Lord Mayor Clover Moore will join Santa in his sleigh to kick-off Christmas celebrations in Sydney's CBD, one month out from the festive season's big day.
Celebrations run from 6.30pm to 9.30pm on Saturday with five pop-up stages along George and King Streets, Martin Place and Pitt Street Mall - which features a canopy of 94,000 fairy lights overhead.
Entertainers include Jimmy Giggle from Giggle and Hoot, Justine Clark and former Yellow Wiggle Sam Moran.
Ms Moore and Santa will ride from Circular Quay to Martin Place where the 25-metre tall Christmas tree - featuring 15,000 native flower decorations, 110,000 LED lights and 330 glossy beach ball baubles - will be illuminated at 8.30pm with an accompanying fireworks display.
The tree will light up every evening at dusk until New Year's Day.
Major retailers and outlets will be open for late-night trading on Saturday and stockings on sale for childrens charity Variety, while green arches topped with red bows have returned over George Street for the 30-day program.
In a statement, Ms Moore said celebrations have been spread out due to increased popularity and construction for the Sydney Metro train station development and Macquarie Bank at the northern end of Martin Place.
