The Santa Blog

 

Archive for the ‘news’ Category

Top 5 Festive Things to Do This Halloween Weekend

October 27th, 2015 | Filed under: news | Posted by Elf jennifer

U Village Pumpkins

When Santa‘s elves have a little free time in the toy shop, what do you think they do? Mrs. Claus has all of the baking needs taken care of, and the reindeer are busy in athletic and aerial “Reindeer Games” training. Santa’s elves are left with DIY and craft related projects, as well as brainstorming activities for the kiddos and families around the Pacific Northwest as we gear up for the magical holiday season.

With Halloween being a few short days away, leave it to the lead social planning elves to find out where the best Pumpkin Patches, Corn Mazes, and Trick-or-Treating can be found in the Pacific Northwest. Here’s the lineup, and thanks to Red Tricycle and Seattle Refined for helping with the research of these sought-after, spooktacular places of interest this Halloween weekend.

Pumpkin Patches – 9 Best Pumpkin Patches North & South of Seattle. If you haven’t been yet, get there soon as most will be closed after Halloween.

Corn Mazes – 10 A-maze-ing Corn Mazes

Trick-or-Treating – The Safest Trick-or-Treating Spots in and around Seattle (list includes U Village, Redmond Town Center, The Landing in Renton, Country Village).

Wild Waves Fright Fest  –  Includes BOOVILLE, a scare-free zone of Halloween fun for ghouls and goblins 12 and under.

Costume Carnival at Seattle Children’s Museum – Bring your costumed kiddos, 10 and under, for games, crafts, and tricks and treats.

Check back on the blog weekly for more festive craft projects, Mrs. Claus’ favorite recipes of the season, and of course the main attraction: the Northwest’s very own Santa Photos!

Santa’s Christmas Village at Country Village

December 4th, 2014 | Filed under: helpful hints Holiday Events Holiday traditions news planning your visit | Posted by Elf jennifer

Santa Claus is coming to town! Saturday December 6th will be a very festive day for Country Village! There will be laughter, warmth and cheer passed around as everyone awaits the much anticipated arrival of Santa Claus!

Country Village

Come sing along with a variety of carolers featured all day, visit with Santa’s reindeer, and snack on hot roasted chestnuts. At 7 o’clock Santa will parade through the Village on his miraculous Christmas float and attend the annual tree lighting ceremony.

Country Village

You can say hi to Santa at his workshop located in Country Village and get your professional photo taken with Santa, provided by Arthur & Associates.

Let the magic begin!

 

Lend A Helping Hand this Holiday in Redmond

December 3rd, 2014 | Filed under: helpful hints Holiday Events Holiday traditions news planning your visit | Posted by Elf jennifer

Saturday December 6th from 6 AM – 4 PM Redmond Town Center will lend a helping hand, along with King5 News, to make one of the biggest drop-off centers for Northwest Harvest! Come donate any nonperishable food items and help make someone’s holiday season!

Northwest Harvest

Photo Pinned by Jill Nystul

Afterwards, the City of Redmond will be holding their Redmond Lights celebration. This is a progressive light ceremony that will begin at City Hall and end at Redmond Town Center! Along with the lights enjoy music, refreshments and family activities. Don’t forget to get a picture with Santa at Redmond Town Center with professional photography provided by Arthur & Associates!

 Seattle Lights

Story Time with Mrs. Claus at Grand Ridge Plaza

December 2nd, 2014 | Filed under: helpful hints Holiday Events Holiday traditions news planning your visit | Posted by Elf jennifer

Story time

Photo pinned by Santa’s Magical Kingdom

Mrs. Claus is making an extra special visit from the North Pole! She is taking time out of her busy schedule to come and read to the little children at Grand Ridge Plaza. The reading will take place inside Carter’s on December 3rd. She will begin reading from her collection of stories at 11 in the morning!

Once upon a time at Grand Ridge Plaza, Mrs. Claus read stories to all the little children.

Be sure not to miss this event!

 

The Magic of Music in Bellevue

November 30th, 2014 | Filed under: helpful hints Holiday Events Holiday traditions news planning your visit | Posted by Elf jennifer

 

 

 

Christmas Shopping

Photo Pinned by Frances

Strolling by shop windows, clutching hot cocoa, and oh… what’s that sound? Singing voices carrying throughout Bellevue Square. What magic! Bellevue knows just how to create a holiday shopping experience!

Starting December 1st, Monday through Friday, until December 19th you can experience the magic at Bellevue Square’s Center Court. Meander about the shops, listen to the beautiful voices and come see Santa, professional photos provided by Arthur & Associates.

