Spinnaker Tower Toymaker’s Workshop
Disclosure: We were invited on this day out for the purpose of this post however all opinions are my own.
At the weekend we were invited to the Spinnaker Tower for their Toymaker’s Workshop. The children love the Spinnaker Tower so we were looking forward to seeing what it was like at Christmas – having only visited in the summer previously.
We arrived at the Spinnaker Tower and were met with elves in the foyer who signed us in and chatted to the children until the Toymaker’s Workshop was ready for us. We then went up in the lift to a special, secret floor where we walked outside to the Toymaker’s Workshop.
The Toymaker’s Workshop is a really pretty wooden building where we were met by two elves. They were so lovely, so friendly and the children loved them immediately. They showed the children how to make their own cuddly reindeer – filling the outer with fluff and adding a special token too.
The children were given birth certificates for their reindeer and an elf trail for us to do after we’d met Father Christmas. When the children had finished making their reindeer there was a ho, ho, ho and they found Father Christmas waiting for them behind a curtain in the corner of the room.
Father Christmas was lovely – in a really authentic suit and happy to spend time chatting to the children and having photos taken. After an initial photo we all came into the main workshop to have a photo in front of the Christmas tree too. The children loved it.
After meeting Father Christmas we went back on our adventure, into the lift and off to explore the Spinnaker Tower and follow the elf trail. You can buy tickets to the Toymaker’s Workshop both with and without access to the Spinnaker Tower but it is well worth seeing the tower, especially at such a nice time of the year when you can see the whole of Gunwharf Quays lit up below.
The children’s elf trail took us in search of elves dotted around the Spinnaker Tower. Each elf had a letter to hold and we had to write the letters on the elf trail, working out where the elves were hiding the presents this Christmas. At the end of the trail we had to write down what the children would like for Christmas and post the trails into a postbox in the Spinnaker Tower cafe. After the Toymaker’s Workshop has finished some winners will be picked from all the completed elf trails to receive a prize, a lovely addition to the festive offering at the Spinnaker Tower this year.
We were able to spend as long as we wanted at the Spinnaker Tower, exploring the main viewing area, complete with glass floor and the children’s favourite part of the tower. We then went up to the Clouds and the Sky Garden levels to get views of the surrounding areas from even higher vantage points.
The actual Toymaker’s Workshop part of our visit was over within about twenty minutes but we ended up staying at the Spinnaker Tower for well over an hour and you could spend half a day there – especially if you haven’t been before.
The Spinnaker Tower Toymaker’s Workshop runs every weekend until Christmas – and every date from 21st to 24th December. Here’s a very little video we made of our visit: