Advice for things to do in Manchester with DD

[Ldb2019]

Good afternoon,
I really need the advice of anyone with pre-teen girls.
I’ve just bought Manchester Friends Fest tickets for me and my little girl in August.
It’s a great chance for daddy/daughter time. She’s 12 now and the days of us making slime and watching beauty and the beast are slowly ending as she’s becoming a little lady.
Making slime and baking cakes was easy, but I’m not sure what to do with her these days.
I’ve booked a nice hotel for us and told her she can do anything she likes the 2 days we are in Manchester, but I’d really like to spoil her so she has a fantastic time.
I work away so only get to see her 4months a year so try to make every second count.
I’ve never been to Manchester before so any advice would be very much appreciated.
Thanks

I'm sure she'd like a walk around Harvey Nichols and then some afternoon tea there?

afternoontea.co.uk/uk/north-west/manchester/harvey-nichols/

What is she interested in? There are some great galleries and museums in Manchester and of course, shopping!

Harvey Nichols sounds promising!
She loves shopping but so was considering the Trafford center.
She’s a very girlie girl and still loves making slime and painting, but I’m not sure about the museums.

Bowling at Dog Bowl
Slime Bar www.emilyspaintapot.com/slime-bar/
Doughnuts or sledging at Chill Factore www.chillfactore.com/news/new-snow-park/
Inflate Nation www.inflatanation.com/locations/manchester/
Black Milk cereal bar blackmilkcereal.com

Emily's paint a pot at next in the arndale

Richmond tea rooms

Cat cafe

if shes into primark then the one in the city centre is enormous and yu have the arndale centre nearby
trafford centre doesnt have a primark, theres a small concession in selfridges but doesnt have much

Does she like cats? There’s a brilliant cat cafe a 5 minute walk from the arndale

Sorry backendofabus I hadn’t seen you had already mentioned

My DS is similar age and enjoyed

Cat cafe
CBBC tour at bbc media city
Chill factore- the intro ski lesson and the 1 hr snow park pass.
Cinema
Museum of science and industry (really interactive and cool).

Cat cafe
Manchester Is great for shopping
Afternoon tea
Heston park for a walk
Salford quays for a boat ride and a bit of star spotting.
Football tour
Go ape

Thank you for all your suggestions,
At the moment I’ve got it down to
1-Cat cafe, she loves animals so I’m sure that will be great.
2- paint a pot/slime workshop, we’ve done loads of paint a pot and jewellery workshops, but the slime is right up her street.
3- Heston park walk, friends fest is there so may have a walk round too.
4- Salford quays boat ride.
5- chill factor looks great too!
Now I need to figure how to fit all this into 2 days! :)
Thank you all so very much.

Richmond tea rooms as PP said. Central Manchester better for shopping than Trafford Centre for a girl of her age. Selfridges and Harvey Nichols are tight next to each other. Museum of Science and Industry is great, and the Manchester Museum.

There is a place actually in Heaton Park that does slime-making and craft workshops. It’s called Place to Potter.

China town in Manchester is quite exciting. My mum took me when I was about 12 and we had a set lunch and green tea and I thought I was very grown up.

Heaton Park ,normally stuff going on , they have a boating lake , they usually build a "beach" during the summer holidays ( don't know if they have this year ) have a fair etc , the Museum of science and industry is always worth a visit ?

Not far from Heaton Park is an amazing chocolatier /chocolate shop / cafe called Slattery (they make lots of northern celebrities wedding cakes)

Primark in the city centre has a Friends themed cafe

My niece (then 12 going on 21) loved the enormous Primark

Was fascinated/horrified by the trams - "But they're on the same roads as the cars!" And we had a rest sitting on one of the two free buses that loop around the city centre, just resting our feet and watching the world go by.

When my dd was 12 I took her to Afflecks palace for the first time. It's a bit like Camden lock with alternative shops etc. She loved all the badges and posters. Also lots of jewellery and a huge bead shop. Not sure if that's still there. It was far more up her street than Harvey nicks / Selfridges.

For food is recommend Cosmo on Deansgate. It's a buffet with lots of different types of food. We all love the chocolate fountain!

Also agree slatterys is amazing. Make sure you book though.

Yeah Afflecks is still there I believe , not been for years but it was a favourite haunt of mine in the 90,s😂

Affleck is def still there snd a great place to look round , there is a great craft shop just round the corner on lever st called Fred Aldous the staff there are great.
The sciences and industry museum is great fun.
Granada studios tour,
Imperial War Museum & media city are all within a 10-minute walk of each other.
Instead of driving around I highly recommend you get a stagecoach bus ticket adult ones are £4.80 a day get off and on as many buses as you like and you'll get to see all of Manchester i am not sure how much the child ones are.
Adult bus and tram tickets are about £7 I think ( no more than that)
Welcome to Manchester, I hope you both have a great time.

x2boys, I probably saw you in Afflecks. It was a haunt of mine too. And the corn exchange.

Don't forget to visit the Blue Peter garden by the BBC studios.

There's a massive Primark on Picadilly Gardens, and just round the corner o to Portland Street there's a "thrift shop" that sells vintage clothes dirt cheap. DD loves both, we go to Manchester quite often. (Starting when she was 10 iirc)

Cannot see that anybody has mentioned it - Primark now has a Friends-themed cafe!

Ah, BabyMoonPie beat me to it.

Loved the Corn exchange DrCoconut, I used to.get all my joss sticks and patchouli oil in there !😂