The Kappa Holiday Homes Tour Turns 75 This December, With a Mission Hills Home on the Route Again

In 1951, a few Kansas City Kappas decorated a single house with handmade ornaments and opened it to visitors. The 2026 version runs three days. It includes four homes, each decorated by a different local florist, a candlelit preview night, a holiday boutique in a park clubhouse, and a custom candle sold nowhere else. It also includes a house on West 59th Street in Mission Hills.

On September 14, the Mission Hills City Council took up the tour's application as a regular agenda item and approved it 4-0. The vote was routine because the arrangement is old.

A council vote behind a 75-year habit

According to the council minutes from September 14, Mayor Weed told the council the city "has supported the tour for years." Ms. Fowler spoke for the tour. She noted that this is its 75th year and said that, although she did not have exact numbers in front of her, she believes a Mission Hills home has been on the tour every year.

If that's right, a city of tree-lined residential streets has been part of one of Kansas City's longest-running holiday traditions since its first decade. Even as a careful "she believes," it explains why the tour still runs through Mission Hills. The relationship with the city is ongoing and renewed each year, not a one-time favor.

This year's Mission Hills stop belongs to Tom and Teresa Walsh. Fowler named them at the meeting and urged everyone to buy a ticket, adding that it "will be a wonderful tour featuring four great properties."

Four homes, four florists, both sides of State Line

The other three properties show how far the tour has grown past its one-house start. Two are in Kansas City, Missouri, and one is in Prairie Village. The tour's homes page lists each owner, address and florist:

The Walsh home sits on the same street as Colonial Court at 59th and Oakwood, where the city held its Fall Festival on October 17 with the Travis Gibson Band, Ghost Truck, Minsky's and a petting zoo. For a few days in December, the same corner of Mission Hills hosts visitors from across the metro instead.

Assigning one florist to each home turns the tour into a side-by-side look at four local studios' holiday styles. Tour-goers see The Little Flower Shop's work in Mission Hills and Bergamot and Ivy's on Meadowbrook Parkway on the same ticket.

How the three days break down

The schedule opens with a ticketed evening, then two public days. Per the 2026 schedule:

• Tuesday, December 1: Cocktails & Candlelight, 5 to 9 p.m. Homes and boutique open to preview ticket holders only.
• Wednesday, December 2: Tour homes 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Boutique 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Thursday, December 3: Tour homes 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Boutique 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Wednesday's later hours let you see all four homes after dark, when holiday decorations look their best. Thursday closes two hours earlier.

General admission is $45 in advance or $50 on tour days, and one ticket covers all four homes. You can buy advance tickets online through Eventbrite. They're also sold at Hen House stores in Lenexa, Leawood, Overland Park, Fairway, College Blvd, Deer Creek, the Shops at Prairie Village and Corinth Square while supplies last. Hen House sales are cash or check only.

That payment rule matters again on tour days. Tour homes accept only cash and checks for tickets at the door, while the Holiday Boutique also takes credit and debit cards. If you plan to buy at your first stop and that stop is a house, bring cash.

The Cocktails & Candlelight preview costs $125 until November 20, then $150. It's held at Meadowbrook Park Clubhouse and includes drinks, mocktails, hors d'oeuvres, early access to all four homes and first pick of the boutique. Tickets are limited. From early November, that leaves about two weeks at the lower price.

The boutique is a stop of its own

The Holiday Boutique is at Meadowbrook Park Clubhouse, 9101 Nall Ave., Prairie Village, and it opens an hour before the homes on both public days. Its vendor list is mostly local names:

• 74 Harley Street
• Pryde's
• Shop Beautiful
• Art from Architecture
• Annedores Fine Chocolates
• Jacqueline Kerr
• Jane Birch
• The Farmer's House
• Encore Designs
• EGA Designs KC
• Monstera's Books
• LP Homemade Ceramics, also known as Lilly Pots
• Mahjong KC by Creative with Tracey
• Irma Starr
• Pickwick Candles
• Kappa Gourmet

The Pickwick candle made for the tour includes a Kappa signature scent sold only at the boutique. For the 75th anniversary, the tour is also offering a limited-edition Irma Starr ornament. It has announced two new events, a mahjong night and a wreath-making event, along with a patron's party for sponsors. Dates and details for the mahjong and wreath events will be posted on the tour's website and social channels.

Before you go

The tour runs through occupied, decorated homes on residential streets, and its know-before-you-go page reads that way:

1. Expect to walk. Parking is at your own risk. Follow posted restrictions, plan to park farther away than you'd like, and use sidewalks and crosswalks.
2. Use the shuttle or the park path for Meadowbrook Parkway. The LaBau home can be reached by shuttle from the boutique or by a short walk through the park. No other shuttle route is listed.
3. Shoe covers may be required in some homes.
4. Leave strollers and walkers behind. They can't be safely accommodated inside, and the homes are not handicap accessible.

Because the boutique and the Meadowbrook home are linked by shuttle and footpath, they work well as a pair. Start at the clubhouse when it opens at 10, shop, walk or ride to Meadowbrook Parkway, then drive to the Mission Hills and Kansas City, Missouri, homes after the houses open at 11.

Where the money goes

The tour's about page says the Kansas City Kappas have raised more than $3 million since 1951. Money raised in 2026 will support the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation and two local nonprofits.

Do Good for Erin supports domestic violence survivors in the Kansas City area. It has built playgrounds and renovated kitchens at shelters, sponsored the renovation and furnishing of Erin's House I, a home where mothers live with their children, and raised $1.2 million since 2019. Birthday Connections runs a Birthday Market where parents and caregivers in hard seasons choose their children's birthday gifts themselves. Ticket sales, boutique purchases and donations all count toward the total.

If you're touring on Thursday, Prairie Village's public Holiday Tree Lighting is that evening, December 3, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Corinth Square, 4050 W. 83rd St., according to the city's calendar. The homes close at 6, so you could finish your last house and get to the tree lighting before it ends.

At The Red Bow Standard, we love a tradition that treats a decorated home as something worth sharing, and a 75th year with a Mission Hills home on the route is worth celebrating. If walking through the Walsh home this December gets you thinking about your own house and what's next, Schedule Your Strategy and start your Red Bow experience with us.