How many Christmas days out and activities do you do with dc?

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How many Christmas days out and activities do you do with dc?

Santa visits x 2
Going to see Xmas lights switch on.
Ice skating
Snowdome winter wonderland
festive lights trail
school nativity x 2
pantomime
gingerbread house making x 2

With DS (6 years old) we have already done:

• Visit to the local Garden Centre after dark with his friend (to see all the lights)
• Christmas Light Switch on
• Christmas Market and seeing some real reindeer

He’s done a couple of activities at school including a visit to see Santa, as part of school trip, Christmas dinner and then next week it’s his school Christmas party.

We still have:

• Elf Express steam train experience this weekend
• Cinema trip
• Carol Service
• Crib Service on Christmas Eve and then the local Christmas Eve Tractor Run
• Panto after Christmas!

Oh and school nativity/performance too

We've done a Christmas light trail already and we're doing a Santa visit and some carol singing (the latter is a village event for the whole community.) At home we'll do some baking.

I like to just go with the flow so if there’s a school carol concert I’ll be there, then they seem to have a million school related things I facilitate and then try to incorporate a low expectation mooch around a Christmas market if we visit a city, maybe grab a festive Starbucks. But all the winter wonderlands and Santa breakfasts not so much. We sometimes take a diversion to see some lights if we’re ferrying kids to activities after dark. The big organised events always feel to me pretty expensive in such a pricey month, I like to keep it local.

@DarkAndTwisties which NTs would you recommend

Thanks everyone

Christmas lights switch on
lights trail x2
school nativity
school disco
school fair
santa visit
Christmas Eve carol concert
Christmas shows for DCs activities

I do loads with my DD, my mum did nothing with me….

Breakfast with santa
Cgristmas party/disco
5 Christmas meals with me & friends/kids
2 x Panto
Wreath making
Christmas crafts workshop

Then she has brownies party, swimming party, her friends birthday party & 3 cinema trips.

Then a very quiet January!

Tyntesfield if you're near Bristol

My kids are older but back in the day, maybe a Santa's grotto, day out buying the tree (we often cut our own down), skating, panto or west end show, go see the lights. The kids were in some Christmas play or show. That's it.

We always plan a visit to Father Christmas at a grotto and a trip to the panto. We'll also usually visit a garden centre one weekend in December to look at their Christmas displays and have a hot chocolate.

That's it in terms of family trips out. But we're usually still very busy with school Christmas fairs, school carol concerts, church services with Brownies etc.

We’ve been on 2 days out (places with animals, rides, play areas ect. that we would go to even if it wasn’t Christmas but with Christmas activities, crafts and Santa visits included so it’s a full day out rather than loads of money for an hour to a few hours of a singular Christmas activity)

We went to see a Santa in a charity shop

We have been to his usual toddler/pre-school classes that are all Christmas themed for the last classes of the term

We’re booked onto 3 Christmas Specials that his toddler/pre-schools put on during the holidays. They cost more than the regular classes but they are worth it 🎄

We’re booked onto afternoon tea with Santa at a play area 😊

We will bake cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve and I might bake sugar cookies with him next week as well 🍪

We’ve also done hand and footprint Christmas crafts and cards 😋

We go see Santa at the shopping center & do the pantomime.

They also do pantomime with school in primary & nativities.

I couldn't spend a fortune to walk around in the cold and mud or go on hikes, we can't ice skate, I hate everything about winter markets and can't afford the Santa express so they just aren't for us.

It depends what's going on, really. Thus year we have/have had:

School Fayre
Local light switch on
Father Christmas visit
Carols
School disco
Activity related party
Light walk
Father Christmas breakfast
Panto with activity group
Garden centre Christmas dept walk around and bought new decorations.

Too many but I can't help myself!

Panto, lights trail, Christmas party, petting farm Christmas experience, Santa craft workshop, a Christmas music show ... and that was me attempting to cut down from last year 🤦‍♀️

Polesden Lacy ( Surrey)
Kingston Lacy ( Dorset or down that way )
Hinton Ampner ( nr Winchester)

We're doing a local theatre thing for the first time this year, plus probably Lessons & Carols or the crib service, but otherwise just the school/nursery things and baking/crafting at home, which is easy to do as much or as little as suits on the day. My two are 5 and 2.5, so it's simple crafts and basic gingerbread biscuits – no big deal if they don't fancy it (but they usually do, so I try to have a few ideas ready).

We walk/ drive around on the hunt for lit up houses, go to the school fair, go to the local plight switching on ceremony and school plays

I'd rather spend the money at a time of year when we're all less busy with more money! There's a ton of stuff through school and nursery which is where the kids see santa. I dont think they distinguish between the classy and less classy christmas experiences when they're young!

There's a lot of free things near us. We live quite rurually and there's a big christmas tractor procession and the rotary club do a santa float. Our village does a Christmas film night and an amdram panto which are normally run for charity and cheap to go to.

We have a few but they're mostly connected with activities the DDs do anyway.

So Christmas gymnastics display, Christmas dress up ballet, Christmas dancing party, school carol concert, pre-school nativity.

Then we're seeing Santa at a farm, and we have the Nutcracker booked.

We also visited a garden centre which happens to have singing reindeer and a Christmas model village, and we saw the charity Santa on our street.

Nothing paid for and not associated with school or clubs this year. We booked loads last year and were ill for all of it, and ill again this year!

Thanks all