Christmas Choir

Photo pinned by Cheryl Markham-Sisk

Help spread the joy and sing along!

12 Days of Christmas with 21 Christmas Trees

November 27th, 2014 | Filed under: helpful hints Holiday Events Holiday traditions news planning your visit | Posted by Elf jennifer

As we celebrate Thanksgiving with our families and friends today, we also wanted to share a very remarkable holiday event going on now.

This holiday season 21 designer Christmas Trees with be on display at the Downtown Seattle Fairmont Hotel. Each tree has its own decorative theme and displays a picture and a story of a patient from Seattle Children’s Hospital that the special tree is representing.

Northwest Christmas Tree

November 22 through December 3rd you and your family can view the 21 amazing Christmas Trees and learn about the brave patients they are helping to save! Other holiday events within the Fairmont Hotel include the Teddy Bear Suite. All donations taken at the Teddy Bear Suite and the Festival of Trees benefit Seattle Children’s Hospital.

There are many ways to donate during this event, visit Seattle Festival of Trees and the Teddy Bear Suite to find out.

An Extra Cool Holiday Treat!

November 26th, 2014 | Filed under: helpful hints Holiday Events Holiday traditions news planning your visit seasonal recipes | Posted by Elf jennifer

Holiday Gelato

With boutique ice cream stores becoming a popular trend in the Northwest area, I thought it would be awesome to feature some of the cool holiday flavors of ice cream!

At Molly Moon’s they are cooking up some festive cheer with flavors like Cinnamon and Ginger Pear Sorbet!

Downtown at Gelatiamo’s they are cooking up some fancy pastries and holiday gelato flavors like Peppermint, Ginger Snap, and Pumpkin!

Bluebird Ice Cream has holiday flavors such as Pumpkin, Candied Yam with Marshmallow Swirl, and Blueberry Crumble!

Godiva Chocolatier at Bellevue Square is serving up some extra special cones with flavors like White Chocolate, Dark Chocolate , or Swirl. Yum yum!

Cold Stone is offering Candy Cane, Eggnog, Dark Chocolate Peppermint, and Pumpkin for you to mix and match as you please!

Stop by to try these awesome flavors and let Santa know which is your favorite by using the hashtag #pnwclaus for Instagram and Twitter!

Bluebird Ice Cream

Sing with Ol’ Kris Kringle at Grand Ridge Plaza

November 25th, 2014 | Filed under: helpful hints Holiday Events Holiday traditions news planning your visit | Posted by Elf jennifer

Santa at Grand Ridge Plaza

Santa will be arriving at Grand Ridge Plaza Friday, November 28th, at 4:30 pm! Come and listen to the children from the Grand Ridge Elementary School Chorus sing and help welcome Santa with open arms.

Be sure to capture the moment in a photo with Santa Claus from professional photography provided by Arthur & Associates!

Cartoon Santa

Photo Pinned by zazzle.com

 

Happy holidays!

Santa Arrives with his Reindeer at University Village!

November 24th, 2014 | Filed under: helpful hints Holiday Events Holiday traditions news planning your visit | Posted by Elf jennifer

Santa Cabin at U Village

Santa’s Reindeer will accompany him on Santa’s first day at University Village! On Friday November 28th come and see the magical creatures and get your photo with Santa Claus, photography provided by Arthur & Associates.

Seasons Greetings!

Breakfast

Festive Elf Inspired Decorations and Holiday Snacks!

November 20th, 2014 | Filed under: helpful hints Holiday Events Holiday traditions news seasonal recipes | Posted by Elf jennifer

What better way to express gratitude for your friends than to throw them their very own holiday? Us elves throw each other parties all season long! It brings us great joy to be together. I want to share a few of my favorite decorations I’ve seen at gatherings that are great ways to tie in themes.

The first is a seasonal way to greet your guests by embellishing your front door as a gift! Simply make a large bow with burlap ribbon and fasten the ends like a present on either side of the door. Use a few points of blue tacky on each side; the tacky will preserve the door finish.

Door Gift

A fun finger-food to include in your gathering is garlic pretzels! This is a great recipe that is made ahead of time and takes only minutes to prepare!

Ingredients:

1 bag of Snyder’s “Snaps” Pretzels

⅔ cup olive oil infused with garlic

3 tablespoons ranch powder

Directions:

– Pour pretzels into a large mixing bowl

– In a small bowl whisk together olive oil and ranch powder

– Pour oil mixture over pretzels and toss to coat evenly

– Toss pretzels every 15 minutes for an hour

– Place pretzels into a large freezer bag and let sit for 24 hours

– Then serve!

Garlic Pretzels

 

This is a snack that is guaranteed to leave the bowl empty!