The festive spirit swept over our Purple Jay Lewisham nursery gardens in a big way on Friday afternoon as our parents and children arrived for our “Very Natural Christmas Fair”.
They were greeted warmly on arrival and handed a tab card, where they could mark their purchases as they perused the fair, for payment right at the end.
So, what did the fair have to offer?…
Things To Buy
The staff really pulled out all stops! Mary and her team lovingly hand made or finished a plethora of Christmas craft items, some on their own and some with the children. A full breakdown is below;
Wooden Xmas Boxes – One of the biggest highlights for many, and, understandably so! Our Nursery Manager, Mary, poured so much love, care and energy into hand decorating a beautifully natural Xmas box for every child, containing a selection of personalised gifts (child festive photo, handprint, T-shirt).
“Christmas Decorations” stall – A range of intricate, hand made and finished christmas decorations were on offer, with the vast majority of them made with natural materials, in keeping with our natural theme.
“Made With The Children” Stall – There was a whole stall of items the staff had made with the children including Christmas cards, candle holders, wrapping paper and gift tags! You could clearly see the childrens passion, creativity and freedom of expression in each natural piece!
“Cupcakes & Cookie Station” – Parents that were craving something sweet found themselves indulging in a cake or three at our cupcake/cookie stand. With every delicious sweet treat handmade by our staff!
“Stocking Filler” Stall – Can you ever have too many stocking fillers? This stall was chock full of hand made fillers including classics like reindeer food, Santa keys, hot chocolate jars and something a little special in the form of mini Santa sleighs!
Things To Do
Beyond shopping, there was plenty more to do at the fair, including;
Biscuit Decorating – The children and parents got stuck in, turning plain biscuits into edible artistic masterpieces!
Letter to Santa – Children got their seemingly never ending wishlists onto paper at the “Letter to Santa” station, putting their finished lists into a letter box, and crossing their fingers for the best!
Gingerbread House – The far corner of the nursery garden was transformed into a cosy little gingerbread house, complete with real snow (thanks to our recent, very handy, festive weather!). Lots of photo opportunities here including a gingerbread cutout, again, completely handmade by our staff!
Meeting Santa!
The garden shed was painstakingly transformed into a truly magical, cosy little grotto with an immense attention to detail from the staff to make it as immersive as possible. But what’s a grotto without the main man and his little helper, right?
Santa made his show stopping entrance half way through the fair to many cheers and excited laughter from parents and children alike. He assumed his position in the corner of the grotto with his trusty elf and got straight to work hearing what every child was dying to say!
Spoiler: The Santa and elf were Sara (Deputy Manger’s) partner and daughter. Thank you so much for this guys!
Things To Eat
All of that shopping and activities, understandably, caused a lot of the parents and children to work up quite the appetite! Prepared for this, the staff had laid out a really festive spread, including classics like minced pies. There were also hot drinks on offer, which were very welcome given the bitingly cold weather!
Feedback To Give
The final thing before leaving was totting up that tab card and making payment, as well as, importantly, filling out our feedback form so we knew how the parents found the event and what we could’ve done better, if anything!
We are pleased to say that the feedback was overwhelmingly positive and it seems clear that the immense hard work, passion and creativity of the entire staff team was really valued and appreciated!
