Top Tips for Christmas Museum Trips!

Photo: Get in the mood with some traditional Victorian-style carol singing at Blists Hill.

Does the thought of long holidays with bored children clamouring for outings fill you with horror? We have the solution.

Museums and galleries are pulling out all the stops this year with festive offerings galore.

As well as the usual endless shopping trips and office parties, this Christmas sees a host of innovative Yuletide events in museums and galleries around Britain.

There are art workshops and exhibitions highlighting the origins of the festival; Christmas in Victorian and Edwardian times; craft fairs and the ever-popular annual visit to Santa’s grotto.

For something different you could check out an audio-visual display of seasonal music with live DJ sets or perhaps you would like to find out how women made the best of things during a wartime Christmas.

Photo: visitors to Hollytrees Museum in Colchester can can post their letters to Santa in an original green post box from the 19th century.

We've picked out a number of highlights from all over the UK, so you can find something in your area.

Just follow our quick run-down of selected seasonal activities around Britain.

WALES AND SOUTHERN & CENTRAL ENGLAND

Photo: there's a traditional Christmas scene waiting for you at Peterborough Museum.

London and the South-East

At Hollytrees Museum on December 14, artist Valerie Osment helps visitors create their own unique Christmas baubles and crackers with a traditional emphasis. An accompanying exhibition traces the history of today’s Christmas customs.

On December 11 and 18, at The Royal Pavilion in Brighton, there’s a lively guided tour of this magnificent building with a seasonal focus, as well as festive music and carols in the impressive 19th century Music Room.

Photo: the Royal Pavilion looks fantastic at this time of year.

The Imperial War Museum has a different take on the season. From December 20-23 and 27-28 you can meet a 1940s housewife and discover how hard Christmas was with only rations and homemade presents.

An accompanying exhibition looks at the 1940s house at Christmas and how they enjoyed themselves without television and expensive gifts.

Photo: the Imperial War Museum shows how different Christmas was during the war. © Imperial War Museum, London.

Central And East Of England

Continuing with the more traditional themes of the season, Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery’s new exhibition looks at how Christmas is celebrated differently around the world and explains the origins of our own Christmas traditions.

Displays of toys and gifts through the ages show how tastes have changed. There are also workshops for children to make their own decorations to take home.

Strangers’ Hall, one of Norfolk’s most historic buildings, is offering tours on December 10 and 17, led by different historical figures. Learn about Christmas in 1660 and Tudor, Victorian and Georgian style decorations. Visitors can also drop in on Saturdays to look around.

At the Guildhall in Leicester, the Kingfisher Chorale perform an evening of Christmas carols on December 17 and 20. It includes an eclectic mix of old and new carols from the last 600 years and is performed by an open fire.

Also in Leicester, the Harborough Museum has an art workshop on December 13. Children of all ages can create their own Christmas cards and there will be a Victorian printing press.

The Snibston Discovery Park in Leicestershire has a range of activities such as fun days for the under 5s, wreath and decoration making sessions and a craft fair. The historic Snibston Colliery Railway will also be open.

Photo: Blists Hill Victorian Town offers old-fashioned Christmas fun and games.

West of England, and Wales

Blists Hill Victorian Town, near Telford, has a special festive weekend on December 13 and 14 and looks at how the Victorians celebrated Christmas.

It includes carol singing around the tree, Santa’s grotto, trips through the town by horse and carriage and a traditional merry-go-round.

Photo: Children will love the activites on offer at Blists Hill Victorian Town

There’s a chance to see the first-ever 3-D animated Christmas film, showing at the IMAX Theatre in At-Bristol until January 30.

In Santa vs. the Snowman, a lonely snowman devises a plan to take over Santa’s empire and is soon engaged in a full-scale polar battle involving hot chocolate guns and giant robots.

If you feel in need of some exercise, the National Trust is organising some fantastic walks. Winter Warmer is a one-hour walk along the national nature reserve at sandy Studland Beach in Dorset on January 4 and features rare birds and wildlife.

In Wales the Roman Legionary Museum in Caerleon is hosting a Christmas party on December 12 and offers craft stalls, children’s activities and a choir.

The Welsh Slate Museum in Llanberis is decorating their quarrymen’s cottages with traditional decorations and provides seasonal food and gifts.

SCOTLAND, NORTHERN IRELAND & THE NORTH OF ENGLAND

Photo: a procession of Christmas Crib builders in Krakow Grand Square, Poland. Photo courtesy of Krakow Historical Museum.

The North

The Lowry in Manchester has a more original take on Christmas this year with a display of Poland’s famous Szopki, the portable theatres used for traditional puppet Nativity plays, running until February 29.

Inspired by the Gothic spires of Krakow, they combine colourful fairytale castles with scenes from traditional folk stories. This is their first showing in Britain and makes a refreshing change from Santa’s grotto and carol singing.

Photo: Szopka by Andrzej Moranski, 1992. Photo courtesy of Krakow Historical Museum.

At the Durham Light Infantry Museum and Art Gallery you can design masks and cards and make stained glass in the run up to Christmas.

Also in Durham, The Bowes Museum is hosting its annual craft fair on December 13. Stalls will sell gifts like artwork, jewellery, games and food.

For those interested in the history of Christmas, the Red House Museum near Cleckheaton, reveals that many Christmas traditions like Santa, crackers and Christmas trees only date back to the 1840s.

It also looks at how our modern celebrations are a mixture of pagan and Christian customs and features rare cards and decorations from the Victorian era.

Photo: Don't worry carol fans, there are plenty of opportunities to have a traditional singsong this Christmas!

The National Railway Museum in York is holding an Edwardian Christmas Festival, and Santa will be handing out gifts in his grotto from December 13-23. An exhibition looks at how rail travel inspired various leisure activities.

A pantomime production of Interstellar Cinderella, the sequel to Cinderella, is on at Eureka! The Museum for Children in Halifax. It charts the adventures of Cinderella in space after she marries Prince Charming and is suitable for children aged 3-12. Performances will take place on December 13, 20-23 and 27-January 4.

For any aspiring DJs or die-hard fans of Christmas music, Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts' audio-visual display, running until December 21, is unmissable.

It consists of 1,200 LPs ranging from Bing Crosby to Abbott and Costello alongside live sets by DJs Mingo-Go and Guy Veal.

Also in Glasgow, and as part of the Burrell Collection’s Whistler in Venice exhibition, there is an arts workshop where you can make Christmas gifts.

Whistler signed his paintings with a butterfly and not his own name, so visitors can make their own butterfly masks and 3-D cards.

Northern Ireland

On December 14, Ulster Folk and Transport Museum looks at how the festive season developed into today’s Christmas experience. You can take part in craft activities, sample traditional Yuletide food and drink and listen to carols.

Photo: fill in a Christmas quiz as you wander through the various galleries of the Ulster Museum.

Ulster Museum is running Santa’s Sack, a special Christmas quiz for all the family, every Sunday until January 4.

Visitors can follow a trail around the many different galleries and answer questions. The first three correct entries drawn from Santa’s sack win gift vouchers.

Of course, this is just a quick look at a few of the great Christmas events happening in museums and galleries all over the country. So get in touch with your local museum to find out what's going on in your area.