NEW YORK — Here’s a holiday activity that’s easy on the budget: Official Christmas tree lightings. They’re usually free, though some drive-through displays charge admission by the car, and most are up through New Year’s Day or a few days later.

The famous celebration at Rockefeller Center in New York City takes place Dec. 3, 7-9 p.m. If you can’t be part of the crowd that night, watch from home on TV or stop by in person later in the season.

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Dennis Brack/Pool via Bloomberg News

Despite its arrival in drizzly weather, the White House Christmas tree looked festive on a horse-drawn carriage.

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In Washington, D.C., the National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse will be lit Dec. 4. Tickets for the ceremony have already been distributed, but you can see it through Jan. 1.

On Dec. 2 at 5 p.m., the Capitol Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony takes place on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol.

If you’re celebrating Christmas in California, stop by the 100-foot fir tree at The Grove in Los Angeles, which was lit Nov. 23, and is decorated with 10,000 lights and 15,000 ornaments.

On Christmas Eve in Louisiana, over 100 bonfires are built along the banks of the Mississippi in the locales of Lutcher, Gramercy and Reserve (between New Orleans and Baton Rouge). It’s an old Cajun tradition, to guide the way for “Papa Noel.” Gray Line offers a six-hour trip to see the event, departing 3 p.m. from New Orleans, including a tour of Destrehan Plantation and dinner. The cost is $76 for adults, $48 for children. Reservations can be made at 800-535-7786 or at www.graylineneworleans.com.

In Salt Lake City, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints lights up Temple Square beginning Nov. 28.

In Boston, Nova Scotia sends a Christmas tree every year as thanks for relief sent from Massachusetts following the Halifax Explosion in 1917. This year’s tree will be lit Dec. 4, 6-8 p.m., on the Boston Common.

The Chicago Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in Daley Plaza takes place Dec. 2 around noon.

Cincinnati’s Norway spruce was lit at Fountain Square on Nov. 28.

Detroit’s tree was lit Nov. 21 at Campus Martius Park. You can go ice skating there when you visit.

Des Moines, Iowa, offers 3.3 miles of “Jolly Holiday Lights,” a nighttime drive-through display in Water Works Park, Nov. 25-Jan. 1. Admission is $9 per car.

Atlanta hosted Macy’s Great Tree Lighting at Lenox Square Mall the evening of Nov. 27.

The Oglebay Resort & Conference Center in Wheeling, W.Va., hosts the Winter Festival of Lights, through Jan. 4.

Some cities have manmade lighting displays shaped like trees instead of the real thing. In Charleston, S.C., the “tree” of lights will be lit Dec. 6, 4:30 p.m.-6 p.m. in Marion Square.

In Indianapolis, the holiday display also consists of thousands of lights, on view in Monument Circle.

In Texas, on Dec. 7, Austin lights a manmade 155-foot-tall tree of lights strung from the city’s Moonlight Tower. On Dec. 14, the city opens its Trail of Lights in Zilker Metropolitan Park, running nightly through Dec. 23, a mile-long, walk-through display of lighted scenes including Santa’s House. In Houston, the Uptown Holiday Lighting began Nov. 27 along Post Oak Boulevard.

Even Honolulu has an official Christmas tree. It will be lit Dec. 6 at Honolulu Hale, the local City Hall.