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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To say this was an unsatisfactory meet Santa gift?

218 replies

TellerTuesday · 12/12/2022 19:25

Curious to hear other people's opinions.

The experience cost £87.63 for one child and one accompanying adult.

Can't fault the Santa experience and the stately home walk round I was more than happy with that but I don't think the gift was commensurate with the cost and calibre of the outing.

I have emailed the company as I honestly think it's just a peg doll and a box of grass moss but interested to hear if others would agree with me.

OP posts:
SoShallINever · 12/12/2022 23:24

I would try smoking the moss 😁Might have a calming effect?

EmilyEmmabob · 12/12/2022 23:27

TellerTuesday · 12/12/2022 19:42

Ok so this was Castle Howard in North Yorkshire. We have done the Christmas event there previously and like I say I am actually happy with that, obviously it's at the more expensive end of Christmas events but the House is decorated beautifully and the Santa part is really good, it's more of a show split over 3 rooms which lasts and hour and ends with each child meeting Santa and getting their present but I do honestly think the gift is absolutely garbage.

Oh OP I knew you were going to say this! We are booked to go on Christmas Eve and I've been thinking about how the cost was astronomical. We haven't been before but friends have said how good it is. I just haven't been convinced because of how expensive it is! That is a dreadful gift.

SoShallINever · 12/12/2022 23:34

Doesn't surprise me at all for Castle Howard.
One of my children was invited to perform a solo choral recital for them, that they charged others an admission to watch.
They didn't pay the child or even offer them so much as a glass of water, instead they tried to charge them admission 😂
God, it was excruciating, as we then had to listen to the family's rector waxing lyrical about the gracious Lord and Lady and praying for the continued prosperity of the family.

JudgeJ · 12/12/2022 23:36

LaurieFairyCake · 12/12/2022 19:42

That's a GREAT price for such an amazing experience

IF it included Steve Carrell dressed as Santa while shagging you in the stately home on the bed Churchill was born in

I'm sure I'm not the first to tell you that would be Blenheim, Churchill born there. I watched the Christmas preps there and it looked amazing!

Wronglane · 12/12/2022 23:36

You had an hour experience in a decorated castle. It’s not about the monetary value of the present. It’s a really nice crafty present. And surely shows that Santa isn’t about expensive gifts but time spent together with loved ones. So grabby

Cats23 · 12/12/2022 23:37

Awful!
I'd request a refund for the crap gift...!
The overall price is ridiculous though

Itaintwhatyoudoitsthewaythatyoudoit · 12/12/2022 23:39

A couple of years ago we did a similar experience and received an 'eco' gift from Santa who was sitting beside a huge open fire. I can't remember what the gift was exactly but it was a very basic toy made from wood and it was wrapped up in a sock and tied with twine. The kids were not impressed but I remember thinking it was nicely done.

The Santa experience is expensive at these sort of places and I think are more for the parents to take nice photos than for the children to be honest.

Wronglane · 12/12/2022 23:42

You’d have rather had a selection box? No wonder kids don’t feel any magic anymore. I think this is a lovely present

JudgeJ · 12/12/2022 23:47

GrinAndVomit · 12/12/2022 23:01

The reply from them makes it even worse! It’s so smug and passive aggressive.

It's also a corporate goobledygook they have all ready for the numerous complaints they expect to receive!

HumourReplacementTherapy · 12/12/2022 23:58

It's definitely worth a Daily Mail sad face picture.
'We went to castle Howard and Santa gave my daughter a voodoo doll"

Namechangenumber23 · 12/12/2022 23:58

I knew this would be about CH. Not surprised at all and it is a terrible "gift".

There are many ways to provide something nice for a child that is both sustainable and worth the price of the experience.

I was part of a team that did this about 10 years ago for a museum and they did it for around a tenner per child IIRC. There was a mix of books and Orchard Toys Games/Puzzles plus the extra stuff for the festive season within the museum was all in with the usual price of admission with no inflated prices because of it so the seasonal experience (which was rather brilliant) without Santa was a bonus thrown in with the extra benefit of a 12 month pass to re-visit. They also had an option to just visit Santa without paying to go round the museum.

Out of curiosity, has anyone here done Christmas at Chatsworth? I've fancied going but as it's a bit of a trek I don't want to travel and be disappointed!

SkankingWombat · 13/12/2022 00:03

Well this thread has had me waking DH and pissing off the cat with my shaking and sniggering (sorry OP, I would feel really angry and ripped off too in your shoes. That is a truly crap gift at half the price).

