When did it become so difficult to see bloody Fathee Christmas

[Hunlife]

I’ve just gone online to see where we can visit Father Christmas and you have to pre book tickets for everything. All the sessions at the weekend have sold out (DDs in school so it’s got to be a weekend really). It’s the 25th November and already sold out FFS!

What happened to the good old days of rocking up to a garden centre and queueing for half an hour?

For Harrods you now have to spend at least a few hundred pounds and have a loyalty card to even be invited to APPLY to see Santa!

I hate that Christmas has just become one huge rip off for parents. Lots of the grottos/Santa experiences in my area (south east) are well over £100 for family of 4. It's just too much when you can't even guarantee that Santa will look realistic.

I also find it odd and a bit naff that garden centres have become the place to go when essentially they are just garden centres. Although some of them do make a great effort. Do kids not question why Santa sets up residence in a garden centre?

We used to love the grotto at Harrods - we went a few times and then weren’t ‘invited’ last year. I even emailed to ask how much I would have to spend in order to get an invitation the following year - but they wouldn’t tell me!!

OP if you are St Albans way you wouldn't be too far from Aldenham Country Park, which is quite nice (probably best for under 7s). They have a Santa's grotto where they choose their own toy from the toy shop after, and the £11 ticket cost also includes entrance to the farm to feed the animals and a bag of animal food. They have a huge reservoir you can walk/scoot/bike ride round too if it's a nice day.

That's hilarious about Harrods. Oh to be one of the chosen few. I booked our Santa visit in September and it was €70 for the 4 of us. It's at a farm and there's heaps of stuff to do aside from Santa so we'll make a day of it.

Willows farm is expensive but we make a whole day of it(it's tradition now to see Santa there). The kids see Santa,get a gift and build a cuddly toy. There are shows,a few rides,some crafts,animals to see ,a fake ice skating ring and playgrounds. It would be a million times better if it wasn't freezing of course. It's mostly aimed at a younger crowd though, I'd say under 9.Last time we got there at 10 am and left at 5 pm. We don't do anything else Santa related.

All our local ones they stopped apart from the market one. I booked a garden centre £12 each. But booked on release date beginning of Oct. We go in two weeks.. Algho did book a breakfast with santa in the morning too at a local pub.

We also go to otter nurseries, I think it's the place to go in Devon! I was on the mailing list so I knew when tickets were on sale and when I booked that morning the weekends were selling out! DD loved it last year and I'm excited to take her again.

What sort of hellscape are we living in when parents have to pay for their own tickets to see something they know is fake, just so their children can go?

My two kids (8&5) still believe but realised last year that the Grotto Santa's couldn't be the real one because there were so many around.

I asked this year if they wanted to see Santa and they said no. We are off outdoor ice skating in London just before Xmas - it was cheaper than the local grotto.

Go to Crews Hill hunlife - all the garden centre have grottos!

Harrods was our tradition for years until they made it “invitation only” this year 😡

I book ours early October. It annoyed me but it's the only way we could guarantee a date as close to Christmas as possible