Top ways to celebrate Christmas in Stoke-on-Trent

It's the most wonderful time of the year! So grab your mistletoe, dust off your baubles, hang up the stockings and start celebrating the festive season in Stoke-on-Trent!  Here's your ultimate guide to celebrating Christmas in Stoke-on-Trent in 2019!

Christmas Lights Switch On

Everyone loves a Christmas lights switch on to kick off the festive season!

The Trentham Estate’s seasonal festivities will start on 27 November with their Christmas Launch night at the Trentham Shopping Village. Featuring a Christmas parade that is celebrating 50 years of the first moon landing with an 'out of this world' theme, the event will conclude with the main man himself Santa on hand to switch on the Christmas lights!

Countdown to Christmas at Emma Bridgewater's Christmas Lights Switch On taking place on 30 November with courtyard carols, lanterns, mulled wine and mince pies!

Towns around Stoke-on-Trent will be celebrating the launch of Christmas with lights switch on events including Stoke Town Christmas Lights switch-on on Sunday 17 November; Burslem on Friday 29 November; Longton Christmas lights switch on 29 November; and Tunstall on Saturday 30 November.

Christmas Shows and Pantos

Stoke-on-Trent has the best panto’s and Christmas shows in the land! Oh yes we do!

On 1 December, Middleport Pottery are hosting Claybody Theatre for a festive fare and a joyful sung version of Dickens' classic tale A Christmas Carol with music by Ashley Thompson and words by Deborah McAndrew.

Join Jonathon Wilkes as he returns to the Regent Theatre with his comical sidekick Christian Patterson in the magical pantomime adventure of Sleeping Beauty. Taking place between 13 December and 5 January, this year's Christmas spectacular delivers all the traditional family-friendly panto fun the Regent Theatre is renowned for.

Classic stories, spectacular adventures and lots of fun are the hallmarks of a New Vic Christmas show, and this year will be no exception with The Prince and the Pauper. Bringing together the same creative team who brought to life the adaptations of The Borrowers, Treasure Island and the UK Theatre Award-winning The Snow Queen, the New Vic are bringing another classic adventure story to life in their stunning trademark style in 2019!

Everybody’s favourite Eric has joined an amateur dramatic society! But his part in the panto doesn't quite go to plan in Eric's Christmas Panto! Whatever happens, the show must go on and there's no doubt this show will be filled with lots of 60s music and loads of comedy to make this a fantastic festive night out at the New Vic Theatre!

Join Aladdin on his exciting adventure at the Mitchell Arts Centre for a fun-filled family pantomime between 16 – 31 December!

Festive Carols and Concerts

What better way to get into the Christmas mood than to enjoy some Christmas carols?

Gladstone Pottery Museum will be holding their ever-popular Twilight Christmas Carol Evening on the Victorian factory cobbles on Friday 13 December.

The fabulous Victoria Hall will be hosting a number of festive concerts to get you in the festive mood including: City Songbirds Christmas Concerts; Rick Wakeman - The Grumpy Old Christmas Show; Adam Kay - Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas; and Barry Steele & Friends - 'The Roy Orbison Story' - The Christmas Special.

Listen out for the Salvation Army Choir when visiting the City Centre - they'll be entertaining shoppers with carols on Saturdays and during late night shopping on Thursdays throughout December.

Christmas Markets & Fairs

Christmas Markets are a great way to find unique presents and stock up on fine festive food and drink.  

Head to Middleport Pottery on 30 Nov & 1 Dec December for the Craft & Heritage Christmas Market and pick up some unique gifts and decorations.

Pay a visit to the World of Wedgwood on 7 & 8 December and you’ll be able to enjoy a Christmas Market with fine food and artisan crafts featuring over 50 stalls of festive gifts and treats from local producers and artisans, alongside street food and live music.

Rode Hall’s Christmas Market will be full of festive cheer, packed with wonderful presents, and will have mouth-watering treats for the festive season. The Rode Hall Silver Band will be playing live and Father Christmas will be in his grotto!

Moorcroft Pottery’s Christmas Fayre takes place from 2 to 7 December with a selection of Moorcroft gifts on sale, prizes to be won, gifts to receive and refreshments.

Treat your family, friends or yourself to a special gift with none of the guilt at the Hippie Christmas Market at the Best Western Stoke-on-Trent City Centre Hotel on 14 December with everything being ethically sourced! 

