With the nights drawing in
it’s really starting to feel like autumn/winter now, which can only mean one
thing – Halloween, Bonfire Night and Christmas! I must admit I don’t tend to do
much for Halloween, but I wanted to share a couple of events coming up at
Festival Place, Basingstoke, as I thought they sounded like great fun. I was
quite excited when the press releases for these upcoming celebrations dropped
into my inbox, so hopefully they will excite you just as much.
First up is a Halloween
Spooktacular, suitable for both young and old. This is Festival Place’s two-day
long Halloween extravaganza, taking place from Friday October 30th
to Saturday October 31st. This fiendish family fun event will have a
range of eerie entertainment, 12-6pm, to get customers set for the scary
season.
Porchester Square will be
transformed into the centre’s very own Spooky Hollow, raising money for Ark Cancer Centre Charity,
with scary face painting and a Shear Beauty nail art stand for kids (big kids
are welcome too!)
Customers will then have
the chance to win a variety of great prizes from Festival Place’s retailers
simply by taking a photo in the centre’s custom-built photo booth (including
scary props!) and sharing it on social media with the hashtag #spookyfp.
Prizes will go to the
spookiest photos, so customers are encouraged to come along in their creepiest
costumes and ghoulish gear.
If that wasn’t enough,
Festival Place have also organised a massive evening of entertainment for their
Christmas Lights Switch On! They will kick off Christmas this year on 13th
November with their annual Light Switch On. Starting at 5.30pm, the shopping
centre will host a range of family entertainment and transform into your
‘festive place’!
Breeze FM’s Breakfast
presenters, Ben Moseby and Lizzie Crow will host the Christmas activities.
Santa himself will turn the Christmas lights on, along with this year’s Anvil
Panto star Mark Little (aka Neighbours’ Joe Mangle).
Adding to the Christmas
entertainment will be The Military Wives Choir, made famous by Gareth Malone’s
original BBC TV series, The Choir. Initially set up to help women in the
military community to share the enjoyment and pride that comes from singing;
the choir’s enormous success has included a number one single and the creation
of the Military Wives Choirs Foundation.
The evening will also
include performances from ‘Walk like a Man’ Jersey Boys tribute act, featuring
West End singers. If that is not enough they have a special Festival Reward
Discount Weekender from Friday 13th November across the whole
weekend! Customers who have signed up to Festival Rewards via the new Festival
Place mobile app will be able to get a whole host of discounts from the likes
of the Fragrance Shop, Laura Ashley, Hotel Chocolat, GBK, La Tasca and
Paperchase to name but a few.
And to make sure Santa
knows exactly what your little ones want this year, Festival Place will be
launching their official Christmas Experience. The best way to meet Santa, here
children will have to chance to enjoy a Christmas train trip before making a
special visit to Santa’s festive grotto.
The Christmas Experience
will open at 12pm on 12th November and from 13th November
will be open Monday-Thursday – 10.30am-6.30pm, Friday – 10.30am-7.30pm,
Saturday – 9am-6pm and Sunday – 11a-6pm. From 14th – 23rd
December the Christmas Experience will then be open for an extra hour before
closing at 3pm on 24th December as Santa leaves Festival Place to
get ready for his busy night! To book your place, just click here.
Throughout the festival
season the Festival Place team will be working hard to make sure the Christmas
shopping experience is as easy and stress-free for customers as possible – with
their special Festival Place ‘Festive Services’ pop-up Christmas shop. Whether
a customer is looking for the best gifts to buy, needs help with their shopping
bags or just wants some directions, Festival Place’s Christmas dedicated staff
will be on hand to assist.
Parking won’t be a problem
either this Christmas as Festival Place’s car park has over 2,500 car parking
spaces. Customers park for just £1 if you park after 5pm all the way through to
6am.
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| Photo from here |
For anyone that doesn’t
know about Festival Place – it is a 1.1m sq ft shopping centre situated in the
centre of Basingstoke, just off the M3, housing over 160 big brand stores
including Apple, Debenhams, M&S, Zara, Schuh, Pandora, Oasis and Gap.
The shopping facilities are
complemented by popular restaurants including; Wagamama, Coal Bar & Grill,
La Tasca and Pizza Express, and a 10-screen Vue cinema.
To keep up to date with
details of the Halloween Spooktacular, the Christmas Light Switch On and other
upcoming events at Festival Place visit their website here or find them
on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
For any local bloggers
reading this, I am also hosting a meet-up on 9th November, 6pm at
Pizza Express, Festival Place. There are still places on the guest list, so
please drop me an e-mail on jaffacat44@gmail.com
if you’re interested in coming along!
Are you planning to go to any of these
events at Festival Place? Or do you have your own plans for Halloween and
Christmas?
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