This is a Christmas event we’ve been along to for the past few years and the kids absolutely LOVE it. At this time of year M&D’s in Strathclyde Park has a Christmas circus, ice skating and real reindeer. There are storytelling sessions and you can visit Santa. And there are of course all the rides too.
We visited for their press event at the beginning of December on an evening when it was -3ºC outside and let me tell you, it was freezing. But we wrapped up as warm as possible and did not let the cold spoil our fun!
First we went ice skating with some push along bananas, push along polar bears for the bigger ones to get their confidence and push along penguins for the wee one to help him get around the rink. The ice rink isn’t big, but it’s perfect for beginners and folk who aren’t quite confident on their skates. Which every December is all of us!
We had so much fun on there and only one of us landed on our butt so that was a success… Also, those bananas are great. The kids loved sitting on them and getting pushed around, plus pushing the banana round the rink meant that I had something to hold onto!
We went to the Chipperfield circus where we saw some acrobatics, juggling, an escape trick and we saw some stunts in the wheel of death and stunt bikers doing huge jumps from one end of the circus tent to the other. The kids laughed their wee heads off at the clown. There were dancers and singalongs and characters, plus Santa made an appearance. The stunt bikes were a definite highlight.
The kids went on the dodgems, the waltzers, and a few other rides. I could only cope with one shot on the waltzers but they went in for a few more. There are selected rides open so not all of them are on, but they had a great time on every spinning thing they could get on. (Meanwhile I was trying to recover from my one shot on the waltzers…)
We finished with some churros and hot chocolates to warm ourselves (mainly our hands) up again! There are food stalls serving up various food options, and a little bar where you can get your festive glass of prosecco. You deserve it!
The Cost
My favourite thing about Christmas at M&D’s is that you don’t have to do all the things: you can choose which bits to do and miss out anything you don’t fancy. And you only pay for the parts you want to do.
Prices: Ice skating starts at £6.30; circus starts at £11.50. And you can buy as many or as few points for the rides as you like. There are also storytelling sessions and sessions to meet Santa, but we didn’t do those.
The Verdict
M&D’s Christmas event is one that the kids look forward to every year. They always love a fairground ride anyway, and combined with the ice skating and the circus this really is a big Christmas favourite for them. Brilliant fun.
M&D’s is located in Strathclyde Park in Motherwell. It’s just off the M74 at junction 5.
THIS WAS A PR EVENT AND OUR TICKETS ON THIS PARTICULAR OCCASION WERE VERY KINDLY GIFTED TO US BY THE LOVELY FOLKS AT M&D’S. HOWEVER ALL OPINIONS, WORDING AND PHOTOGRAPHY IN THIS ARTICLE ARE MY OWN.
