A PlayWise Members’ Merry Christmas!

Christmas is a particularly great time in our office – lots of celebrations, a Portage Christmas party for the kids and a night out for the team – and then there is the Grotto. 

December 2019 was our first year as PlayWise and the first time we had our own space to decorate. (I say decorate – it looked more North Pole than the North Pole!) 

We used our training room to set up the most magical Santa’s Grotto ever.  We created a Grotto experience that was calm and relaxed, no pressure to see Santa the minute you arrived and for the children that were completely terrified of Santa (and there were a few) Santa came out of the Grotto and sat on the sofa next to daddy or mummy which made him less scary. 60 families attended the event, and the feedback was wonderful.

Some parents commented on how this was the best Santa experience ever and they “loved the fact it was a half hour experience with no queues…” and that they “even saw Santa 3 times!”

Christmas 2019 was such a success, we were determined to make Christmas 2020 even bigger and better.  Well… along comes Covid!  

At PlayWise, keeping everyone safe (particularly our vulnerable little ones) is an absolute priority.  Therefore we cannot do the same grotto set up as before.  No.

So we will do it bigger and better!

PlayWise’s Grotto on The Go!

Now we are REALLY excited about this – and we feel this is a great way to help us end this year in style. Santa doesn’t have a sleigh this year – he has a transit van and is coming to you!!

On 21st and 22nd of December we will drive to our PlayWise members with a van converted into a grotto with Christmas tunes blasting out, stocked full with Christmas goodies so that nobody misses out. There is no better way in our eyes than to see Santa walking down your front path, coming to your front door with a gift for your children.

We have been busy calling all our members to take permission to visit them on the designated days. So even if you are one of our awesome families that is self-isolating, clinically extremely vulnerable as a result of your disability or complex health needs or haven’t been able to leave the house much lately to keep yourself safe – we will still come to you, socially distanced of course.  If you can’t come to the door – Santa will knock on the window and give you a wave!

Let’s end 2020 in style and help us to bring this dream to a reality for over 100 SEND children and their families. If you would like to donate to our campaign, please follow the link to our fundraising page.

https://www.peoplesfundraising.com/fundraising/PlayWise-grotto-on-the-go