Festive Afternoon Tea

We don’t think that there is any better way to celebrate the heritage of The Potteries than enjoying Afternoon Tea in the home of ceramic manufacturing. As local Potteries author, who famously summed-up the enormous debt which Britain owes to Stoke-on-Trent: "You cannot drink tea out of a tea-cup without the aid of the Five Towns, you cannot eat a meal in decency without the aid of the Five Towns”. World of Wedgwood and Emma Bridgewater are taking this English tradition one step further this Christmas by adding a festive twist - Festive Afternoon Tea in the Wedgwood Tea Room is available until 5 January and Christmas Afternoon Teas at Emma Bridgewater are available until 31 Dec.     

Festive Family Fun

Start the Christmas season in style on the 7 Dec and head to Gladstone Pottery Museum for a Victorian Christmas Fun Day featuring a day of festive fun for the whole family. Enjoy seasonal stories from characters from Dickens’ Christmas Carol, join the naughty elves in a snowball fight and take part in Christmas craft activities. There may even be a very special visitor in a red suit!

Dimensions Leisure Centre are hosting a Snowpool Party on 7 December - go swimming in their winter wonderland with snow! Brrr!

Visit Emma Bridgewater on 8 December and see a Living Nativity! See, hear, feel and smell the Christmas story with live animals! Go along in your nativity play costume for a great seasonal picture and receive a tasty treat.

Head to the City Centre this Christmas and enjoy Winter Wonderland Stoke-on-Trent. Returning to the city for a fourth year, Winter Wonderland Stoke-on-Trent is FREE to enter and features a real Ice Rink, Santa's Grotto, a Bavarian style bar, swing grill, and a variety of festive eats and treats in traditional wooden chalets and theme park style rides.

Experience Ford Green Hall decorated for a Stuart Christmas on 15 December and find out what people would eat in the 17th century at Yuletide.

Design your own, unique Christmas bauble at World of Wedgwood’s Decorating Studio - the perfect gift or keepsake. Your hand drawn design will be digitally processed and applied to the bauble then fired in a kiln for a permanent finish. Available every day until 11 December.

Enjoy a Santa Special at Apedale Valley Light Railway where Santa will join you on board during the 15-minute round trip then children can meet Santa in his grotto.

Get Christmas off to a magical start at Churnet Valley Railway by riding the Santa Express. Sit back and enjoy the ride as it steams through the Staffordshire Moorlands. As Santa strolls through the train bearing wonderful gifts for the children, parents and grandparents can relax and enjoy a mince pie and a glass of sherry in festive filled coaches which will delight all.

In the City Centre, Hanley Markets's Late Night Extravaganza will see a mythical animatronic Snow Lion with bright white fur and crystal blue eyes roaming the aisles in a captivating and interactive walkabout on 28 November. On the 5 December Santa heads to Stoke-on-Trent City Centre for a magical evening of entertainment at Santa's Street Party. 14 December sees your favourite Frozen themed characters delivering some holiday magic at the Christmas Showcase. On Saturday 21 December there will be a Seasonal Steampunk Shindig where Victorian Science Fiction is brought to life – Christmas style – as Steampunkers take over the Upper Market Square with unique displays and performances. 

Christmas Shopping

Wrap up your Christmas Shopping at intu Potteries where you can spend the day hunting for gifts in 94 stores, enjoy some lunch or dinner in one of the seven delicious. You can even catch a Christmas blockbuster at the onsite Cineworld!

Sparkling with gorgeous Christmas lights, Christmas shopping at the Trentham Estate’s Shopping Village is a lovely experience where you can pick up the perfect present for a friend, loved one, or even yourself! Late night shopping is available every Wednesday from 4 to 18 December.

Affinity Staffordshire is the place to go to find bargain gifts with over 40 famous name stores offering up to 60% off every day. From Saturday the 23rd of November, shopper can follow the Gingerbread Trail and be in with the chance to win an iPad Mini!

Book on a Shoppers' Tour & Breakfast at Emma Bridgewater and get to see behind the scenes at Emma Bridgewater on their award-winning factory tour. Book a 10am tour and enjoy a delicious breakfast with unlimited hot drinks in the cosy café, warmed by a polka dot Aga, plus a 15% shopping discount - all for just £10! You can also decorate your own unique presents in the decorating studio until 8 December!

For more ideas and a full listing of events taking place take a look at our Christmas What's On page.