Life as a SEN mum

I covered this briefly last Christmas, but I’ve had lots of questions so I’ve decided to do a more detailed breakdown of each Christmas Market we’ve been to, and will be going to this season.

Starting off with the big one that is Birmingham. It is intended as a more traditional German Market than others that pop up in cities across the country every year. It’s important to bare this in mind as others are more geared towards children with rides etc.

If you’re visiting with children I’d go early in the season. The market opens at the beginning of November, giving a few weeks before most people will visit, and when it gets busy, it gets really busy.

When people ask if I recommend visiting I’m often torn. Having visited a couple of times with kids, they love it. The atmosphere with a hot chocolate and a giant hotdog (there’s one stall that does 1/2 metre long hotdogs so they really are huge) and they’re happy. They also love visiting Birmingham, and if you time it right there is often a free Christmas grail around the city centre. Are there other markets that they enjoy more though? Yes, there’s plenty that they get far more out of. I also feel as if other markets are much better when it comes to independent sellers. Given the size of Birmingham market it does literally seem to be all bars and food vendors, with just a couple of sellers.

That being said, if you are going shopping during the Christmas season, make sure you visit the market because it does bring that festive feeling, and can be a lovely start to the festive feeling.