Days Out For Christmas

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Do you like to do family Christmas days out in the lead up to Christmas?  I find it can feel a bit overwhelming at just how many things there are to do. We tend to try and do things that are relatively inexpensive as costs can soon mount up over the Christmas period.

I’ve got some days out penciled in to do with my children over the next few weeks and I thought I’d share the details of some of them here, in case others in the Greater Manchester area wanted to take a look too.

Living in Greater Manchester means that we’re pretty well connected to a lot of areas. Traveling into both Lancashire and Cheshire is really doable and doesn’t take long at all. We like to visit a few of the Lancashire towns that border into Greater Manchester and this weekend we are going along to Blackburn for their latest brick trail.

You might recall that, back in the summer, we did their Dinosaur themed trail and had a lovely day out and I was excited to see that there is going to be a new ‘Brickburn’ trail with a Christmas theme this year. The theme is The Snowman and Snowdog which will be perfect for the season! This is such a lovely book and the children are looking forward to the challenge of trying to find all the brick models – there is usually one or two that we struggle to find! We will also stay for the Christmas light switch on in the early evening and the Disney-style parade beforehand (these take place at 2:35 and 4pm and well as before the lights and fireworks). You can read more about this event here. If you can’t make the lights switch-on this weekend there’s still plenty of time to do the brick trail and also take part in an event on 18th December.

Which is your favourite character from The Snowman and The Snowdog? Well, you can see them all this Christmas in #Blackburn!

Find out more about our brick model trail here: https://t.co/JfzzLAF3aj☃️@TheSnowmanHQ @BRICKLIVEUK @Mall_Blackburn @blackburndarwen @Blackburn_BID pic.twitter.com/yrf3ZfXuwY

— Experience Blackburn (@ExperienceBbn) November 17, 2021

A little closer to home for me is the Elf Trail taking place in Stockport town centre on 4 and 11 December and the Ice Sculpture trails on 5 and 12th December. These sound really good and there’s a lot taking place in the town centre across these two weekends. There’s plenty going on including Christmas markets, carol singing, and lots of other activities. You can read more about these events here. We plan to do the Elf Trail and hopefully on of the Ice Sculpture trails too.

I really enjoy these sorts of town centre trails as I think it’s a great way to explore a town centre and go to places you wouldn’t ordinarily visit there. I know the last time we did a trail in our home town we ended going into different places we hadn’t visited for a while and found some really exciting new shops.

Across Greater Manchester, there are plenty of events including the Light Waves at Salford Quays. Now, I recognize that this isn’t strictly Christmas themed but I think it looks like a really great thing to do and helps to add to the build-up and atmosphere of the seasons. There’s also Gaia in Rochdale which looks wonderful.

Heading back across Lancashire there is also the Blackpool Illuminations which are enjoying an extended season. From 19 November to 3 January there’s also a free ice rink being set up close to the tower. Entry is free but isn’t bookable in advance so be aware you might not arrive on a quieter day. That said the lights are a great evening trip out and my own children love the illuminations. We haven’t done them yet this year but it’s on the list of activities to do in the lead-up to Christmas.

We are looking forward to visiting the above attractions over the next month; do you have any days out planned for the lead up to Christmas?