Too soon? The first Christmas 2022 post?

Bigbertha1 we are also close to Dunham Massey and that is our go to NT place. I fact we are taking our DGS there tomorrow before going to the ice cream place just outside.
The lights are spectacular and worth the money. Though, as with all these things, the weather can make a huge difference. We were so lucky when we went on a Sunday in December. There had been torrential rain for the two nights before and the night after, but the weather couldn't have been better our night.
I will be booking our tickets this week, because if we don't we won't get the dates and times we want. But I do resent having to book so early!

I've just put a Christmas card on the mantelpiece!

Well, it was for Christmas 2021 but only arrived a couple of days ago from Australia and it's too pretty to put away
?

Well why not? If the event is popular the tickets will be on sale early.

If you want to go to the famous New Year's Day concert in Vienna, I am not sure how early you have to book theses days, in the 1980s when I looked into it, they were taking bookings seven years (yes, that is right) in advance.

What about the Edinburgh Tattoo, you don't surely ring up on the afternoon of the day you want to go, do you?

Oh and the email to book for next Christmas came today!

We went to the Illuminated Trail at Belton House National Trust property last year and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.
Six adults, one child, one baby. It was £20 each and took us an hour and a half to slowly wander through the different areas in the grounds. Stunning lights and a wide range of music.
My mother-in-law (94) went in her wheelchair and cried all the way round, she enjoyed it so much!
One thing I did this time was to take some flasks of mulled wine and coffee for the adults afterwards while my granddaughter enjoyed the four traditional fairground rides.
Mulled wine was on sale: £6.50 a glass. That was a "no thank" you from me!

not send out a lot, spend out a lot

I think that organisations who sell tickets so early are reliant on those early sales to fund the actual event. they will have had to send out a lot during covid on maintenance that would usuall have been covered by day to day income....and they had a long stretch without any. The contractors get booked up and once booked will expect payment regardless which means that the organisations who host the displays will need to know before committing that they can at least cover their costs. sad but true.

There are lots of events which happen at C time and I’m sure I would enjoy many of them. I think they can be ridiculously expensive. I’ll start to think about it in September or October. If they’re sold out it’s too bad. I’d rather concentrate on having a holiday!

We have often done Kew, but the last couple of years have visited NT properties nearer to where we live.
There is no doubt that Kew is way more spectacular, but the smaller ones are far less crowded and for us, a much shorter journey.
If we all enjoy it I don’t begrudge the entry fee, but what does make me cross, is the cost of the concessions. Over priced, inferior food, queuing for up to half an hour, I think that really needs rethinking.

I live near Dunham Massey and 'go o the Xmas show but thought I might like to next year - is it worth the high ticket price?

Given we've only just had Christmas, I think it's quite depressing to be contemplating the next one, it's like wishing our lives away. Fixed important days always to remind us another year over, increasingly they are coming round too quickly.

I take the point about booking up in advance though, we went to the winter light display that Kew Gardens have annually, the first year had no trouble getting tickets for that at all, didn't book that far in advance, subsequent years it became quite evident unless you do book well in advance there are no tickets left.

We don't use our NT membership nearly enough, well it's been a problem to do so during lockdown, we didn't go to any of their places last year except just after Christmas we went to a nice display at Wakefield Place, which is associated with Kew.

Annoyingly we had to ask the NT for the discount they offer on their longer term memberships, they didn't at any time offer it.

Wow, I didn’t know that about paying per person to park. It makes my membership a bit pointless if there’s added expense for taking other people to a NT place.

We would have spent oodles on cake and coffee and probably some in the shop.

They really have lost the plot?

Cash flow? January and February must be low on income for the NT, so get some of the November/December cash in now?

Yes it’s not just NT I’ve had a notification from Kew.
But I’m actually going to book things well in advance this year, as last year, everything seemed to be sold out on launch day

We noticed that there was no NT sticker for the car with this years membership book and magazine, which used to be sufficient for car parking. Looks as if that might be the reason why, ie that each car occupant has to prove membership. Rather grasping of them if that’s the case.

Cynical me thinks that by paying so far in advance people will have forgotten just how much their treat is costing and be more inclined to pay for extras on the day.

DD1 set up an alert for booking the nearest 2022 Polar Express experience. Tickets came available on 18 January and many dates are already sold out.

After getting back on the chair she’d fallen off in shock at seeing the prices (around £150 for her, her DP and 2 year old DGS6) she decided not to bother.

Lizbethann55

Me too janeainsworth. Now to get into the car park it is a membership card per person, not one per car. Which will be very expensive for us GPs who take our DGC to NT places when we are looking after them.

Which properties are charging per person for parking please?

Lizbethann55

Me too janeainsworth. Now to get into the car park it is a membership card per person, not one per car. Which will be very expensive for us GPs who take our DGC to NT places when we are looking after them.

I wonder if these extra money-grabbing devices are because people are discontinuing their membership in droves?

(I exaggerate with 'droves' but I think there has been a largish drift away from NT).

BlueBelle

November that is

Nope. Christmas season does not begin until after my birthday, which is towards the end of November, and St Andrews Day, which is on the 30th and is the date MrB and I met.

I didn’t read janea’s post as snobby at all, just an example of what she had discovered by a certain newspaper and understandably quite shocked that they are giving away free passes when current members are having to pay for membership. Something which I also find unfair.

I have bought pantomime tickets for Christmas 2022. I had a job getting the day and 9 seats we wanted too.

LincsLass I think that, as a charity mainly dependent upon members support for income, the National Trust shouldn’t be handing out free passes to anyone. That is members’ money which they have paid to the NT to carry out its core remit of preserving historic places.

Sorry if my reference to the Daily Express touched a raw nerve with you.

Yes, does tend to grieve me when I have to part with a fair amount of cash so long in advance for theatre tickets. However it is a kind of Hobson's really.

I think I’ve seen tickets for a C-word event at Kew advertised recently. Presumably they do sell out quickly, but you do wonder why they have to go on sale so early.