New Christmas adventure in Liverpool will encourage children to spread kindness

A new Christmas experience coming to Liverpool this year will encourage children – and adults – to spread kindness.

Christmas-shire, which will arrive at Kings Dock next month, is a unique interactive adventure that will take visitors on a theatrical journey through a very special festive area.

And as well as having a great time the aim, says Julia Benfield, founder of Sneaky Experience who helped create it, is to inspire kindness and generosity of spirit.

Julia explains:

“Father Christmas has arrived in the shire with his elves leading up to Christmas, but there’s been a mishap.

“Nutmeg, one of the elves, has left the door of one of the yurts open and the reindeer have wandered in and knocked over the stocks of Christmas magic.

“This yurt – which is where our audience first encounter what’s happened – is where the elves wrap and order and log the presents, and it’s a little bit chaotic because the magic has escaped.”

As visitors travel through a collection of enchanted yurts, they will be invited to replenish the magic: “And the only way they can do that is to bring kindness and generosity back, and the spirit of Christmas.  

“There’ll be a supercomputer where families can perform and record Christmas songs – because we all know they bring Christmas magic – and a huge barometer will go up and up as the magic is restored.

“And there’s another station where people can record their pledges and promises of how they are going to spread kindness and generosity this Christmas.”

Of course, there’ll be many more surprises and still some magic flying around within Christmas-shire with plenty of stories and performances to enjoy as they make their way through: “This is not a sit still and be quiet experience,” smiles Julia.

“And finally, they will arrive in a winter wonderland where Santa’s sleigh is – but will they have managed to create enough magic fuel to make it fly again? It’s here they will meet Father Christmas and receive an ethically sourced gift as a reward IF they have managed to rescue Christmas.”

Christmas experiences are a big part of what Julie and her ‘incredible’ team does.

She started Sneaky Experience 12 years ago and has continued to create exciting public and corporate experiences since.

“I get so much joy from seeing people’s faces. That’s what drives me; I love seeing the wonder on the faces of children and adults asking ‘what is this’? That’s why I do it.

“We want people to enter and feel that they really are in Santa’s village, and we want to encourage parents to get as involved as children. It’s so important to us, it’s incredibly interactive and immersive.

“Time is precious, and we haven’t got enough of it these days. So to have this experience, where parents can spend time with their children and do something together really means the world to me. Seeing the joy on people’s faces makes me to want to do it more.”

Julia, 54, has already been to Merseyside, creating one of her charming adventures at Croxteth Hall last year.

And that’s why, she says, Liverpool seemed to be the right place to bring her new experience to.

She said:

“I just get incredibly excited with what’s going on in Liverpool. It’s such a forward-thinking city, with what the arena is bringing with its sustainable concerts next month, and it goes without saying what it did with Year of Culture and Eurovision.

“I want to be part of it.

“This is part of a bigger picture. We have got a lot of plans to bring other experiences to the city – suffice only to say Halloween, next year, on a big scale!”

Although they have previously delivered amazing story experiences before, often in heritage homes across the UK, it’s the first time Sneaky Experience has created and built its own village for Christmas-shire, and Julia says it’s really gone to town with the sets and the surprises and ‘our best experience yet’.

“What we are bringing to Liverpool this festive season and, we hope, for future years, is the chance to forget the commercialism of Christmas and get back to the true Christmas spirit, with the magic and the kindness and the generosity that goes with it.”

Christmas-Shire at Kings Dock will run from Saturday, November 16 to Sunday, December 22, with relaxed sessions and 30-minute weekday toddler sessions also available.

You can book tickets for Christmas-shire on Kings Dock here.

Find out more about whats on across Liverpool here.