Welcome to your playground.
Website: Parramatta Lanes Festival Website
Australia’s Oktoberfest
Inspired by our love of the traditional Bavarian festival and great beer, Oktoberfest in the Gardens Sydney features two massive beer halls, authentic German food stalls, roving performers, sideshow alley, silent disco and an eclectic mix of entertainment and competitions across multiple stages throughout the afternoon and evening.
Website: Australia’s Oktoberfest website
Marrickville Festival
Marrickville Festival brings together all of our diverse and vibrant people, cultures, and creative communities with a feast of international cuisine, live music and entertainment.
With over 120 stalls displaying local produce, handmade artisan works, gifts and community groups as well as a Main Stage program, International Dance Floor, The Break music competition and a range of free activities for kids and the whole family.
Website: Marrickville Festival
Norton Street Festa
In 1986, the first Norton Street Italian Festa was organised by the Capuchin Priests at St Fiacres Church in Leichhardt who wanted to replicate the religious festivals of Italy. Norton Street in Leichhardt has long been the emotional and physical centre of the Italian community in Sydney and is known as ‘Little Italy’. It was the first stop for many, if not most, of the Italians who disembarked in Sydney. They either established roots in Leichhardt and created a thriving community or used it as the staging point to look for work in the cane fields of Queensland and elsewhere.
Carnival rides, jumping castles, animal farms, face painting, street performers and pony rides for the kids, entertainment, concerts, dancing and free cooking demonstrations by the best Italian professional chefs PLUS the best local Italian Nonnas! Hundreds of stallholders showcasing and selling the latest, the unusual and the best in products, and food, coffee and gelato to die for.
Website: Norton Street Festa Website
November
No events lsted at this stage
December
It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas! Can you feel the buzz? What festivals can we check off the list?
The Complete Guide to Sydney School Holiday Activities – even better than a single festival!
Matsuri Festival
Matsuri Festival Sydney is a Japanese festival held every year to celebrate Japanese culture and cross cultural friendship between the Japanese community and Local community. This event is for everyone who loves Japan as much as we do – and we hope to continue introducing Japan and spreading interest in Japan.
Website: Matsuri Festival webpage
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Looking for even MORE things to do in Sydney? Click on our resources below:
The best things to do in Sydney with Kids : We provide you with a plethora of activities that will keep you and your kids busy. From quick trips to overnight experiences, you’ll love this list of goodies!
Looking for a wildlife adventure? We have created the ultimate list of Australian Zoos and Wildlfe Parks for your reference. Want something a little more personal? What about one of Sydney’s Animal Encounter experiences where you can touch, feed and even care for some of Sydney’s zoo and wildlife animals?
Of course, when the sun is out you might like to head to one of Sydney’s Water Parks with the kids or even better, one of Sydney’s Best Beaches!
This one is a little scary, but we know some families love seeking out the unusual. How about one or two of Sydney’s Most Haunted places?
Fruit picking is one of our most favourite family experiences. Check out our Sydney Fruit Picking resource so you can head out this weekend!
Get out of the city this weekend and head for a Farm Stay near Sydney.
Looking for a great gift for someone in Sydney or heading here soon? Check out our Sydney Annual Pass resource.