Christmas Theatre 2019

It's back for Christmas 2019 - my massive round up of festive theatre.  Picking my faves is very hard, all the options for under 6's are excellent and you won't be disappointed by Citz, Tron, Cumbernauld or Scottish Youth Theatre.  My boys are mad for Fun Box at the moment, so I'm sure we'll catch that.  We'll try and go to a proper panto too with Grandma, probably something cheap and cheerful, it's always good to support the amateur dramatic groups or smaller theatre companies.

Christmas Shows for Under 6's

The Lost Elves - Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Citizens Theatre at Tramway - 13-29 Dec - £9 plus family deals

Ali the Magic Elf - Tron Theatre - 29 Nov-31 Dec - £6-£9 plus family deals

There's a Mouse in the House - Cumbernauld Theatre - 5-22 Dec - £6


Christmas Shows for Older Children

Pinocchio - Citizens Theatre at the Tramway - 7 Dec-4 Jan - £12.50-£28

Cinderella - Cumbernauld Theatre - 29 Nov-24 Dec - £13.95/£11.95/£8.50

Cinderella - Royal Conservatoire of Scotland - 7-13 Dec - £5-£22.50


Panto

Cinderfella - Tron Theatre - 27 Nov-5 Jan - £9-£23 plus family deals

Mother Goose - Eastwood Entertainers (amateur dramatic group) at Eastwood Park Theatre - 25-30 Nov - £12-£16

Sleeping Beauty - Runway Theatre Company (amateur dramatic group) at Eastwood Park Theatre - 2-7 Dec - £14-£17

Cinderella - Eastwood Park Theatre - 11-30 Dec - £15/£12 plus £45 family deal

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves - Greenock Players at the Beacon Arts Centre - 28-30 Dec - £12 plus £42 family deal

Jack and the Beanstalk - Beacon Arts Centre - 6-31 Dec - £12

Jack and the Beanstalk - King's Theatre - 30 Nov-5 Jan - from £12

Aladdin - 30 Nov-8 Dec at Town House Hamilton and 11-23 Dec at Rutherglen Town Hall - £15.50/£13.50 plus £47 family deal

Jackie and the Baked Bean Stock - 7-8 Dec at Lanark Memorial Hall and 19-29 Dec at East Kilbride Village Theatre - £12/£10.50 plus £40 family deal

The Snow Queen - PACE at Paisley Arts Centre - 27 Nov-31 Dec - from £10

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves - SEC - 14-31 Dec - £18.75-£33.50

Pinocchio - Pavilion - 28 Nov-12 Jan - from £19.50

Beauty & the Beast - touring community venues in Glasgow - £5/£2.50

Mother Goose Fae Easterhoose - Platform - 10-23 Dec - £9.50/£6

A Lad in Maryhill - Maryhill Community Central Halls - 5-30 Dec - £10-£13

The Pure Amazing Wiz of Oz - Websters Theatre - 30 Nov-4 Jan - £8.50-£17.50

Sleeping Beauty - Fizzgig Theatre at Mugdock Country Park - 30 Nov-30 Dec - £11/£7

Sleeping Beauty - Panopticon Music Hall - 12-21 Dec - £9-£11


Other festive options!

The McDougalls New Year Party - Eastwood Park Theatre - 3 Jan - £9/£6 plus £25 family deal

The McDougalls - touring venues around Scotland

Fun Box presents Christmas in Toy Town or Trouble in Toy Town - touring to venues all over Scotland

The Snow Queen - Scottish Ballet at Theatre Royal Glasgow - 3-18 Jan - from £13.50

Santa's Workshop - Children's Classical Concerts with RSNO at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall - 7 Dec - £12.10-£17.60

Letter to Santa - Scottish Youth Theatre - 14-15 Dec - £8

Various shows at Scottish Mask and Puppet Centre

Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life

Summerlee is one of our favourite days out.  You can make it a fun half day or really string it out with lots of time in the play park and a picnic.  It would be great coupled with a trip to the Time Capsule.

When you arrive, you enter through the reception/gift shop (well-stocked...).  Beyond that is the vast exhibition hall, filled with things like this:

Some of it is very dry but equally there are lots of interactive elements including a train table, building bricks, a shop, dance hall.  Sometimes there are craft activities but sometimes there is a charge for these.   There is lots to investigate for little people.  The temporary exhibition upstairs is always well worth checking out too.  It's like the Riverside Museum but focusing on industry.