It probably wouldn't help to tell you I paid £3.50 per child. That included a candy cane and chocolate coins on arrival, some colouring in, being chased by a dinosaur and blasted in the face with artificial snow, a family 1-2-1 meet and greet with FC lasting about 5 mins, and a wrapped selection box to take home. It took an hour all together. DCs never get full-sized chocolate bars, so each being given a box full of them was The Best Thing Ever (along with the dinosaur, who was just the right amount of crazy).
I refuse to pay for any experience that charges for adults too on principle though TBH. It irks me when it happens at softplay, but I'll suck that £2.50 up and avoid spending any money on refreshments instead . At least I get 2 hours of being left alone with a book for my money there (along with the added gift of tinnitus). Our nearby 'premium' FC experiences are ~£25/DC and £15/adult - I don't see how they're giving me as the adult £15-worth of experience.

Namechangenumber23 · 13/12/2022 00:03

Tollumi · 12/12/2022 23:05

This type of thing is pushing at an open door with me USUALLY. But:

Peg doll toy 7cm (AKA 'a PEG')
Bag of vintage sequins and a vintage button
Kraft card wings
Moss

...for fifteen actual pounds?

That actually makes me mildly angry 😂It's the most rippy-off thing I've seen in years, and it's done 'in the name of the planet.'

What absolute, total, white-hot bullshit.

You're not wrong.

I'm picturing someone very last minute realising they forgot to order the gifts in for the kids and sending someone out to Hobbycraft with £50 from petty cash to to grab whatever they could find.

ChristmasCwtch · 13/12/2022 00:05

That’s a really shit present and it looks creepy!!

ZenNudist · 13/12/2022 00:10

Yes you were ripped off. Yesterday saw you coming. You'd be better off with no gift than that tosh. It will just be thrown out immediately.

ZenNudist · 13/12/2022 00:11

Typo yes they saw you coming

lesson other to pay ridiculous prices for so called Christmas experiences.

If No one paid they'd stop charging a fortune!

senior30 · 13/12/2022 00:17

The real shocker here is than nobody can believe the price of Christmas experiences. They’re extortionate this year, just to visit Santa at a garden centre cost me £30 for one child. But yes the gift is utter crap

kateandme · 13/12/2022 00:28

QuiltedHippo · 12/12/2022 22:19

Oh and the £5 parking really pissed me off, it's not like they don't have a carpark or acres of space. They justified that it was for lighting and an attendant but it was still a confusing scrum trying to get out. Went to Lotherton the next week who put on extra parking without any fanfare

Besides the fact attendants are volunteers.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 13/12/2022 00:33

That is absolutely ridiculous. Did they have to factor in Santa's mileage costs from Pickering the North Pole in their budget?

That looks like the kind of thing you'd give to children as a 'pause for thought' about the kind of playthings that poor children in Victorian workhouses or developing countries had/have to make do with - before, suitably chastened, you smile and give them their lovely real present.

I love the way that they blame their own previous poor gift purchasing choices as an excuse to now give you an old peg, a bit of cardboard and a side-clump of dirty grass; and they make it clear that they're patently unwilling to up their budget of pennies, despite charging you through the nose for it.

There are plenty of really nice sustainable wooden toys they could have chosen instead: it isn't a binary choice of either cheap plastic tat OR whatever they swept up off the utility shed floor. Also, there's a balance to be struck with sustainability, taking into account how long the item will last as against its environmental impact. That stuff may have a very low impact on the environment, but it will have a useful life of half a minute, as the child realises what Santa has given them and starts bawling inconsolably that he clearly thinks they've been a naughty girl/boy.

To be honest, an actual pizza in that pizza box would last longer and be much more gratefully received.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 13/12/2022 00:38

Anyway, if they're so into sustainability, that place could easily house hundreds of people as affordable housing. Is that what they do or their near-future plan?

Reminds me of when Prince William bangs on about earnestly looking for ideas to save the planet without even noticing how colossally wanton his own impact is when compared to the average Brit, let alone the average inhabitant of the world.

tobee · 13/12/2022 00:58

Wronglane · 12/12/2022 23:36

You had an hour experience in a decorated castle. It’s not about the monetary value of the present. It’s a really nice crafty present. And surely shows that Santa isn’t about expensive gifts but time spent together with loved ones. So grabby

Lol!

louderthan · 13/12/2022 01:11

I've read Santa too many times on this thread and now it looks like Satan...

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 13/12/2022 01:18

I think Castle Howard PR team have arrived....

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 13/12/2022 01:24

They have tried and tested their gifts during the last year with many families, different ages of children and have been through a really thorough research and development process

I'd be very interested to see video footage of this - with close-ups of the children's faces at the point they open the pizza boxes and discover what FC has given them.

They'd have been better blaming 'Bad Santa' for kidnapping 'the real Santa' and pushing him into a locked cupboard, before replacing him, keeping the good presents for himself and giving out 'naughty child' gifts to all the kids instead.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 13/12/2022 01:26

....And how come it's not about the monetary value of the present, but when it comes to setting ticket prices that would make a sailor blush, it suddenly is very much all about the money?

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