What age to take a child to a pantomime?

[Tobebythesea]

My DD will be nearly 3 this Christmas and I’m wondering about booking a pantomime but just not sure if she will just be too young. Don’t want to scare or overwhelm, plus it’s £££. Thoughts please!

I took my just turned 3 year old last year, also took her when she had just turned 2, and 1, and as a 3 week old!
She got into the story last time, for the first time, and wasn’t at all spooked. But she is, generally speaking, the scariest thing in any room most days

I took ours when dd2 was 3. She Sat through, but she found it a bit scary. The whole experience was better when she was 4 tbh.

At just 3, DS was scared (we left early), at 4 he loved it.
It mostly went over DD's head at 2, she was also scared at 3 and also loved it at 4.

IME 3 is too young.

I think DC get way more from it once 4+ (essentially, when they have started school and are a bit better at sitting nicely and paying attentio), but of course youngest siblings go way younger.

With very little ones in the group, I'd go to a matinee at a small theatre.

I took my 3 years 4 month Son to see Peter Pan in reading last year. He sat through the lot and enjoyed it. It did have the huge advantage of having Mr Tumble in it though.
I, on the other hand, am 36. I found it excrutiating and wanted to leave after about 15 minutes!!!!

Most theatres do shorter (cheaper) plays which you can test the water with. We saw the snow dragon a few years back which held my then 3 year old's attention (just). I think they are generally about 45 minutes.

As others say, depends on the child. My now 8 year old can sit well and concentrate and could from fairly young. His younger brother still struggles at 5. I have booked panto for Christmas and hope that by nearly 6 he will be able to concentrate

If you you have smaller more family friendly theatre go there

Just weighing in on this one as I work in theatre! I would suggest 5 is a good age to start to 'get' Panto and actually enjoy it, the tickets are usually pretty expensive so you want it to be a worthwhile experience! I would recommend under that age seeing a smaller more child focused 'winter' show. Often theatres with two spaces will have a Panto in the larger theatre and then a show for tiniest in the smaller space. It won't have any stars in it, but it's usually magical with highly skilled actors who make work specifically for that age group and really get what engages them.

I took my daughter for the first time last Christmas and she was 5, nearly 6. She absolutely loved it so have booked again this year. Since she's been 11 months we've taken her to an orchestral performance of The Snowman, and will be taking both her and her baby brother this year to that. It's quite relaxed but super for adults too x

If anyone is still checking on this thread I'd recommend taking your children to a ASD Friendly or Relaxed performance the first time, even if your child is not autistic. There are less loud noises and if they want to get up and have a walk around, that's not a problem. Also, some places offer a no quibble refund policy at these showings if you leave before half time.

I've just taken my 2 children aged 5 (autisic, with learning disabilities and developmentally 2 years old) and my nurotypical 2 year old to a local panto (not ASD showing). They enjoyed the first 45 mins and then started getting fidgety. We left at 1hr 10mins, which I call a success as our goal was to last 45mins. Next week we have a professional panto booked and that will be a ASD Showing so today was a good trial run.