The UK's First Inclusive Christmas Grotto - by Guide Dog

Guide Dogs to make the festive season accessible by launching the UK’s first ever inclusive Christmas Grotto

· The Guide Dogs Festive Grotto has been created in collaboration with children and adults with sight loss and will be hosted by Santa and his elves who have all been specially trained in accessibility

· The grotto is completely free and will be open at Arlington Road Studio, Camden, London, on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th December

· The 75-minute-long sensory experience includes cookie decorating, tactile storytime with Santa and a visit to his Head Elf’s toy workshop

· Guide Dogs is encouraging the public to become a ‘Guiding Star’ this festive period and learn how to help those with a vision impairment if they need it

Sight-loss charity Guide Dogs has announced the launch of the UK’s first ever inclusive Christmas grotto for children with a vision impairment. Opening its doors over the weekend of 3rd and 4th December, the Guide Dogs Christmas Grotto has been designed in collaboration with families and children with sight loss. The inclusive event aims to create a truly magical and immersive festive experience for all families to enjoy.

During the free, 75-minute-long experience, families will be welcomed by the Guide Dogs team before one of Santa’s helpers takes them through the Christmas Grotto. They will have the opportunity to step into Head Elf’s toy workshop where children will get to touch and smell the different gifts and discover what they will become. They will also be able to get creative with a cookie decorating station, enjoy a sensory storytime with the great man himself and a warm-up with a festive drink at the hot chocolate station.

While the Guide Dogs Christmas Grotto is designed to be inclusive for those with VI, all families are welcome with each ticket allowing up to five people.

Alex Pepper, Head of Accessibility at Guide Dogs said: “The festive period can be a difficult time for those with a vision impairment, with many people feeling left out of activities. When I was growing up with partial sight, I got very nervous when going to grottos as it was often dark and, a lot of the time, I couldn’t use the toy I was given because of my sight.

“We hope that our Guide Dogs Christmas Grotto and Santa training will help shine a light on how important it is to make things as inclusive as possible, and hopefully inspire the world to make their events accessible during the festive season and throughout the year.”

To further drive inclusivity this Christmas, Guide Dogs has also partnered with the UK’s biggest ‘Santa School’, the Ministry of Fun, to equip Santas and Elves who will be in grottos across the country with the tools to help make more grottos inclusive this year for those with sight loss.

While the Christmas Grotto will be open for one weekend only in London, Guide Dogs hopes that the success of this trial – alongside the Santa School training – will enable them to expand on this offering in the future and inspire other organisations to make their Christmas (and year-round) activities more inclusive and accessible.

Guide Dogs is also encouraging members of the public to sign up to its Guiding Stars campaign this Christmas, which gives an introduction to sighted guiding skills so people can have the confidence to guide a person with sight loss if they need it. More information can be found here: https://www.guidedogs.org.uk/guiding-stars-at-christmas/

Please note, slots at the Guide Dogs Christmas Grotto are limited to ensure a comfortable experience for all. Bookings can be made via EventBrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/guide-dogs-inclusive-christmas-grotto-tickets-468485682287.

Open doors for all guide dog and assistance dog owners.