Toy drive car shows and holiday car events, November and December 2026

Toy drives are the meets that ask for something, and they are the ones the directories get wrong, because the date changes every year and the rule is on a flyer. Every event below was checked against its organizer in the last week of October 2026. Where an organizer had not yet published a detail, the page says so rather than guessing. The standing weekly meets, Katie’s, Hunt Valley, Supercar Sunday and the rest, run through the holidays on their usual days and are on their own area pages.

Los Angeles

Motor4Toys, Sunday 6 December, 7am to noon at Pierce College in Woodland Hills: the 23rd year of the toy drive Supercar Sunday’s founder built, entry a new unwrapped toy worth $20 or more, with a thousand donated bicycles assembled the day before. The LA Auto Show, 20 to 29 November at the convention center, $25 any-day adult tickets online only. The MOONEYES Christmas Party, Saturday 12 December at the Pomona Fairplex, $35, kids free, show cars 1972 and older by 22 November. The Pomona Swap Meet, Sunday 6 December from 5am, $15 cash. The Cars and Bids Festival at the Petersen, Sunday 22 November, free to walk, $35 to show with the museum included. The Long Beach Hi-Po swap meet, 8 November and 13 December.

Orange County

The Marconi Magic Toy Drive, Sunday 15 November, 9am to 2pm at the Marconi Automotive Museum in Tustin, a cars-and-coffee morning or a drive-through drop-off, entry a new unopened gift. Pistons and Brunch, Sunday 22 November, 10am to 1pm at the Highway 39 Event Center in Anaheim, free, a burger and fries for every toy. The Brea Holiday Car Show, Sunday 6 December, 10am to 4pm on Birch Street, for the CHP’s CHiPs for Kids.

San Diego

San Diego Cars and Coffee’s Holiday Toy Drive, Saturday 12 December, 9am to 11am at Elite Finish on Kenamar Drive, a new unwrapped toy for Toys for Tots; and Rigs and Brews’ toy drive a few doors down the Sunday before, 6 December, a raffle ticket per toy. JBA Coffee and Cars on the Mesa runs its 195th and 196th second-Sunday dawn meets on 8 November and 13 December.

Phoenix

Dino’s Git Down, Friday 13 and Saturday 14 November at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, free in every sense, trucks on Friday and every GM on Saturday. The Goodguys Southwest Nationals, 20 to 22 November at WestWorld, $27 a day. FuelFest Phoenix, Saturday 5 December at Firebird in Chandler. Mesa Cars and Coffee runs a food drive on 21 November and its Cars and Christmas toy drive on 19 December, 7am to 10am, ugly sweaters invited. Scuderia Southwest’s 5 December gathering at DC Ranch is its toy drive.

Washington DC and Baltimore

Cars and Coffee Woodbridge runs its Toys for Tots cruise from its regular 8am to 10am meet at Tackett’s Mill on Saturday 21 November; the organizer’s flyer names the date and nothing else yet, so check its page for the route. Hunt Valley Horsepower runs every Saturday through December, rain, shine or snow, and had announced no toy drive as of late October; its last one was 2019. Katie’s runs every Saturday it always has.

Atlanta

Caffeine and Octane has two shows left in its 20th year, 1 November and the first Sunday of December, 6 December, at Town Center at Cobb; no toy drive is attached, and the organizer’s rules about the central lot still apply. Caffeine and Exotics, Sunday 8 November at Assembly Atlanta, $20. Hometown Heroes and Hotrods, Saturday 14 November in Sugar Hill, for the First Responders Family Foundation.

Houston and Austin

Coffee and Cars Houston’s annual toy drive, Saturday 12 December, 2pm to 4pm at POST Houston, an unwrapped toy for local elementary schools; the 2027 kickoff follows on 2 January. The Woodlands Cars and Coffee for a Cause runs 1 November and 6 December from 6am, a donation of any amount per show car. Cars and Coffee Austin at Circuit of The Americas, Sunday 22 November, spectators free.

Chicago

The Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals, 21 and 22 November at the Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, $45 a day online, the indoor show the winter is built around. The Fuelfed Open in Lake Forest, Sunday 1 November, the club’s last morning of the year. Caffeine and Chrome in Crete runs its Halloween trunk-or-treat on 31 October and lists a 5 December holiday party. The Chicagoland Toys for Tots parade on the first Sunday of December is the city’s biggest toy drive on wheels, but the wheels are motorcycles.

South Florida

Supercar Saturdays Florida, 14 November and 12 December at the Seminole Hard Rock, free. Exotics at The Colonnade, Sunday 15 November at Sawgrass Mills, registration full. Cars and Coffee Palm Beach, 1 November and 6 December in Boca Raton, $15 to show. Cars and Coffee Miami has no Doral date in November and runs 19 December at the Gold Coast Railroad Museum.

Las Vegas, for the trade

The SEMA Show, 3 to 6 November, is trade only except for Friday 6 November, a $130 ticket for ages 16 and up bought in advance, with SEMA Fest in the Bronze Lot that night for $80 more. SEMA Ignited, the old public party, is gone.

New Year’s Day

Falls on a Friday in 2027, so no weekly meet lands on it, and no organizer in any of these cities had published a 1 January meet by late October. The first dated mornings of the year are Coffee and Cars Houston’s kickoff on Saturday 2 January, JBA on the Mesa and the Long Beach swap meet on 10 January, and Mesa Cars and Coffee on 16 January.

What to bring

A new toy, unwrapped, in the box, because every drive above says unwrapped and the Marines sort by sight. Motor4Toys asks for $20 of value. Cash where the organizer says cash. And the car you would drive to any Saturday meet, driven the way the organizer’s rules ask, because a toy drive is the one morning a year the people who lend the lot are watching most closely.

Toy DriveCar ShowsCars and Coffee

Mario Bailey

Founder, Driven Life