At reception, you buy your ticket for the tram, about £1.75 for an adult and free for under fives.  The ticket lets you ride all day.  Mostly, the tram is an 1980s model but sometimes you can ride on a proper vintage one, upstairs!  The tram travels on demand from the park entrance to the mining village, about 5 minutes away.  The volunteers often help load your buggy on if you're by yourself but it's an easy walk with a buggy too.  It's the highlight of any visit.

Each of the cottages is decorated in the style of a different era from the 1800s onwards.  We particularly like the 1980s cottage!

The last cottage is an old-fashioned sweetie shop, which is both lovely and a nightmare if you don't want to buy your children sweets.  There are some gardens and also the old coal mine (I think, you can pay to take a tour, we never have, maybe when the boys are older).  Often, after taking the tram back, it is time for lunch.  The cafe is at the side of the exhibition hall.

Whilst the setting of the cafe is bright and airy, the food is a little lacklustre.  The lentil soup is always good but I feel the sandwiches are poor quality for the price and the kids lunch box is full of junk (I have battled to get a piece of fruit before).  I prefer to take a picnic but stop for traybake and a coffee break.

Walking downhill from the exhibition hall, you come to the end of the canal.  On your left is the Vulcan, an iron boat, which you can go inside to see a little exhibition about nature on the canal and the boat.  Walking up the canal, you reach the mining village.

To your right is the play park and it's one of the best I know.  There are plenty of picnic tables and space to put out a blanket.  The first section of the play park is all set in sand.  Make sure to pack your own bucket and spade.  A lot of the equipment is themed around the topic of the museum.  The next section has equipment for slightly older children, climbing frames etc.  Lastly, is a zip wire and more interesting frames.

Summerlee hosts lots of events and it's well worth following them on Twitter as the activities can really enhance the day.

Entry to the museum is free and it's about a 30 minute drive from Glasgow to Coatbridge.  The car park is smallish so if you are arriving later in the day (at a weekend or school holiday), definitely just park immediately in the overflow, which is the Time Capsule car park.  The toilets are clean and well-equipped but there is only one set, in the exhibition hall.  I probably wouldn't visit if I was toilet training.

Pizza Punks

Another day, another pizza restaurant for us...  Pizza Punks, on St Vincent Street in Glasgow city centre, was an impulse eating choice when we were in town hunting Oor Wullies on the Big Bucket Trail.  Pizza is always a sure-fire hit with our boys.

The seating is fairly comfy but not perfect.  The music was our-kind-of-thing but not too loud. The staff were attentive.  The boys enjoyed it.

Foodwise, the USP is that for £11 you create your own pizza with as many toppings as you want.  We both chose House Specials though that are both interesting flavour combinations and cheaper.  The sourdough base is delicious and we both had great pizzas.  The kids menu is a whopping £7 for a drink, pizza and ice-cream (with as many toppings as you want, both on the pizza and the ice-cream).  Again, Angus enjoyed his meal very much.  I'm sure I saw an offer on a poster in the toilet for £5 pizza delivered in 5 minutes Monday - Thursday lunchtimes.  I can't see this on their website, Twitter or Facebook though.  I would return for this deal but I'm  not sure it's special enough to warrant choosing it over other pizza options.

The baby change was fine and there are a couple of steps to bump up into the restaurant (although I think there's a ramp if you ask).

Let's go on holiday...to Edinburgh

 
We've been away to Edinburgh as a family twice: once when Angus was 14 months and about to start walking and more recently when the boys were 2 and 5 years old.

Edinburgh with a One Year Old

I'll start off with the first holiday, as my memories of it are more sketchy!  We stayed in a self-catering apartment in Leith: two bed new-build with car parking and a lift.  This was before we started Air BnBing and we booked through a different, local website and with most you can choose to filter through those that provide a high chair and cot.

There were a few highlights but we mostly walked about, stopping at coffee shops.  We ate lunches out everyday but had dinners in (far more choice these days with Uber Eats, Deliveroo etc.!)  We took Angus to his first art class at Joy Tots cafe around the corner on Ferry Road.  The cafe is perfect for toddlers and under and the class was perfect messy, arty fun.

We were still at that stage of getting up early and being ready to get out the house by 9am and then getting a nap in.  We used Edinburgh Council's website directory of play parks to find little local places to burn off the last of his energy.  Our big ticket play park trips were to Leith Links, the Meadows and Princes Street Gardens.  Leith Links is an open green space with a lovely little play park.  The Meadows is the same but with two great play areas.  Princes Street Gardens has a castle themed play park, see below.

