5 Tips for Turning Your House into Santa's Grotto

You might find the Grotto experience a little impersonal or rushed, so why not do it yourself? Give your grotto a personal touch by making your own at home. Here are 5 useful tips for turning your house into a little Santa’s Grotto.

Choosing the Right Room

Perhaps the most important aspect of your Grotto is the room you choose to create it in. Getting the room right will make the experience much easier and quicker. First of all, you should choose a room with only a few windows as they will need to be covered with sheets or blackout blinds, as the grotto should be dark, mysterious and magical.

Think about warmth. If you’re doing it outside, then make sure to bring heaters as the Grotto should feel like an escape from the cold outdoors. Dark or light obscuring fabrics hung around the room will give the feeling of a dark cave rather than a black room.

Decorating

This is the creative part. You might even consider getting your children to help, although that might spoil some of the surprise. Opportunities here are endless so there is no prescribed list of things you should or shouldn’t do - however here are a few suggestions to get your creative minds going...

Think festive with stars, elves, reindeers and Christmas baubles. Perhaps also consider using candy canes and other festive treats – although these will need to be eaten so maybe not if you’re trying to keep control over your Christmas intake!

Use a variety of boxes. Shapes and sizes need to be different or else it’ll just look like an Amazon warehouse! Wrap them up in unique styles and with different paper or fabric. This will really create a feeling of excess that is essential in a Santa’s Grotto.

Lighting

Setting the lighting up so it creates the right tone is vital at your homemade Grotto. Using fairy lights and glowing candles can help to make the atmosphere that much more magical, however here are some additional lighting tips to help them do a little extra.

Place your fairy lights behind or just in front of a sheet – this will create some nice shadows and reflections across the room, as well as break up the consistency of the fairy lights. If you have one, use a projector to gently project snowflakes or other festive images on the wall.

Santa’s Chair

Santa’s chair is pretty important so make sure to consider closely what you’ll be using. If you have a wingback chair or an armchair, decorate it with white fur (faux ideally) and drape it with red velvet!

Costumes

You can make all the effort in the world but it will come to nought if your outfits aren’t up to scratch. If you’re a bit of a craftsperson then why not try your hand at making your very own Father Christmas costume?

However, if that’s not an option, consider renting out a Santa costume from a shop rather than buying a not-so-high quality option from the internet. These are often poorly made and you’ll end up throwing them away anyway. Hiring a costume is often just as affordable, much better quality and far better for the environment.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash