Dear Mummy, every year for as long as I can remember, my folks have visited Festival Place to do their Christmas Shopping. It’s our home town shopping centre in Basingstoke, Hampshire and we love the events they host. Recently we enjoyed watching their annual Christmas Light Switch On and they really made it an entertaining event for the whole family.

The host was Breeze FM’s Breakfast presenter, Ben Moseby, and we found him entertaining and funny. I was even invited up to participate in the Frozen fancy dress competition! Which my daddy found a bit scary going up on the big stage in front of hundreds of people.

Just before I went up on stage we joined in the  sing-along with songs from the Disney blockbuster, Frozen, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, The Snow Queen. The lyrics were so well know that even the adults and teenagers were joining in with Elsa and Anna.

My mummy loved watching The Wonderful West End cast perform live hits from Grease which included Greased Lightnin’ and Summer Nights. It got the crowd bopping away and joining in with the actions. Which was good to warm us up outside.

I was amazed that Father Christmas joined us from the North Pole with his elves to turn the Christmas lights on, along with this year’s Anvil Panto star, Sue Holderness. My mummy says she’s famous for her role in British sitcom, Only Fools and Horses as Marlene Boyce. I’m super excited to see her play Maleficent in the production of Sleeping Beauty at The Anvil later in Dec in Basingstoke.

And as if that wasn’t enough to get everyone into the Christmas spirit, the evening finished off with a fantastic FREE firework display, one of the best we’ve seen in Basingstoke.

It’s fairly obvious why my folks visit Festival Place to do their Christmas shopping as it has over 160 big brands including Next, Marks and Spencer, Debenhams, Zara, Topshop and H&M under one roof, plus seasonal shops.  And my parents usually make a day of it by having lunch in one of the many restaurants and cafés including; Las Iguanas, Wagamama, Nando’s, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Giraffe, Coal and Pizza Express. I don’t know where Santa shops….and I believe he makes a lot of his toys at the North Pole but we’d recommend Festival Place to him if he’s short on time this year!

To keep up to date with details of all of Festival Place’s Christmas activities like The Santa Parade, Santa’s Grotto and other events at the centre visit www.festivalplace.co.uk

Love Bella x

P.s Have you see our list of fun things to do this festive season in Hampshire?