Paid Christmas activities - what are you doing?

[Flackattack]

I’m interested in what paid Christmas activities people are doing this year and how much they are?

I love doing lots but think we will cut down this year.
we have booked a polar express experience at £30 each and hoping for a light walk but wondering what prices will be like with everything going up.

Lapland uk which would be over £500 for a weekend in December for a family of 4 - 3 hour visit / is already sold out!

Dgd (6) I've book tea time with santa at john lewis and thats it this year. I was going to book pantomime but the other set of Gps have booked it. Thought about booking disney on ice as it was a big hit this year but decided to use the money to buy dgd teddy bedding and microwave heated teddy and a heated throw for them all to snuggle up under this winter. Will be doing more free things, baking, walks, movie nights instead this year.

Should've read "big hit last year" not this year 🙄

I thought this would convince me not to do things but it’s giving me ideas!!!
there are lots of lovely free things but can’t deny I love a big Christmas Day out - I too am a Christmas nut!

We'll go to the Edinburgh Christmas Market and combine it with a trip to the National Museum of Scotland as dc1 is a creature of habit. We'll do a light walk and that's probably it for paid activities.

We haven't done a Santa visit since dc1 was small. He hated it and as someone who grew up being made to sit on Santa's knee all the way to 15 years old (dad's squadron parties, Santa was always a young unmarried pilot) I've always been uncomfortable with them.

Did the Polar Express last year but wasn't overly impressed. Definitely could think of better ways to spend a hundred plus pounds.

We don’t spend a huge amount anyway as my children are small and generally prefer quieter stuff. We will probably do local garden centre santa, PIL have booked and generously paid for panto and we will do stories with Mrs Claus at NT property which we have membership for.

Other than that they like singing Christmas songs, baking, making decorations, watching a Christmas film.

We’ve luckily been given some tickets to a pretty decent Christmas theatre show. We would have booked a more local one otherwise. We’ll see Father Christmas at the school fair and that’ll be it for this year I imagine.

Are light walks good for adults?

We're doing a Santa train and going to Pizza Express afterwards. We're also going down to London and may go to Somerset House and then down Oxford / Regent Street to see those lights.

DD and I used to go along Oxford St from March Arch ( John Lewis , huge Primark and the flagship M&S being the first stops ) then walk along to Tottenham Court Road .
Obviously Covid put paid to that so I might try this yeat , usually we do the 23rd then have a takeaway in the evening .
It's not too busy that day and the shops are still full-on-fesrive .

We go to a play or show but this year it;s ABBA Voyage which is ££ but that will be our extrravegance .

Christmas Dinner for DH ,DS,, DD and me is relaxed , we set the table ,(no candles 'cos of the cats) , only DS eats meat .
I have my Nectar Points for Christmas food big shopping .

When they were little we did the Santa Trains , the Lighted Walks (we went to Kew Gardens the first yea it opened ) never got the chance to go to Lapland UK sadly.
Pantomimes (local so they could fall asleep in the car and go straight to bed ) , Winter Wonderland
Trips to London to see the Litle Match Girl (DD) and The Snowman (DS)

They are £ but as a lot of them need booked so early you've paid well before Christmas .

The Laplamd UK tickets were released very early and sold out first phase , so well before the price hikes.

@DenholmElliot1 same 😂😂 you missed out breakfast with santa. Seriously how do people afford all these things 🤔

We've got the polar express booked, will probably use tesco vouchers for black country museum visit or do a NT light trail

Normally go to longleat but it's gone up again this year and now we have to pay for my eldest can't justify it ontop of the train

We will go to our town light switch on and I pre booked the panto back in January. We did the train last year but it’s too expensive this year so we will probably go to a garden center to see Santa. Cheap and cheerful but the kids will enjoy it.

They don't lol. They're clearly telling porkies.

We're going to the panto Xmas eve as we do every year. It's a good one so is £150 for the 4 of us with decent seats. DCs will get to see FC at the school fair for £5pp. That's it.

Your post has made me feel so excited for Christmas!!! Definitely going to the church for carols, I don't know why we've never done this before, thank you

We are doing the annual Panto on New Year's Eve. That's is that's paid for.

We plan to do a local lights steam train ride, it was £55 last year for 3 of us booked in October to secure a date so close to Christmas (23rd)

We like to do just one thing together as a family unit over Christmas, were not big lovers and don't like anything too commercialised.

My advice if you're looking to save money is to not prolong the whole season too m

Accidently pressed post 🙈

My advice if you're looking to save money is to not prolong the whole season too much, we don't get the tree untill a week before so whilst DD is excited life is pretty much normal untill Xmas week for us, if we decorated at the end of November 1 trip out wouldn't cut it for her.

Might take a look at the local church charity Christmas tree festival though if that counts.

I agree with this. I refuse to get the tree before the second week of December, and that’s when the other decorations go up too. Starting too early ruins it for me.

Last year we did something every weekend but things like

Santa at local shopping centre for £5 and look at lights and decorations at local garden centre

Proper Santa's grotto at local farm (the expensive treat)

Then we looked on Facebook and went to lots of local events, making reindeer food, Christmas markets etc.

We have a 3 year old so easier to do the simple free things I guess!

We usually have a weekend away but this year I haven't booked anything and may look more local.

The kids go to the panto with scouts so they will be doing that anyway. Unless I get tempted by cheap flights somewhere cold and festive!

Gullivers at Milton Keynes have a light trail through the dinosaur Park this year. Early bird tickets are £15 each if you book before the middle of September and if you have a Blue Light Card they are quite heavily discounted.
This will be our Christmas event

We’re doing an overnight stay for the Polar express in Devon, have booked a 2 slot hour with Santa where the kids bake and do crafts (he’s exceptionally authentic) and will take them for breakfast with Santa.

Hoping to do Lapland UK next year and then real Lapland in 2024

Nothing, we never do.