I visited The Ideal Home Christmas Show for the first time this week with my mother. We came off the station at Kensington Olympia, London and was greeted by gentle snowfall (courtesy of the Ideal Home Show).
The entrance was adorned with white carpet, artificial snow capped trees, a sleigh and reindeer that you can sit on for photographs and a hot chestnut vendor outside. We queued inside for the obligatory bag search and ticket checks, then we entered the massive hall covered in Christmas theme stalls.
I love all things Christmassy and am a magpie for all things shiny and glittery - I was not disappointed. Massive ceiling reaching Christmas trees and beautiful warm white lights decorated the halls. There was a room by the entrance for the workshops, if you were lucky and quick enough to get signed up. The first floor was broken into 2 sections; Christmas decorations stalls and then gifts. The centre of the hall was the bandstand where you could listen to different bands and performers. There were cafe vendors around the side, should you need a pit stop too.
At the back of the Christmas decorations section was a pamper tent, where you could queue up and get a free treatment. This consisted of getting your nails done from a choice of designs. When we went there at 11am, there was about a 40 minute wait.
Next to the pamper station, was the Champagne Bar - this is where we chose to have our pit stop. It was beautifully decorated with fake snow and trees. Clean contemporary sleek seating to drink our Christmas cocktail (cranberry juice, gin and prosecco). It looked and felt very peaceful but this was before 12, I imagine it becomes busier throughout the afternoon/evening.
As you enter the gift section, there were interiors set up for inspiration. If I'm honest I wasn't overly inspired. What stuck out to me were; the fashionable rainbow decorated white tree (layered colour baubles creating a rainbow effect) although too bright for me, it did look fun and modern; the traditional tree set, I love the traditional colours of red, gold and green but the baubles weren't placed correctly and whilst it felt like it was suppose to be messy and an imperfect perfect family setting, I just felt it looked to messily staged and not realistic; and then the kitchen table, adorned with lots of finery and centre pieces - even over pieces, I liked this luxurious setting although it makes me wonder where they would put the food?
There was a big choice of different vendors offering different things and I did purchase a few presents. Some products were high end and there were also bargains to be had too.
The stairs led upstairs for more! One half was about pet products and the other section was for the home. The upstairs also led to another large exhibition hall, full of food and drink.
The food and drink hall was filled with smells, noise, hustle and bustle. There were lots of tasters and lots of stalls - great for foodies!. In the centre there was a live demo theatre and we watched the professional chefs cook partridge and fancy savoy cabbage. I did sit there thinking I could make that, although the reality of Christmas Day with children, is that there isn't a lot of time for faffing with food, when you are being called to play with new toys and games. However, when I'm older and the children are grown, perhaps that will be my time for faff.
We purchased our entrance tickets through Groupon 2 for 1, and I thought it was worth the price. It does get busy so if you don't like crowds of people, noise, queuing for the free attractions and waiting, then you won't like it. It's good to take cash, as one of the stands had trouble taking my card payment, due to the wifi dropping.
So in summary, I enjoyed our experience at The ideal Christmas Home Show.