To rant about booking stuff for Christmas so early?

[DappledThings]

I'm in a right sulk right now! DD's birthday is 2 days before Christmas. We will be doing her a party the weekend before but trying to also find something like a winter light trail or train or similar on the actual day and everything is already booked up.

It's not even October, Christmas is bloody ages away. I thought I'd be doing a bit of research and noting the dates booking opened for stuff not already be too late.

When do people book this stuff? I'm going to have to start looking in June next year it seems or is that already too late.

AIBU to think it's ridiculous that Christmas has to be planned in the Summer?

Or Weston Park? Is that close? Apologies I don't know the area, but they seem to have tickets available for their lights trail on 22nd and 23rd Dec.

www.weston-park.com/event/enchanted-weston/

[quote edwinbear]Or Weston Park? Is that close? Apologies I don't know the area, but they seem to have tickets available for their lights trail on 22nd and 23rd Dec.

www.weston-park.com/event/enchanted-weston/[/quote]
Thank you, that's about 90 minutes away on top of the 4+ hours we will have driven overnight to get to my parents just the night before but a possibility. Very kind of you to look.

It’s fairly standard to book these things early. Most Christmas activities are booked out come September. The event I wanted to do was almost booked out on day 2 of the tickets going on sale.

@DappledThings

But allows for no spontaneity

Yes but places need the confirmed bookings and numbers I guess I don't think I've ever just turned up at Christmas events they're usually always ticketed or Pre-booked even before COVID

Yep I got a nice shock when a friend messaged me to say the grotto I wanted to go to (Kent) was nearly sold out- went online and only November mid week left——it’s a joke!

I booked most things in August, the Polar express etc. Centre Parcs winter wonderland I booked 18months ago.

When we used to book the Santa Steam Train every second year (when DD was smaller), you had to be ready to book in early July as they sold out very quickly.

Also a couple of specific seasonal events in the National Concert Hall were very popular and booked out as soon as they opened up in July or August (lunchtime choral events mostly, and they used also show the Snowman with the orchestra playing the soundtrack live which was also incredibly popular).

But if you could be flexible, while the popular times for things like skating tended to go quickly (especially if you had a group like Scouts or a party to book for), there were other times when you could walk up to the door and go straight in (mid-week mornings, before noon on Sundays, and oddly, often around 5pm or later on Sundays, and while some evenings seemed extremely popular but others were almost empty).

There is almost never enough capacity for seasonal events compared to the demand for going to them.

Even pre-covid and restrictions on numbers.

I'm with you OP. I went online recently to check what dates the pantomime tickets go on sale and couldn't believe it when I saw it was practically sold out. I had no idea people booked everything so early!

Instead I've been looking at smaller, local places and I've found some kid's Christmas shows and events that aren't yet on sale. I've also been asking around for ideas and it sounds like some garden centres and national trust places are a good place to start for fun, little trips.

I'm with you in that I prefer not to book things too far in advance; but I think this year especially, people have been keen to book up things that they feel they missed out on last year...

And October is quite late to be booking anyway, sadly, most things around here are booked by August/September at the latest. It's a bit insane. I suppose there's a lot of people who really love Christmas and like to get things booked in.

I agree with the booking early brigade as I like to be organised. I booked most things late August although there was limited availability then (Christmas concert, restaurant, light show etc). I’ve always done this and am now booking for Easter next year 🤷‍♀️

OP have you tried Deanforest railways Forest of Dean? I think they still have tickets for their Santa Special, should be less than an hour from Hereford.

Lapland uk has its last tickets for sale today. So tomorrow they’re all gone. Local mini train is full for Christmas and it’s really basic and amateur, still tickets left for panto but not the best seats, local attraction is about sell tickets but they usually sell out fast as they only sell weekend tickets.

This year we’ve booked a Christmas weekend away which we booked last week. Usually I’ve booked everything we do by end of August. I agree it’s crazy!

My DS bday is 21st dec, weve not booked anything but we do the same thing xmas eve every year, and booked this end of july, which I feel is standard for a popular time of year.

I dont think its depressing and this year we're all more excited as last years was cancelled by covid, its nice to have something to look forward to

I've found this too this year, luckily today I've managed to book tickets for a local farm who have some Christmas stuff going on, but I couldn't really get anywhere else that wasn't either booked out of absolutely extortionate. Lots of events had to roll over to this year as they weren't able to go ahead last year so I think that's had a huge impact too!

I'm not at all organised, but my daughter is only two so luckily for me I can still get away with it! need to get my act together soon though :-(

I go for afternoon tea at a London hotel and book the following year on the way out.

I have calendar reminders for the big stuff throughout the year.

My ds birthday is 4 days before Xmas and everything is always booked up. I've learnt this the hard way

I'm all booked up for Xmas.

They release in August usually and after a few xmasses in your position I decided to get in quicker.

I find it tricky as well. My DD’s birthday is in December. We are the kind of people who usually decide what to do a couple of nights in advance so I can’t bring myself to book anything months before. I have discovered that a lot of people cancel last minute (probably because they moved, divorced, had another kid or died in the interim between the booking and the event). It only helps if you really don’t mind waiting until the last minute though.

One of the garden centers near me who do a huge Christmas display and santa's grotto opened this weekend.

The queue to see Santa was HOURS long.

Every year we miss out on booking for a local Xmas lights thing (national trust), as I try to book in October/November to no avail. I finally managed to book this year, albeit for end November - I booked in April!

Best look for tickets sooner next year if I want them in December.

My DD's birthday is a week before Christmas and I sent out the invites 2 weeks ago as I know people will be booking Christmas things in and wanted to make sure we'll have enough kids attending to warrant a party.

I've been booking Christmas event for the past 6 weeks and the last one I hope to get booked goes on sale this Thursday.
I think people want to do more this year, after the shambles of last December, so the demand is high. But there's also a chance that people will have to cancel and resell their tickets. It happens all the time on our local Facebook page

@LibrariesGiveUsPower45321

Most offices I worked for 10-15 years ago booked Christmas dos in The late spring.

We did ours in late July/early August.

Many Pantomimes and similar indoor events are postponed from last year. Bookings were automatically rolled over to 2021 instead of refunding customers and potentially going out of business.

Local light trails open their booking by June for Christmas, places like Kew which are well-known and exceedingly popular need to be booked in the Spring.

@MeanderingGently

Local light trails open their booking by June for Christmas, places like Kew which are well-known and exceedingly popular need to be booked in the Spring.

I'd love to know what percentage of people who book that early actually turn up.

I'll just add it to the list of things for when I'm ruler of the whole world. Number 28 on the list - it is illegal to allow booking for any Christmas events before 15 October.