We’ve been looking forward to this event since we booked it. Alden asking every morning when he opens his eyes, ‘are we going breakfast with Santy and Emily?’
You can imagine how his face lit up when it was THEE actual day.
Unfortunately the day before dude was poorly. Going off topic, Wednesdays are the first day in the week where he goes to his fab childminder. It’s the day I stupidly attempt to organise everything, literally, into those few hours! Obviously it never really works out because I’m also normally so knackered not just off being poorly with my hip but being a single parent or any kind of parent is exhausting too. I absolutely adore my dude but the first hint of silence is sometimes utter bliss before the chaos of cracking on with my disappointingly unorganised to-do list.
He came home early from his childminder and spent the rest of the afternoon/night getting cuddles, whilst I was attempting to reassure my PTSD mind that its not sepsis, its just a temperature. I didnt sleep at all, luckily he did have a good nights sleep and his temp was back to normal before he even went to sleep.
He woke up and was cutely confused that we were going out in the car, in the dark. Does santy come in the dark? I love the way little one’s minds work!
When we got to Ponteland, it was really quiet as we walked up to the entrance we caught a glimpse of the big man himself! Alden was so excited. We were one of the first families there so we took the opportunity to snap some photos with Santa. Once all the families had arrived we were led to the restaurant and then ushered through some secret doors into a little grotto-esque sun room.
There were tables set up with crackers, colouring activities and some little christmas tree ornaments for the little ones to colour whilst we waited for breakfast to arrive.
We were served hot drinks as another waitress took our breakfast preferences, I was so pleased they served an actually tasty dairy alternative – oat milk and the waitress was so kind when I requested this – I have come up with hostility in other places and I’ve only been dairy free for a couple of months.
The food was hot, tasty and fresh. Alden’s kiddy breakfast looked lovely too, although he unfortunately started to feel poorly 20 minutes in and didnt actually eat a bite.
Santa made his way around each table talking to the little ones personally, I thought this was a lovely touch as it felt like a full table experience and seemed to put the little ones at ease. Alden was poorly when he arrived at our table but he did manage to get a high 5, a fist bump and a couple of smiles from Alden.
As Santa and his elf were setting up his seating area, the lady announced they had an extra special visitor and in walked a huge Dobbie reindeer – the kids loved it – so did the adults!
After this the little ones took it in turns to visit santa and get their presents. Whilst this was happening the staff came in with plates of brownie trees and gingerbread people with little pots of sweet and marshmallows with icing so the little ones waiting could decorate some biscuits until it was their turn. With Alden being poorly he really wasnt upto anything and was falling asleep on me one of the staff asked if we would like her to get Alden’s gifts which was really kind of her, she also kindly boxed up Aldens biscuits and icing bits to take home in the case he was upto decorating later at home which I thought was such a caring approach.
We got back to the car and I gave Alden some medicine, he fell asleep on the way home but perked up once we got in the house.
The rest of the day he was fine, he talked about how he loved going for breakfast with Santa and he loved his gift which was a Dear Zoo gift set with book and a toy doggy which he has named waffles.
Even though our visit wasn’t to ‘plan’ we still had a lovely time. Santa was amazing, everything from his suit to his stick was meticulous – he had such a lovely rapport with all the children and spent what felt like genuine time getting to know the children. Not to mention he looked super real – real beard!! I think it was great value for money. You can see this previous blog post for the ticket costs we paid. We booked on a lovely quiet event time which I always try to do because of my anxiety. I’m definitely going to book on next year too if it’s on as we really enjoyed it. Hopefully next year my dude won’t be poorly and be able to get involved a bit more like I know he wouldve loved to.
If you’d like to see if your local Dobbies still has space at their events click here.
Life with Alden Jax 