One of the things that I really enjoy this time of year is our annual visit to see Santa and this year was extra special as we went with the boys' new baby cousin, Harper, who was only born 2 months ago! We decided to take the boys to Dobbies in Milton Keynes as we've been a few times before and have enjoyed it. They have changed a few things this year in that the actual area that you see Santa in is much bigger than the previous decorated shed it used to be. It was perfect for us as we went as 6 adults and 3 children as we took the boys grandparents with us too. I absolutely loved how it was decorated as it made for such a lovely background for photos.
I really like that they have a little christmassy walk through beforehand too, it's not long and it only takes a few minutes, but it's great for some festive photo opportunities and they had some great new fun additions like a snowman that the kids could put back together and also a little table area where the kids sat to make a paper snowflake decoration each. The elves were super friendly too and were chatting to the boys whilst they waited to see Santa, asking them what they were hoping for for Christmas.
The only criticisms that I have really are that the presents have changed from what they used to be. When booking before there used to be the option to choose small toys from brands like Playmobil and LEGO and I loved that they offered this. But this year there is no option to choose toys anymore, despite the price being the same, the only option you have is to put the kids ages in. The boys are 7 and 9 and both received the same puzzle. They love puzzles, but if I'm honest, it's a 500 piece geometric puzzle and all the pieces look very similar. It's a puzzle I feel most adults would struggle with, let alone a 7 year old. BUT it's not all about the present at all, it's the experience, but I just felt the puzzle wasn't really suited to the boys ages. Adam and I have been trying to help with it, but it's even a challenge for us.
And the other thing that I would say we were a little disappointed with is that the cafe has changed at Dobbies MK, in that it is now completely table service. They've introduced a small soft play area in the restaurant area and so I think they needed to take the counters out to free up more table space. We stood in the queue to be seated for quite a while and the people in front of us gave up in the end as the staff were just walking past everyone and we could all clearly see empty clean tables. We also saw lots of families sitting looking around waiting to be served but no one coming. So we also gave up and went to a Weatherspoons together, which was actually really nice! We have usually always enjoyed lunch at Dobbies, so that felt like a shame.
But on the whole, the experience of seeing Santa was lovely! We didn't feel rushed, the boys were happy and chatting to Santa about what was on their wish lists and the staff let us take lots of photos on our own cameras. So we had a great time and I'm really happy with the photos.
Thank you for reading. Alex xo
