Ideas for memberships/activities for Christmas present!

[mrsmmajeika]

My DD will be 2.5yrs at Christmas

I would really like to start buying her something to "do" as a Christmas present rather than mounds and mounds of toys she will look at once and then never play with again!

Of course I will get her a few toys but I would sooner put our money into something she will enjoy with us, and, as she gets older, experiences/days out she will remember.

Does anybody have any suggestions for activities/memberships etc... for children or that we can do as a family?

We do have National Trust/English Heritage memberships.

Thank you

If you have a zoo nearby maybe a zoo pass.

We have a local farm which has a soft play, outdoor play, tractor rides etc. that offer membership.

Look at your local theatres for preschool friendly productions. Northern ballet often do a young childrens ballet in the morning when they are touring. We have seen three little pigs, Shoemaker and the Elves etc.

Our theatre often had things like Milkshake Live, Dora the Explorer, Fireman Sam, Barney mid week

Avoid pantamimes for a while, young children often start crying at the booing and the productions are too long.

pantomimes

We had one for Adam Hensons farm, The Cotswold Farm Park, when ds was little. But we live in the area.
So yes Farm Parks, wildlife parks etc

Think about what you enjoy as a family and the time you have available. E.g. if you and husband both work full time and love waking and being outdoors, you might find an annual pass to a local play centre a waste of money.....but.....if you have time during the week they can be great in the winter for a couple of hours.

We used to enjoy taking the kids swimming- so money to do that would have been great for us.

Look at what you have locally and think if you want to return over and over again somewhere......also ask your close friends what they have. We loved our zoo membership when our friends had it too as we could meet for a few hours with the kids.

Thank you very much for all the replies so far...I really appreciate the ideas!

Where do you live (roughly)? We're only 30 mins from Chester Zoo and our annual pass has been brilliant. We go most weeks (I'm on mat leave with DS2).

Other than that, maybe a local soft play or farm would be a good shout for that age.

Swimming lessons?
Tickets for somewhere like CBeebies Land or Peppa Pig World?

It depends where you live. We have one for the local aquarium and science museum.

We have previously had a zoo pass (20min away at the time), a farm park with winter soft play one (3min drive) and one for our local craft place (1 session a month to you ain’t a ceramic including Easter, Halloween, Christmas etc and it was 25% less to buy the pass instead of pay as you go.

Are you near any of the WWT sites? We've been members since DS was 2 and use them loads. Always lots of things for kids, - santa experience, Halloween walk, summer stuff. There's 7 altogether I think but spread out around the UK. We've visited 4 on various holidays but do our local one a lot more frequently. I like Slimbridge the best - sad it isn't my local one!

I am in the NW so Chester Zoo is certainly a possibility for us as well!

Thank you for the suggestions