We were invited to the preview event of the Christmas Circus called Help Rudolph Shine at Squire's Garden Centre in Shepperton the other day.  The circus is now on and you can buy tickets here (some dates are 25% off at the moment.)

The circus begins with the Ringmaster explaining that poor Rudolph's nose is not glowing because there isn't enough Christmas cheer, so we have to Help Rudolph Shine!


The first act was balancing on a stack of wobbling cylinders and stacked up boards.


Next we had Ivy's favourite act, which was the silks.  The acrobat performing was fantastic and kept Ivy mesmerised during her whole performance.


Next we had another sort of acrobatic act doing some handstand type balances on some lamps.


Onto another balancing act, this time balancing knives and candles on herself and then climbing up a ladder.


Onto some juggling and using a diablo for another juggling type act.


In between all of these acts there were times that we checked in with Rudolph to see how his nose was doing as well as seeing the clowns who came out to entertain whilst the stage was changed.


The final act involved a motorbike riding round and round whilst the very talented acrobat hung off of a tower on silks as well as by her teeth!


The show ended with Rudolph's nose glowing again and then Santa made an appearance!


We were then able to meet Santa at the back of the tent, and he gave each child a gift.


Ethan and Ivy were both given the same gift, a table tennis set that they both really like.


Overall I would say that the children enjoyed parts of the Christmas Circus, but not as much as they have in previous years.  It seemed that a lot of the acts were juggling and balancing, and there weren't as many thrilling acts as there were in previous years.  

They have also changed the system of meeting Father Christmas and you no longer go to a separate building to queue and have your own turn to meet and take photos.  You now just pass Santa on the way out, and when we went there wasn't a proper queue system which made it all feel a bit rushed.

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* This is a review post, we were gifted tickets to the preview event of the Christmas Circus at Squire's, all opinions are our own.*