Christmas in London

You will have much fun and merriment this Christmas. London is full of incredible festive activities and seasonal fun. Here’s just a few of the capital’s most amazing Christmas events for you to try.

Compete in a Christmas pudding race Could you balance a Christmas pudding on a tray while you dash around an obstacle course in the Covent Garden Piazza? Could you do it if you were wearing fancy dress and being pelted with flour and foam? You could. Fantastic! Then gather five of your friends and register online for Cancer Research UK’s famous fundraiser. If not, go along to watch the fun. With entertainers and celebrity supporters, it’s a real laugh.

Meet the three wise men and their camels The Three Wise Men will be riding their camels in to Belgravia’s most gorgeous streets for their Christmas Fayre. After you introduce yourself to the Three Kings, you can begin your Christmas shopping at the Fayre. You’ll find luxury fashion and gourmet food on dozens of beautiful stalls.

Christmas in London

Wear ice skates to a tea dance You can dance across the ice at the Teatime with Tiffany skate sessions at Somerset House every Saturday afternoon until Christmas. After your Teatime session, you can admire the ice-dancing displays and enjoy champagne and a Tiffany treat. (What an intriguing concept!)

Sing carols in Hampton Court Palace As you stroll through the courtyards of Henry VIII’s favourite palace, you can sing “O come all ye faithful” and “Deck the halls with boughs of holly”. A band will accompany you as you sing your favourite carols to the Royals ghosts.

Run away to the circus You have a choice of circuses for your flight from humdrum reality – a Christmas Circus and a Cirque Extreme. Conveniently, both are at the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. You can gasp at the acrobats and laugh at the clowns after you skate on the ice rink, ride on the big wheel and visit Santa in his grotto.

Enjoy a feast of wassails You’ll feel your spirits stir as you listen to the haunting, gutsy, joyful and beautiful Christmas music at the English Folk Dance & Song Society’s concert.

Ride on a sleigh pulled by huskies (if you are under Your little children will be thrilled to experience a real husky sleigh ride through the frosty landscape at the London Wetland Centre. Look through the firs and the pine trees and you’ll see their Christmas celebrations. Can you spot Santa’s cosy grotto? Who’s that with him? Could it be Merlin the Magician performing his tricks? Why, yes, I think it is. A double treat for your little ones.

Have a cracking tinsel-tastic time at Wilton’s Theatre The Tiny Wallops bring you a just-for-the-grown-ups evening of comedy and song with a baffling Christmas mystery thrown in for good measure. Wilton’s Theatre is the oldest surviving Grand Music Hall in the world. With its very own dusty glamour, it is a truly special place.

Jog with thousands of Santas Thousands of Santas will run, jog, walk and amble through Greenwich Park in early December to raise money for the Environmental Justice Plan. If you can raise £100, then you can join them. You’ll receive your Santa suit when you register on their website.

Spend Christmas Day with Charles Dickens and the Muppets The Charles Dickens Museum will be open on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. You can listen to readings of A Christmas Carol while you enjoy mulled wine &mince pies and admire the Victorian decorations. You can also watch screenings of two A Christmas Carol films – the classic version by David Lean and the less-highbrow-but-more-laugh-out-loud version by the Muppets.