Lucy Huxley flew to Finland so the kids could see Santa
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For many parents, the magic of Christmas gets lost somewhere between sourcing a donkey costume for the school nativity play and cooking a turkey dinner for 12 picky eaters.
But however stressful and commercialised the Christmas season seems, it’s impossible to be cynical as you watch your children’s faces light up when they get to meet the great man himself.
In December I took my two children, Tom, seven, and Marijke, four, and my Mum on a three-day trip to Lapland to enjoy the snow and meet Santa. Having experienced it first hand I can safely say there’s no surer way for clients with kids to bring a little bit of enchantment back to the festive season.
Travelling with Ski Esprit sister company Santa’s Lapland, the magic started as soon as the tickets arrived. A note marked ‘For parents’ eyes only’ instructed me to get the kids to write their letters to Santa, but then ensure empty envelopes were posted, and the letters kept back for the trip.
Santa express
When the day came, I worried the journey would be hellish. However, the chartered easyJet flight, renamed the Santa Express, was crewed by cabin staff who could easily have been children’s entertainers, so brilliant were they with all the excited kids on board.
Colouring competitions judged by the captain who walked through the cabin talking to every child, festive sing-a-longs, and games where the left hand side of the aircraft was pitched against the right, involving scavenger hunts and toilet roll, all contributed to the perfect start to the trip.
And when we touched down in Finland, more than 125 miles inside the Arctic Circle, cheeky elves in the baggage reclaim hall and a real reindeer at Ivalo airport were also delightful touches.
The 25-minute transfer to Saariselka passed quickly and involved a stop en route at an outfitting store where all guests were instantly sized up for thermal snowsuits, gloves, socks and boots. Your clients need to pack their own thermal layers, fleeces and hats, and with temperatures at -27C when we went, with the potential to drop as low as -40C, they will need as many as they can get on under their suits. Balaclavas or face masks are also a must. I didn’t take them and regretted it.
Northern lights
A welcome meeting (which went on half an hour more than it needed to, and could have done with a bit more rehearsal), a spot of sledging and an evening meal were all we managed to do on the first night. However, the children ate well in the buffet-style restaurant at the Holiday Club, Santa’s Lapland’s most popular accommodation, and we were very excited to find it overlooked a pool with water chutes, fountains, waterfalls and wave currents.
Others made it out after dinner for northern lights spotting a short drive away, but mindful the kids had been up since 4am, we decided to leave it for another time.
Meeting santa
The next morning we donned every item of clothing we had and were taken on a 20-minute coach ride to the Arctic Circle Centre. There we found a snowy clearing among a woodland wilderness with a range of activities to keep us entertained for the day, including husky dog-sledding and skidoos the kids could drive themselves. A reindeer sleigh ride led to two enormous igloos. One, filled with ice sculptures, had a bar serving hot chocolate and vodka (not together!), and the second had an elf show where the kids were enrolled in the Elf Squad. We also tried tobogganing, ice hockey, kick-sledding, twin-skiing and ice-fishing.
The main event was the sleigh ride to see Father Christmas. He waited inside a tiny log cabin, holding the children’s letters they had written and ‘posted’ before we left. (I had handed them to an elf just before getting in the sleigh, and they were fast-tracked to Santa so he had them when we arrived – a genius little touch).
Waiting times were short, with perhaps one or two families ahead of us. Anywhere where parental instruction was required (like the husky sledding where one adult had to drive the sled), Santa’s Lapland Rangers were on hand to sing lively action songs with the kids to keep them warm as they waited. Amazingly, neither of my kids moaned about the cold the entire trip.
If guests do get cold, they can warm up at any time, either in the tents with log fires serving warm berry juice and ginger biscuits that are dotted around, or in the building that houses the toilets and a restaurant. We only went in once for a substantial lunch of spaghetti bolognese and pancakes.
Gala dinner
The day culminated in a Gala Dinner that evening – a buffet-style meal, with local delicacies and also a kids table of burgers, hot dogs and chips, plus crackers, festive music, dancing, colouring competitions, pass the parcel and the presentation of certificates to all kids to confirm they’d seen Santa inside the Arctic Circle. Some people headed out afterwards to toboggan down the 0.7-mile run – the longest in Europe – but my little ones were exhausted!
On the final morning we could have taken another excursion – a reindeer sleigh ride or husky dog-sled – but it wasn’t long before you had to pack and return all your snow gear and be ready for the coach, and so we spent an hour in the fantastic on-site pool and the children loved it.
In fact, there was nothing they didn’t love, and it was just wonderful to hear them telling everyone we saw once we got back home that they had been to Lapland to see the ‘real’ Father Christmas.
Now my only problem will be trying to recreate the magic this year. Somehow I think a man with a cotton-wool beard and black Dunlop wellies in our local shopping centre just isn’t going to cut it!
Sample product
A two-night trip with Santa’s Lapland starts from £2,259 for a family of four, with half-board accommodation at the Holiday Club, including the gala dinner, and return flights from Gatwick.