We had a really great visit to the National Museum of Scotland.   His favourite bit then was the Adventure Planet hands-on area and the animals.

The stand out part of the holiday was our trip to Portobello beach.  It was Angus's first real play in the sand.  It is lovely to walk along the promenade and there was a great...you guessed it...play park there too.  I hadn't been to Portobello before but had heard it was like a mini Brighton - it's not.  More like a mini Southwold.  There aren't as many cafes and shops as I had thought there would be but still a really lovely destination.

Let's fastforward four years...

Edinburgh with a Two and Five Year Old

This holiday we stayed in an Air BNB house just off Leith Walk.  We parked the car in the drive and got around by bus, which is so easy in Edinburgh (just be aware you need the exact change).  We got a Family Day Ticket and never had to fold up the buggy luckily.

On the way over, we went straight to Edinburgh Zoo and had an amazing day in the sun.  Then checked in.

The next three days were rainy with the odd sunny spell.  The Oor Wullie Big Bucket Trail was on and we spent a lot of our time, finding and collecting the sculptures.  These kind of trails make for an excellent way to explore a city.

Day 2 started with a tram ride out to the Gyle Centre.  Both boys loved the tram ride.  It was definitely more about the travel than the destination!  Coming back we got off at the West End and walked along past Haymarket and down Princes Street.  That evening, I went out with Grandma to the Vue cinema at the Omni Centre, every film, any time is £5.99.  This would have been a good wet weather option for Angus too.

On Day 3, we planned a visit to the National Museum of Scotland.  We started by rushing to the booking place for Wee Mornings as soon as the Museum opened at 10.  The sessions start at 10.30 and it was fully booked by quarter past.  The workshop was great with friendly leaders, bubbles, colouring, songs and lots of sensory activities.  It was perfectly pitched to the 8 month old babies and our whopping 5 year old.  We enjoyed visiting lots of different exhibitions and barely scratched the surface.   The brasserie looked expensive and uninviting so we left the Museum for lunch.  We went to the Elephant House, which is one of my old favourites. The food is tasty, not too expensive and they cater well for children.

We walked back around via the Royal Mile, via the Museum of Childhood (well worth a visit but lots of steps) and into the Museum to see a little more and stop at the cafe.  The cafe is very expensive.

That night, Gareth and I were lucky enough to get a date night and went for a walk on the South Side, stopping at dinner at Ransacked Black Oven, which was delicious.

Day 4 was our last full day on holiday.  we took the bus to Ocean Terminal.  They quite often have events on for children but not  this time.  There is a soft play, which we didn't visit but we did have a coffee in the Debenhans restaurant overlooking the Brittania.  As we were walking back through Leith, the heavens opened again and we took refuge in the Printworks Coffee shop.  This was a fab choice and we had a great lunch.  This is the joy of Edinburgh, you can't turn around for a great place to eat.  We took the bus to St Andrew's Square for a run around and we went into the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.  I wouldn't recommend the Gallery for young children (apart from the cafe) but we were collecting Wullies!

On our last day, we found somewhere local to park the car for the day, packed up with our suitcases.  We decided to go to Princes Street Gardens and the boys loved the play park there.  We walked down Lothian Road to find lunch and found a delicious one at Innes and Gunn.  There were still some Wullies to collect, so we went to Waverley Station and then got the bus to the car and drove home.

There were some places we really wanted to take the boys but the weather didn't let us: East Links Family Park, Gorgie City Farm and back to Portobello beach.

I hope this post gives you some ideas for a fab local holiday.  Any ideas for improvements, please leave the in the comments.

Barshaw Park

Barshaw Park is a local park in Paisley, which we love.  Firstly, it has a really good play park.  There are two play parks next to each other.  This is the newer one and more suitable for older children.

Adjacent is an older park, with equipment suitable for younger and older children including lots of baby swings, a zipwire, train and boat themed climbing frames.  There's lots to keep children occupied.  Next to the parks are two areas for bicycles (although we've been known to use a scooter!).  One is road-themed with a long track, road signs etc.

There is also a little BMX, track with lots of hills.  Teenagers would be disappointed with this but mini daredevils would love it.

The paths around the park are smooth and excellent for scooting and cycling.  They go around a huge boating pond, which has swans and ducks.  Most weekends the model boat club are out sailing.

The big highlight of the park for my sons is the miniature railway.  It's £1 per ride per person.  The queue can be quite lengthy but my sons will happily wait.  The railway runs on sunny Saturdays over Summer but not always.

