Magical Christmas activities with your children before they grow up?

[Greenbutterlfy566]

What magical activities/things are you doing with your children before they grow up. I’m Looking for inspiration

Where have you been before that you would recommend?

Do you think you can do TOO much? Or do you think to do as much as you can while they are young?

You can definitely do too much. One year we saw about 6 different Santa's because we were doing things with different people and it definitely lost its sparkle and my lo was asking questions about the real one. We stripped it right back and we go to one santa now.

Yeah one santa visit. Two max if you do one independently and one at school fete etc. My SN one has just grown out of his annual train santa

We love a Christmas market visit. And a light installation was a big hit last year. When the kids were younger there was a small scale Christmas fete local that we always used to do... decorate a bauble hear some Christmas carols kind of thing.

We do a lights thing (great local one here), an outside skating rink, a national trust Christmas walk (again one local to us does a lovely Victorian Christmas).

We also try and do a show/panto if I can get discount tickets.

No Santa any more. Stopped that around 6 as both were very local that it wasn't real Santa.

We also have family outings - meeting up with cousins at the end of November as we won't see them closer, going to help my parents do their massive over the top tree etc. I'd say these are the most fun. My dad died this spring so kids are doing a big sleep over with grandma to do the tree and all 3 are v excited.

I think we've maybe got a year or two left of this. They are top age primary and already the school disco is a high spot. But we've always done a lot of family stuff and we've always all had a lovely time.

I'd also say we space it out and do one activity a weekend. We also include it when we budget for Christmas and usually spend about 100 - 150 including snacks for all of us. We only really go to places where we are already members or have discounts or are free. Otherwise too expensive

Lights switch on
See father Christmas
Christmas fayre at school
Panto
Steam train trip
Christingle church service
Christmas crafts
Christmas children's party disco at a pub
Ice skating
Small gatherings with friends and their kids
Watch Xmas films
We love Xmas :-)

Thanks everyone, in order to spread it out do you start early like middle of November?

We are starting this weekend but it's earlier than normal. It's to see cousins but both sides have to travel and SIL and I have to diary plan like mad to get it in.

My DCs used to love Christmas decoration and baking sessions :) now I do this with my DGC :)

A day out on Christmas Eve - zoo, farm, museum, aquarium etc. They'll be very quiet and can knacker the kids out ready for an early night!

Nice

Bake biscuits
Do something crafty
Christmas market - decorate bauble/make candle
School carol service

We start this weekend with the Town lights switch on and Christmas School fayre.

Stately home dressed for Christmas. We have seen magical displays at Chatsworth, Waddesden and Blenheim. And most National Trust houses dress for Christmas.

Christmas market - not a huge one because they can be overwhelming.

Theatre or panto or maybe a Christmas film at the cinema.

More places are having a special Christmas lights event like this one.

The woods look lovely

We’ve done lots of things over the years. Some things have stuck and become traditions so are probably they best things

When kids are in pjs bundle them up in dressing gowns and blankets and for for a drive in a car looking for houses covered in Christmas lights.

Track Santa on the NORAD website on Xmas eve

During December use the iPhone app Santa’s list to scan fingerprints and see if they are on the naughty or nice list (very useful for controlling behaviour!!)

Get message from Santa from portable North Pole.

Go Xmas shopping

Get Xmas tree from local forest. Decorate and settle down with hot choc and mince pies

Lovely 😊

I definitely think you can do too much! and I wouldn't be doing anything before December as I believe a longer anticipation period dulls the magic!
DD used to enjoy a drive round to look at the lights in local houses. We had a couple of reasonably local streets where the residents put on a real display, and it was lovely to see.
Also liked to go and visit the reindeer who used to come every year to our local garden centre. Then, one infamous year, they escaped and didn't come back again!
Always liked baking Christmas cookies.
Would now try and get them involved in choosing something suitable to donate to the food bank and/or choosing a new toy to wrap and donate to a local charity. Also to clear out some of their own toys to donate to the charity shop.

When my dc were at primary we always went to Disney Paris the week before Christmas for 4/5 days . They also went to a good panto with my dsis( I hate panto) , as it is they are now both over 20 and still like a Christmas visit . Dd and I do Longleat , Kingston Lacey (NT) and take in a market in either Bath or Bournemouth ( or both) . We also go to the Christmas horse show at Olympia .

We used to make big sheets of gingerbread and cut it up to make a house. You stick it together with icing and make the door and windows with icing as well. It sits on a little bed of white icing.

Making the gingerbread is fun and smells wonderful. It bakes quickly so not a lot of hanging about. The construction is so much fun, though you need the sort of DC who enjoy concentrating fairly fiercely for an hour or so. Then, of course, there's the offcuts that need eating.

My son's still remember it fondly.

Ice skating
Tobogganing
Panto
Xmas Fayre School/Cubs
Painting a pottery Xmas bauble - we do this every year so when kids leave home they will have a full set to take with them.
Hand made Xmas gift tags from old Xmas cards with pinking shears and hole punch.
Make gingerbread cookies in Xmas shapes and ice them.
Visit Santa, one year we went on Santa's steam train with singing Xmas songs.
Wrapping gifts for dgp's which I make them help me with.
When they were very young we had a XMas photo shoot for 2 years.

You can't make too many happy Xmas memories with children. As they get older sadly they will just not to do so much with you.

Teenager here now but we still have a day at Castle Howard with extended family which is always great at Christmas; go to one of the abbeys nearby when it’s lit up on Saturday evenings in the run up to Christmas, go ice skating; track NORAD and bake together, Christmas biscuits and a gingerbread house from scratch.

First year post divorce so it will all be a bit different this year.

Can anyone recommend thomasland peppa pig world or legoland ?

We usually start the first weekend of December with our town's Christmas festival. We go on the Friday night for the fireworks and to see the lights turned on. But this year we are starting a weekend early because we were too late to get Waddesdon tickets for December so we are going this weekend.

We don’t usually do much maybe the garden centre but we had v upset eldest dd ‘not feeling Christmassy’ and crying last year so this year we’ve planned loads and booked things
Christmas at kew
Lapland UK
Xmas markets
Xmas films
Garden centres
Xmas shopping

I have a calendar and everything is scheduled in So I’m hoping this year is more festive