My Mum's Christmas present to my sister and I were tickets to Lapland UK.
We'd only heard of Lapland UK when it popped up on Instagram as I was scrolling through Christmas hashtags, and I was intrigued what it was all about!
The drive from Devon to Berkshire was about 3 hours there, and 4 going home. Unfortunately I had no option but to do it all in one day, so next time (if we do decide to return) then we'd definitely consider staying somewhere overnight!
When we got there, we picked up the kids' Lapland passports and had our intro talk with some of the elves. (I don't want to give too much away if you've never been).
Then we headed through the Enchanted Forest into Lapland, and straight into the toy factory to help Conker the elf make the toys for Christmas. We sat around and built toy penguins before reluctantly handing them back for Santa to deliver. Luckily *eye roll* in the next room they had plenty that you could buy for £25...sneaky, Lapland!
We didn't buy one, mainly because I knew that included in the £70pp fee (including the 17 month old...!) was a cuddly Husky dog later on in the day.
After the toy factory we headed for storytime in Mary Clause's kitchen before decorating gingerbread cookies.
One thing I did think was that it was great for the littles, but when adults are the same price, there's not much in the way for us, other than their enjoyment. A free hot chocolate or bag of reindeer food (both being sold on site for £4 each) would have made a massive difference - £70 per person including a baby was steep, and that was the cheapest day we could find!
Anyway, moving on, we then went through to the village where we had an hour and a half to browse more shops and see the sights of Lapland. There really is no expense spared on the design - it's like a Christmas Disneyland, and you can't help but smile.
We were excited to see that the ice rink was included in the cost, so that killed some time.
We had a hot chocolate, took some photos, petted the gorgeous Husky dogs, and then we found the Post Office where you can write a letter to Father Christmas,
Everywhere you go, the elves stamp your passport, which was a lovely touch.
Then all of a sudden it was our time to continue through, passed the reindeer who were more interested in being as far away from humanity as possible, and visit Santa (through another little shop, of course).
This is where Lapland redeemed themselves and the cost of all the things we'd walked past didn't matter.
A week before the trip, I'd filled out a form via email asking for information about our little ones. When Father Christmas knew the name of my nephew's pets, and that he'd recently achieved his 50m swim badge, he was amazed! Then, by complete fluke having previously written that he'd like a Husky toy in his letter back in the post office, Father Christmas pulls a fluffy white pop from his bag for each of them and their faces are a picture.
When we'd finished with FC, we went through to the final part - where you see your photos. You can have one for free, then any more are charged for and the prices aren't terrible - it was about £20 for all the images digitally and a print, but we only wanted the one. I was a little disheartened when we walked through to find ourselves in a sort of build-a-bear for Husky's - children everywhere wanting accessories and outfits for their new toy.
All in all, the experience was wonderful. I'd go again, but I wouldn't pay more than the £70pp we did this time. We took a packed lunch and next time even though I moaned about £4 for a hot drink, we did enjoy it and it's part of the experience :)
The ice rink was a really lovely addition too, but the best bit was absolutely the effort put in by all the cast members, especially the wonderful girls in Mary Christmas' kitchen!
Thank you all for a truly magical start to the festive season!