In the background of this photo you can also see the fitness trail, there's kind of two of them and there is always more children on the equipment than grown-ups.

We have recently discovered there is a walled garden and beyond that, at the top of the hill, is an pen with two donkeys, Buddy and Paisley.  The park is much bigger than you first see.

The car park is a decent size but does fill up on sunny weekend days.  There is plenty of roadside parking available too.  The toilets are in the car park.  There is also a cafe with take away kiosk.  The cafe is fairly basic and not our favourite.  There are lots of benches for picnics and lots of green, open spaces.

The Sparkle Horse Baby Disco

This event is becoming a mini Glasgow Families Institution.  I feel like everyone I know has been once.  The Sparkle Horse pub runs a baby disco on the last Sunday of every month.  There's no entry fee but the set up is fairly basic.

First let me describe the venue: the pub is the old Dowanhill but with a much-changed clientele.  The interior is shabby chic with the emphasis on shabby.  There are some fairy lights and lots of toy horses scattered about.  The seating is black wooden chairs, wooden tables and booths.  It's not a huge establishment and the area at the back is raised up some stairs.  It's not dark and gloomy with big (ish) windows at the front.  There is a long bar along the side.  The staff are young and friendly and were up for the challenge of mini-patrons.

The pub is open from 12pm with the disco running from 1-3pm.  We arrived about 12.30pm to bag a table and have some lunch.  It is typical pub fare: macaroni cheese, burgers etc.  There was a special baby disco menu which was mostly small portions of the main menu around £4.50 a go.  Angus enjoyed his chicken goujons, Mr GFM's beef burger was huge and my Cajun chicken burger was delicious.  A note for picky eaters, the chips are the skin-on wedge sort (and covered in salt grrrrr).

On to the disco itself.  There was a disco light revolving but the house lights stay up.  In one corner was a reputable Glasgow DJ playing very enjoyable music.  In the other corner was a face painter charging £4 a go.  There is a small space for dancing, which we did.  Angus made friends with other children too.  The tunes are a mix of pre-schooler hits, Motown, indie...

We had a good afternoon out and will definitely be back when the Sundays become rainy and cold.  We will definitely be bringing toys along and friends for a more relaxed time.  If you're looking for more entertainment for the children, then you should try the more organised, ticketed events.

The toilets are easily accessible and there was a nice baby change set up in the Ladies.  There was a small buggy park and guests are invited to fold up buggies.   There is metered parking available but we walked round the corner from Kelvinhall.

Tollcross Children's Farm

Tollcross Children's Farm defines "hidden gem".  We revisited the farm recently on a sunny January day having not been impressed fourish years ago when we last went.  I think there are more animals now.  One of the reasons this is a gem, is that you can visit on a dry, cold day and still have fun.  It's not a muddy farm but very urban.  Located in Tollcross Park, right next door to Tollcross Leisure Centre, it's easily accessible.  When you go through the gates, there is a visitor centre to your left.  This has lots of different exhibits, African land snails, a snake, jigsaws and colouring in and farm toys too.

Outside the visitor centre is the main courtyard with toilets and an enclosure with chickens.  Down the path from this are pens and stables for the goats, sheep and Shetland ponies.

When you move further along, there is a figure of eight loop around some further enclosures.  These have two huge Tamworth pigs, a small herd of alpacas, ducks, more chickens...

and an aviary with lots of gorgeous birds and some bunnies too.

There are peacocks wandering about and we have been lucky enough to see the male display his tail feathers.  All in all, there is a good variety of animals however, it does feel they're kept in fairly austere concrete enclosures.  The path is clean so easy for toddlers to navigate and the boys enjoy seeing everything.    If you leave the farm and walk round the back there are fields of sheep.  A visit lasts 45-60 minutes.

The farm is in Tollcross Park, which is a lovely park with a burn, rose garden and a play park.  The play park is not worth visiting, very small and unloved.  The park is attractive but hilly and not too suitable for scooting and would be a hefty push with a heavy buggy.

The toilets in the farm are good and there is a baby change.  If you want more luxurious facilities, you can use the leisure centre's.  There is also a sunny cafe too.  If you want to extend the day, you could add on a swim.  The leisure centre also has a play park, which is much better and has a wide range of different equipment.  The leisure centre is also the place to park; turn left when you enter and curve round to the side of the centre to be closest to the gate through the farm.  There have always been lots of spaces when I've visited and both parking and the farm are free to visit.