Experience the magic of a Ballantynes Christmas.

Add a little joy to the festive season with a visit to see Santa and Helpers in his grotto. He’s been busy all year preparing to bring some Christmas cheer to your visit.

The Ballantynes Christmas Grotto will be running from Saturday 20 November until Friday 24 December.

Due to the ongoing need to maintain a safe social distance from each other, and with the wellbeing of our guests, and Santa and his helpers in mind, our Santa grotto experience will be a little different this year.

Our Grotto visits will be operated solely through our reservation system. We will not be able to accommodate walk-in visits.

Please note that bookings are limited so we encourage early reservations to avoid missing out. The maximum number of people per session is 8.

A $20 registration fee applies to each session (includes a booking fee of $1.49)*.

*The fee is per family (maximum of eight guests) and includes a photo sleeve framed 5 x 7 portrait photo and digital downloads.

Bookings are non-refundable but time slots may be changed with a minimum of 24 hours notice. Change in times are strictly dependent on availability.

We will have social distancing measures and other precautions in place including;

Guests to the grotto 12 years + will be required to bring and wear face masks or other appropriate face coverings
Santa, Santa’s helpers and our photographer will be wearing masks or other face coverings and will be fully vaccinated
Children will not be able to touch or sit on Santa’s knee and will be seated to the side or in front of Santa’s chair
Social distancing measures will include the check-in process prior to your Grotto visit – please plan on arriving at your scheduled time

We are continuing to monitor all advice from the Ministry of Health regarding Covid-19 developments. Should Christchurch move to an alert level where the Grotto Experience cannot continue this year, bookings will be cancelled and refunded.