Lapland – A truly magical experience a must for your little ones to enjoy!
Lapland is the place you have to take your little ones who still believe in the magical Father Christmas legend. We were super excited from the day we got tickets for Lapland. I have to say that Alison and Mike Battle thought of every single detail to ensure that this family experience is simply a wonderful and unforgettable one.
From the time you book and let me make a huge parenthesis here, you must book way in advance as Lapland only operates in the last months of the year. You need to ensure you are ready when they open up their booking system to make sure you will be able to book as they are extremely busy. So, as I was saying, as soon as you are booked in you are then notified of all the things you need to do and how to prepare for this wonderful experience. You also get a chance to personalise your visit as they encourage you to add all the specific details about your child. Precisely, they ask you about who is your child’s favourite person, toy, what they wish for Christmas, what they like the most and what are their hobbies.
The invitation to Lapland
You are sent an email explaining what to do once you receive the invitation, and this is when the Lapland adventure begins – yes, you read right it is such a lovely part of the whole experience, how once you receive the invitation you give it to your little ones.
The children receive a personalised wax-sealed invitation in the post from Father Christmas asking them to come all the way to Lapland to help the Elves with their toy making. The invitation comes in a gorgeous illustrated box with the Elves they will meet during their adventure. They recommend, once you have the box, putting it inside the freezer for 1 hour, before giving it to the little ones, so the box is icy cold coming straight from Lapland!
Inside the box you will also find the “Big Folk Guide to Lapland” where you have the answers to all your questions including what to wear, where to eat, if you can bring pushchairs, to name a few – overall it includes all you need to ensure you are prepared for the big day.
Just 48 hours before our visit, we got an email confirmation that you should have handy on the day of your experience.
I decided to read and follow all the advice given on the Big Folk guide. So, I showed my son the video of the invitation – he was able to see that Father Christmas is looking for some help as many children are this year in his “nice” list and so he needs some help and only the chosen ones will be able to come and assist the Elves and Father Christmas in this important task of building toys at the Lapland Toy Factory!
And just like that we then were waiting every day for the mail to see if we got an invitation as Charlie, little boy in the video, did.
Lucky enough, that day, the postman came during the morning hours bringing the box containing the invitation and so I had plenty of time to put it inside the freezer so it could be icy cold when I gave it to my son the day before leaving for Lapland.
His eyes were all starry full of excitement when I gave him the icy cold box in his hands and then I said “open it” and he said “it is soooo cold” and immediately he searched for the letter and gave it to me so I could read to him that Father Christmas did choose him to be one of the few that could fulfil the important role of helping and assisting him and the Elves at the Toy Factory.
I must say that it was hard for my son to fall asleep as he was way too excited to go to Lapland and meet Father Christmas. And so the night was going to be very long. Finally, the morning came and we got tickets for 10 am which is a perfect time and I highly recommend this time for those with toddlers.
Visiting Lapland
We drove from Central London to Lapland and we got there in a little bit over 1 hour.
Everything is so well organised including the parking assistance. It is perfectly marked with signage pointing and directing you to Lapland UK. Once there, on the parking site, the staff directs you inside the massive parking space they have which is marked as “Mouse Parking”, “Hare Parking”, etc. so you can easily remember which parking you are in.
Once you enter they ask if you can provide proof of vaccination – which I have to say I was very content they do this. Then you are inside their first entry point where you can take some pictures and also get some refreshments as they have 2 kiosks with coffees, hot beverages, pastries and also some hot food.
They also have a little point of sale where you can get gloves, Conker (funny Elf) hat, and other souvenir items. Surely my son got the Conker hat and some gloves. I do recommend coming dressed up with your Christmassy items as many other families had – in our group there was a father that was completely dressed up as an Elf!
Then it is your time to come inside the reception where you are to show your tickets. Here you are divided into 2 groups named either a Husky or a Reindeer. Once you are checked in you are given a sticker to put on your coat and also the Lapland news and the Elf Passport for every little one. We were Reindeers. Then you enter into the Enchanted Forest where you are greeted by the Elves who start explaining the whole experience which will start once they open the magical doors with the help of us, the audience.
Once the doors open you enter the magical forest where all the trees are dressed in snow – and you are ready to get to work at the first experience which is the Toy Factory. Here is where your little one needs to work on the toy of the day. When it was our turn we needed to help with making teddy bears. All made of wood with a wooden heart. Once your child has completed making the toy an Elf comes to your working table and puts a stamp on your child’s Elf passport.
Then we headed to Mother Christmas’ Kitchen, again walking through a lovely snowy forest where you could see some of the Elves’ cabins and once we arrived we were greeted by Mother Christmas and her lovely helpers. Mother Christmas read a book for us whilst the little ones, had on the table, the chance to decorate a gingerbread cookie. They are provided with some sweet glue with gummies and skittles to decorate the biscuits. Great news, you can then take them with you. As soon as you completed this task Dough, Mother Christmas’ helper, comes and stamps your Elf Passport.
Now we are all ready to go to the Elven Village. Here families can wander at their own pace. You have plenty of things to do such as ice skating, your little ones can send a letter to Father Christmas form Elva’s Post Office, meet real huskies, and have a delicious lunch. You can have pizza, hamburgers, mac and cheese, and also some bratwursts. They also have vegan/vegetarian options. For the sweet tooth head over to Pixie Mixie’s Sweetshop. I recommend not going with your little one if he is like mine who wants to buy the whole shop! You can also shop for a lovely souvenir at the Elf Emporium or get your baubles for your Christmas tree at the Bauble Shop.
Then it’s the final countdown to get to meet Father Christmas, so once you are ready to leave the Elven Village you head over to his cosy-wooden cabin passing by his magical sleigh and reindeers. You can buy some reindeer food as there is a little shop all about reindeers.
Finally, it is the time to get into your private session with Father Christmas. My son was so confident and he happily sat right in front of Father Christmas and started answering his questions – as we personalised the visit – Father Christmas knew all the things he liked and what he wanted to get for Christmas.
His little face lit up when Father Christmas even knew that he went camping during summertime and we also stayed at a Safari Lodge and he slept in a bunk bed! He was also very happy to hear from the very Father Christmas he was in the good list! Father Christmas gave my son a special golden bell that he only awards to his very best Elves and since he did such a good job at the toy factory and helped him he is now gifted too. Plus he also got a soft husky puppy toy that now sleeps with him every night.
We then had a chance to say the big “cheeseee” and get to take a lovely family picture that was handed to us in a card frame with Father Christmas. But this is not all, as you are collecting your family portrait you are also given a teddy bear that he helped to make at the toy factory and a card from Father Christmas thanking him for his help in saving Christmas when he visited Lapland. The teddy bear was given to us discreetly so the children don’t notice and we can give them the toy and the card on Christmas Day so that the magic continues all the way until Christmas Day!
We cannot recommend this enough and hope that you manage to get ahold of the tickets to this unforgettable magical experience this year if not surely must go next!
Congratulations on this amazing lovely experience Alison and Mike Battle.
For more information please visit: https://portal.laplanduk.co.uk
