To expect something a bit special from Harrods

[KneehighinYellowSnow]

We took dd1 and the dt's to see father christmas on saturday, all the way to Harrods, we had to take the car because it would have cost us a fortune in train tickets and it would have been a bit crazy trying to get on to the packed trains.

Well we coudln't find any parking anywhere and when we finally did we only had 2 hrs for £6, and had a long walk to harrods.

When we finally got up to the 4th floor and through all the toys, we were told to que in a corridor which was very hot, they did have some fans but they didn't do much.
There were little faries sitting high above our heads on shelves, so they were very hard for the children to see.
We waited 30 mins to get to the front fo the que and then we were taken though a door and lead down a corridor and taken though another door which lead to............................................................

Father christmas,so where the hell was the grotto to entertain the Lo's and all the special xmassy stuff?

I was so dissapointed and I'm never going back there to see father christmasTight Bastards!

I'm sorry it wasn't magical, but erm...it's free....Did you get a book and a badge?

oh poor you. I was meant to take DS last week but I was ill and couldn't - I'm very glad now I didn't struggle up there as I was in two minds about it!

Message withdrawn

has gone downhill since Big Al took over

Well I went a few weeks ago and thought it was ok - but I've never taken the dcs to see FC before so perhaps had low expectations! Plus it was not a weekend (inset day) so no queue to speak of. I had heard it was hot in the corridor if you did have to queue...

I know it's free but so is the one in our local shopping center and they have waving snowman, singing raindeer,loads of bit's to keep the kiddies amused while they wait and a free present for the kids
When I was little we used to go to selfirdges every year and that was FANTASTIC, they used to have a huge grotto to walk through while you waited.
I need somewhere better for next year

My father usedc to take me to Harrods every Christmas, it used to be fantastic but...

I'm 47, that was eons ago, and as he would have said if he was still here, "We've had the best".

I won't go into Harrods now, simply because of my poor opinion of it's owner. Really struggled earlier this year when I needed mascara, can only wear one sort, which now has only one UK outlet, Harrods.

Eventually I did give in and buy it mail order (£4.95 postage for 2 tubes of mascara!!!), because there are some things a girl can't live without. But it will be a long time before he gets any more of my money.

Oh, and my Daddy always bought me a Christmas party dress and shiney shoes (proper patent, VERY special in the dark ages) too.

yes YABU considering it was free.

Anything that is free is always going to have long queues - in my experience, the more expensive something is, the less people want to pay for it and the shorter the queue.

I took my 3 to see santa on Saturday at the local castle and paid £7 each and had to queue for 40 minutes and I didn't think anything of it. We had no grotto either. Week-ends in December always horribly busy.

clumsymum, we used to be taken to Harrods have our hair cut as a treat...

oh flip i am going on saturday....

did kids get a pressie - harrods pencil?

what time was your slot?

dd1 absolutely hates being hot? i will take a fan,

and i have roped my brother into coming along as i didnt want to be in the crowd with 2 dc's on my own....

Chocolatespider- The kids got a sleeping beauty sticker book and a badge, it was very hot in there. Our slot was 1.30pm

wow MrsBadger, that's incredibly posh. We frequented the best salon in Sheffield (where we lived), but went to London twice a year and Always visited Harrods, usually Selfridges too, as well as a museum or two, and either a show or the cinema in Leicester Square.

I wish we could afford to do the same sort of things now for DS.

ours is 12.30......

tbh i was expecting it to be a lovely grotto i really thought they would make it quite magical.,

we are parking at stanmore(£3.00 for the day) and getting tube in ... we are also going to covent garden and to oxford street to see the lights was thinking of going ice skating in hyde park, but it scares the life out of me so we arent

i remember going to see fc in harrods when i was little and it was amazing..there was a whole miniature factory run by elves whihc was all made from carved wood i think and all full working model that seemed to go on for miles at child heigh and you waited next to that and father christmas was big and round and u sat on his knee and got a big present and he whispered in ur ear

and had a twinkly proper look and if he was a fake he didn't look it so

think he was the real one

of course in those days harrods wud have had the real one lolol

I wouldn't go near the place. Would rather spend the day with an oily used car salesman.

Actually, that's exactly what the place reminds me of, now I come to think about it.

it was about 1961 tho

not that posh - we were in London anyway I think it was the only way we could get my sister to succumb to any haircut

we were never bought anything there though - the huge treat was having a 99p kids' meal in Garfunkel's afterwards so it probably wasn't that expensive as days out go...

well we havent been this year, but last year took all three boys and it was fab

lovely decorations etc, the staff were all dressed up and sang xmas songs and danced to entertain whilst we waited, not that we had to wait that long anyway. also they were giving out free lolly pops, gingerbread men and bottles of water whilst we waited and they fetched me a chair so i could bfeed

seriously, it was great, the boys LOVED it and we got a lovely photo of all of us with father xmas