Soooo disappointed. Wished we had stayed at home. Our local garden centre was so much better.
It was too long getting through to see Santa. The decorations were poor. Santa was ok himself but gave 1 book (cheap bulk buying from Selfridges themselves). the picture was also disappointing. Large angle on the grotto rather than the kids. Will NOT go back again

We were VERY disappointed by Selfridges Santa Grotto....It was chaotic, the children were bored (as were the parents) our time slot was late. The staff looked just as disinterested as the children were!

I had heard good reviews from previous years (the train?). What happened this year? And where was this train?

Our local Grotto is MUCH better than this and we will NOT be returning to Selfridges again....we also travelled a LONG WAY to go visit this Grotto - what a disappointment!

Wish I had not bothered! dreadful value for money, sat with a dozen or so other kids to see Santa, it was overcrowded and most impersonal. Went before and loved it, with the train and getting to see Santa in his grotto as a family, but this time was chaos and very disappointing. travelling in from the home counties with a one year old and a 4 year old is a big deal, so we are really angry that it was so dreadful this year. Went to the free Grotto at Bluewater last year which was miles better than this. can't tell you how miffed we are, totally spoiled our day. Will never shop at Selfridges again.

took my 3 year old daughter and straightway there was a problem - they sent us in with an American couple on holiday who had heard about the grotto - they were both in their 30s. After Santa realised he couldn't relate to a 3 year old he started asking them "which part of the USA are you from?"...."I was in the US last year.." etc etc. Meanwhile the 'characters' went into action to script, without any empathy wrt my daughter's age and she was baffled by it

A pathetic attempt to get people into the store - I took my mum - £20 wasted

I have regularly attended the selfridges christmas grotto and went last week with my 3 children, who are 2, 5 and 7. In my opinion it is the best grotto I have found, much better than harrods which we attended one year. My children loved the set, they had got a bit bored of the train to be honest, especially my eldest. The staff and elves were really friendly and santa knew some information about the children, which made the experience more magical than previous years- my 2 year old was very impressed that Santa knew we have a cat called Mr Paws!
The only bad point I can say is that it was busy but this was to be expected at Selfridges and the staff were proactive in dealing with everyone. Overall I highly rate the experience and intend to book again next year.

Went there last year, and loved the little train, and loved that you got to be alone with Santa in his little cabin. Also loved the gift, which was double the value of this year's gift....WHAT HAPPENED??? I went there this year thinking I could take my own photo with Santa like the last time, but NO - if you want a photo, you have to pay £12!!!! I could not believe it. I was pretty angry. I wound up spending £30 for the whole experience, more than double of last year's which in my opinion was a lot nicer. Having said this, my 2 and 4 year boys loved it this time around just as much, they were far from bored and I guess we got lucky as the staff that showed us around was actually very good at interacting with the children and all in our group had a great time with them. We all kept waiting for some snowballs, which never came...shame. Will not go back next year.

Total waste of money. We entered the wonderland which looked pretty basic with a few penguins dotted about and some cheap christmas trees. We were firstly met by what seemed to look like a grim reaper who kept us in the entrance for about 10 minutes, had nothing much to say and the kids got bored. We then went to see the wish fairy, and entered an area where the kids could jump on moving lights on the floor - possibly the most exciting part of the grotto for the kids but again very basic and boring and they kept us in here for ages - again the kids got bored quickly. Up next was a jack in the box - who was seemingly struggling to interact with the kids, and ended up chatting to the adults and continuosly asking his assistant when the jingle bells were going to ring. We were then ushered off to see santa. Upon booking on line we were asked questions like what is our pets name, what the kids wanted for christmas etc, so I was expecting santa to be briefed - goodness knows what they needed this info for as they never used it. Santa looked pretty good, nice beard and outfit, but again no interaction with the kids. We were with a group of about 10 kids, had a quick photo with santa, got given a cheap bog standard book and were quickly ushered out to buy a photo at a whopping £12 . I dont know where the cheeky snowball throwing elves were - maybe they are still in the North Pole because they certainly were not in the grotto.Overall Impression - CHEAP and total waste of time. There christmas decoration area looked much better than the grotto, spend a half hour here instead. We left and went to the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park - it was free to get in, token for rides at 2 pounds per ride and a fantastic festive atmosphere. Wont be going to Selfridges Grotto again. Bearing in mind it was DAY 1 of opening, I hope they pull their socks up and make an effort for the rest of the season.