Carols at the Royal Albert Hall - Seats?

[purpledelicious]

A friend told me it's a magical experience, my baby is 10 months old so she will be 1 year and 10 months next year, and I am thinking of braving it
Do you think a bad idea?
I called them and the guy on the phone said 'if your child misbehaves I would advise to arrange babysitting and not bring it with you' (!!)
I mean, the only reason we are going is for our little one to experience it.
Also, surely it should be family friendly?
Anyway he suggested a couple of seats (it's free for infants below 2yrs old) which came to a total of £200 for two adults.
I was thinking I need to pay wayyy less, so if I cant make it, or even if we can make it but my baby wants to leave, I could not feel like I paid SO much money.
Do you have any seating advice for Royal Albert Hall? (or general advice on whether I should go)
In terms of seats, I would want something close to a corridor so aisle for sure

Many thanks and Happy New year to all xx

You could just go to a church carol service for free ( anyone is welcome, you don't need to be a member or go regularly) and maybe wait for a Christmas concert experience till they were a bit older like 5 or 6 to enjoy it more. It will be family friendly to a certain extent but if your child makes a noise, I'd expect you to take it out, especially if I'd paid £100 for a ticket. There will be lots of cheaper events I'm sure. We've been to live screening of the snowman with an orchestra, that was lovely.

Yes i think its a bad idea. I don't think a child of under two can appreciate it and its not aimed at them.

a christingle at your local church would be much more appropriate and are lovely

as the other poster said people are paying £100 a seat

I went for the first time this year. It was lovely but definitely not for small (or even big) children.

Get a babysitter instead. Can't see how a baby would sit through that

I would see a family friendly carol service as children old enough to sing the carols, more or less sit in their seats for a concert and not burst into tears/scream or shout.

I went last year with friends it's brilliant, but it is not a family event, I didn't see any small children and would have been pretty surprised to have done so, it doesn't have that feeling as an event as it's in the evening rather than earlier.

A magical experience for you, maybe.

A magical experience for a toddler, no.

A magical experience for the people sitting near you whose enjoyment is spoiled by a fractious toddler, also no.

Find a babysitter!

I've been to sing along carols at the Royal Albert Hall and I'm looking forward to taking my DD but not until she's maybe 8 or 9 at the earliest

A 1 or 2 year old is waaay too young for that kind of event. "Family friendly" (dies it specifically even say that?) means family friendly fit children who can sit fairly quietly through an entire event. No 1 or 2 year old could do that.

An under two is far too young to get anything from the experience.
It will detract from the enjoyment of others when they inevitably get bored.
Just do what you’ve been advised and get a babysitter

I agree that your baby will be too young for this sort of event, but there’s no need to pay £100 each for tickets. The cheapest if you book today are £20 each, but their pricing model implies that prices can change depending on demand.

Carols at the RAH is magical but absolutely not for a not even two year old. My kids all 10 and up loved it but I'd never have taken then under 5 or 6 years old.
Yes
There are parts where you listen and don't participate and a crying baby would have irked me, sorry, especially given the cost of tickets.

I think if your child is very young the magical experience would be you experiencing your child magically experiencing it when they’re not really experiencing it at all tbh. I’d wait until they were a little older and just go to a regular one where you’ll feel more relaxed with less pressure to ‘behave’ and it’ll actually be lovley!

Politely your <2 yr old won’t have a clue about it.

And if they can’t sit mostly still and mostly shut up for the duration then they shouldn’t be there.

I do t think a toddler will really appreciate it! Nor would I appreciate your toddler if I'd paid a lot of money for a ticket.

Yes, all of this. Take her in a decade or so.
A toddler will like a carol service at church or a christingle service more.

Neither would I. I would actually say something if your child caused a disturbance because I would be so annoyed.

However I don’t mind at a free church Carol service.

People who happily sit there not minding that their child is causing a disturbance generally don’t care that you say something.

Taking her to something like that so she can experience it is pointless. Take her when she is 6 or 7 and she'll remember it forever.

There are many other more child and toddler friendly experiences including carol services that are cheap or free.

Similarly panto for 6+ too as many young children find the booing, lights and explosions too much.

However a Northern Ballets children's ballet would be perfect and is designed for 5s and under and has an orchestra.

Wait until your child is old enough to know about this magical experience - eg what the carols mean, to follow the music, to sing along with any join in parts. Until then, family friendly services can create the magic of community too.

fwiw I was at the proms last year (not a family prom but music families would enjoy) and a small child of around 4 years old had a screaming fit into the first piece. They were quickly asked to leave, the whole party choosing to go an no doubt losing a lot on the ticket money as well as missing the experience. The rest of the audience had the settling / uplifting first piece interrupted.

it’s lovely you want to do this but please wait!

It is an adult experience! Don't ruin it for others. I wouldn't take anyone under 10 or 12.

I took my dcs when they were 7 and 4, and that was okay. But my 4 year old always loved stuff like that, so would sit very happily through anything musical. My 7 year old was more overwhelmed.

You could try Bach to Baby concerts to see how your DC reacts to loud sounds and prepare for bigger halls. They do Christmas concerts too, obviously missed this year, but why not trying next time? They're really good, had top musicians playing with the main team, and they welcome babies from birth basically.

There are regular concerts for children at Barbican and Southbank, babies are welcome there too.

RAH is massive and the crowds are chaotic with lots of overexcited children so not ideal for babies.

I wonder if posters are talking about different events. There is a series of singalong Christmas carol performances and it is most definitely a family friendly event with daytime as well as evening performances. It’s a lot of fun and suitable for young children. I don’t think my children would have liked how loud it was as toddlers though - and with preschool young children I would pick seats where I could easily take them out - end of row near door. And maybe go for cheap seats - choir section is very cheap and cheerful - and brilliant for seeing the orchestra - who spent part of 2023 dressed as Christmas dinner items.
One of my children was overwhelmed at the sheer size of RAH, other was fine.

I think 22 months is a bit young, even for the sing along events.

I'd probably wait until they're 5 or 6. A year or 2 in school will help them learn to still and concentrate.

RAH has a seating plan when you buy tickets, so you can choose seats near an aisle, door etc.