Saturday afternoon, grey skies, STILL raining, 3 fairly grumpy children (age 1, 5 &6) and we are heading off to a Christmas Experience feeling a little less than 100% festive!!
We arrived and were greeted by lovely ladies wearing matching (and I’m told handmade) red Christmas style jackets who explained the format….
The whole area was festive and sparkly and I could tell the kids were starting to get in the Christmas spirit!
There are several different areas to visit, all in festive looking wooden chalet-type buildings just beyond the entrance. We were given a specific time slot for visiting Santa, but other than than we could go round in our own time.
We started with writing our letters to Santa, this was a little form to fill in which the older 2 could do (with a bit of help) and there are 2 inside areas to sit and do this which were heated! Once written you take your letter to the ‘post office’ and stamp it and post it to the North Pole.
Next stop was ‘Reindeer Food’ – we had been given small bags which the boys filled (right to the brim) and have asked to scatter on the lawn every 20 minutes since!
The kids were desperate to see Santa so we went and waited by the grotto for our time slot and whilst standing (in the rain) we were kept entertained by one of the staff who was dressed like a fancy elf. He was very engaging and funny and not at all offended by the constant mentions of farts and bums ( boys!!!).
Once we were taken in to Santa’s grotto, which was very nicely decorated and we sat down with Santa – we were in there for a good 10 minutes and didn’t feel at all rushed. Santa was very chatty and realistic looking and we were given a key each to take to the toy shop and exchange for a toy.
The toys on offer were nice little festive teddies, magic ink pens, elf puppets, & other elf themed items.
Having seen Santa, we then went to have a Christmas story in a lovely little house which both boys said was the part they enjoyed the most! The lady telling the stories was fab and totally engaged them both, even the 1 year old listened for a while. The boys would have stayed much longer but our youngest was starting to have a melt down!
The children thoroughly enjoyed the experience and it felt like the start of Christmas for us! We were there for 1 hour in total, however you were given wristbands to allow you to go in and out. There was also a little kiosk selling drinks and snacks where you could (for a £2 surcharge) decorate a cookie.
For more information or to book tickets please visit http://www.mothershipton.co.uk/event/christmas/http://www.mothershipton.co.uk/event/christmas/
