Minimum age for pantomime

[Confuseddotcotton]

I want to give my sister an ‘experience’ present for Christmas rather than a physical present, as she lives in a small flat and is running out of space. Her daughter has plenty of toys.

Thinking of getting her some theatre tickets

My niece will have just turned 2 in December, is this too young for a local panto? Traditional one, with panto dame, dancing and songs.

I am well aware this might be a stupid question, but I have no experience of kids and what is relevant for what age! I want to keep it a surprise so don’t want to ask my sis!

loopy how old was your daughter? My niece will have just turned 2, end nov birthday. I’m guessing a year between just turned 2 and just turning 3 can make a huge difference at that age..

My niece is transfixed by peppa programmes, but they are very short..

She was about 2 and 4 months, yes it would make a difference I suppose but there were plenty of younger children there around the 18 month mark who were enthralled with it all

DD1 went first at 2yo and other than a squeak when the lights went off enjoyed it.

Dd2 went first at 6weeks and was totally delighted with the lights and was bouncing around on my knee for the whole 2 hours.
However at 2yo she wouldn't have sat through a whole one. She did at 3yo.

She’ll be fine at Peppa.

The peppa pig one will be perfect. It’s for preschool children. There will be no pressure sit still and be quiet. I have a 8 and 5 year old. They start growing out of peppa pig by 5 or so. So 2 isn’t too young at all. Assuming she’s already into peppa pig.

Thanks all. Peppa pig show sounds the way to go.

I’ve now realised that I will have to tell my sister in advance, so we can work out her shifts to make sure she’s off work..

Dd2 was 2 at her first panto & it was ok but per pp it was a bit too long. We had seats at the front where there was space around us to move about.
By 3 she loved it & managed fine.
The special children's shows like Peppa/Ben & Holly/Julia Donaldson etc are much better length wise. My favourite was the Tiger who came to tea.

If your sister drives Family National trust membership is great. They have so many events on throughout the year, play areas etc.

I took DD to panto when she was just 3 (MIL's Christmas treat). It was too young - she didn't understand, was frightened of the noise and fell asleep for most of the second half. It was quite a big production values one. Maybe she would have coped better with something smaller, shorter and more informal.

I took both my DC at 2 to panto and they loved it - bright lights, songs, dancing, amazing costumes, whirring light up tat to buy and wave about... what’s not to love? I went armed with many snacks, and already knew that they could sit still for the duration of a Disney movie, so it wasn’t a big risk on the attention span front.

...but also very much agree with Muddlingalongalone that the Tiger who came to Tea stage show is brilliant! We saw it years ago and still have the song in our heads, and kids still remember the show.

Peppa pig show sounds fab, we took DS to paw patrol live at around the same age... he loved it!

@Confuseddotcotton - they will very likely sell the light up whirly things for £10+ at the theatre - if you can get one from Sainsbury/other supermarket on sale after Halloween - it would be good for your sis to take with her and avoid the sell (not that a just turned 2 will probably realise but then she'll have one to wave)

Thanks for the advice everyone, I went for the peppa pig show in the end. Panto can wait a couple of years.

Great! Hope she has a brilliant time.