Celebrating Christmas at St Fagans, National Museum Cardiff, Big Pit, and the rest of the National Museums in Wales

Paid collaboration with Amgueddfa Cymru/National Museum Wales

We’re regular visitors to Wales’ national museums all year round – but there’s something extra special about visiting them at Christmas when they’re decorated for the festive season and host some fantastic special events, celebrating both traditional Welsh customs and more modern celebrations.

We are lucky to have seven national museums here in Wales – National Museum Cardiff, St Fagans National Museum of History in Cardiff, National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, Big Pit National Coal Museum in Blaenavon, National Roman Legion Museum in Caerleon, National Wool Museum in Felindre (near Llandysul) and the National Slate Museum in Llanberis – and they are all free to visit. All of them (bar the National Slate Museum which is closed for an exciting renovation project) have Christmas events over the next few weeks, and many are free or low cost.

Highlights here in Cardiff include meeting Father Christmas/Sion Corn at St Fagans, as well as writing Christmas letters with the elves in the old school house, and a trail to find Santa’s missing reindeer. National Museum Cardiff begins its celebrations with its Elf Adventure Trail, crafts with the elves and a festive market on Saturday 30 November and Sunday 1 December, while the following weekend sees a family silent disco and screenings of festive classic The Snowman.

Plus read on for events at the other museums, including meeting Father Christmas at Big Pit, celebrating the Roman festival of Saturnalia at National Roman Legion Museum, Christmas crafts at National Wool Museum in Llandysul, and the free Big Waterfront Christmas at National Waterfront Museum in Swansea on Sunday 1 December. Children can decorate festive cookies in the cafes at National Museum Swansea, Big Pit National Coal Museum and National Wool Museum; the details are on the museum websites.

The museums’ gift shops are also worth a visit for locally-produced foodie gifts, crafts handmade in Wales, and toys and books for children – National Museum Cardiff in particular has some gorgeous dinosaur-themed toys and the traditional sweets at St Fagans make great stocking fillers. National Museum Wales is a charity so all purchases support its work in conserving and celebrating Wales’ history and culture.

Here’s what’s taking place in your local museum.

Will you be visiting any of these? Let me know in the comments on my social media channels.

More information on all of these events is available here.

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St Fagans National Museum of History, Cardiff

St Fagans has to be one of the loveliest places in South Wales to celebrate Christmas. You can meet Sion Corn in his grotto, write letters with the elves in the Victorian schoolhouse, search for the missing reindeer around the museum grounds, and take part in festive crafts. Older children may like singing carols in the 18th century Pen-rhiw chapel, and learning about traditional Welsh customs. Entry to the museum is free and you can then mix and match from their festive offerings to build your own perfect Christmas day out.

In between the seasonal events, explore more than 40 buildings from Welsh history, from farm cottages and iron age huts to the miners’ institute and a traditional grocers’ shop, not forgetting the newest addition, the Vulcan pub, which until recently was located in Cardiff city centre and where grown ups can stop for a festive tipple. Ticketed events must be booked in advance

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Meet Father Christmas

Saturdays and Sundays 30 November-1 December, 7-8, 14-15 and 21-22 December, multiple timeslots 10am-5.30pm, with English and Welsh sessions available
£10 per child, age guidance 3+
Visit Father Christmas in his grotto in St Fagans’ main building. He will read a story before meeting each child individually and giving them a gift.

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Write your Christmas letter in the Victorian schoolhouse

Saturdays and Sundays 30 November-1 December, 7-8, 14-15 and 21-22 December, 10am-1pm and 2-4.30pm
£4 per child, age guidance 3+
Children can visit Maestir School to meet one of Father Christmas’ Elves, who will help them write their special letter. They can then pop round to the museum’s tiny Post Office to send it off to the North Pole.

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Christmas Crafts

Saturdays and Sundays 30 November-1 December, 7-8, 14-15 and 21-22 December, multiple timeslots 10am-4.30pm
£5 per child, age guidance 3+
A festive crafts session, where each child will make their own special decoration to take home.

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Christmas Trail: Runaway Reindeer

Saturday 30 November-Monday 22 December

£3.50 per trail including a prize, age guidance 4+

Help save Christmas! The mischievous elves have left the stable door open, and now Father Christmas’ reindeer have scattered all across the museum grounds. With Christmas Eve fast approaching, your help is needed to find them and bring them back to the North Pole in time for the most important night of the year.
A limited number of trail maps are available – book in advance.

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Carols in the chapel

Saturdays and Sundays 30 November-1 December, 7-8, 14-15 and 21-22 December, 11am, 1pm and 3pm
£6 per person
Get in the mood for the festive season with carol singing in the museum’s 18th century Pen-rhiw Chapel. Sing along to traditional tunes and contemporary Christmas classics, with sessions available in Welsh or English

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Festive musical performances

Saturdays and Sundays 30 November-1 December, 7-8, 14-15 and 21-22 December, 11am-4pm
Free
The museum hosts local brass bands and choirs who will be performing uplifting festive music to get visitors in the Christmas mood. Performances will take place in the main building and outside the Miners’ Institute (weather permitting) at intervals between 11am and 4pm.

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Festive afternoon tea

Selected dates from Wednesday 4-Sunday 22 December

£25 per person

Step back in time for a festive afternoon tea with a museum twist! Enjoy a selection of homemade festive finger sandwiches and a variety of savouries and cakes, served alongside your choice of Welsh Brew tea or freshly brewed coffee. All dietary requirements can be catered for with at least 72 hours’ notice

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Christmas Traditions: The Mari Lwyd and Hunting of the Wren performances

Saturdays and Sundays 7-8 and 14-15 December, 11am and 2pm (Sat), 1pm and 3pm (Sun)

Free

Witness two of the most well-known Welsh customs during the Christmas season, The Mari Lwyd and Hunting of the Wren*, performed by Cwmni Dawns Werin Caerdydd. These unusual ancient Welsh winter traditions include singing, dancing, and a horse’s skull. *No wrens will be harmed!

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National Museum Cardiff

National Museum Cardiff begins its Christmas celebrations with a weekend of family-friendly events on Saturday 30 November and Sunday 1 December. Make an elf hat in the Christmas craft session and search the museum for magical clues as part of the Elf Adventure Trail. The following weekend, there’s a family silent disco, and the chance to watch family Christmas favourite The Snowman which includes a special visit from a friendly living snowman.

As well as the Christmas events, you can see the dinosaurs, discover how Wales evolved over hundreds of thousands of years, learn more about creatures of the air, land and sea, and see works from some of the greatest artists from Wales and the world. Plus there’s two fantastic new temporary ‘pay what you can’ exhibitions, The Art of the Selfie which explores how artists have used self-portraits as a way to explore their identities and features a famous work from Van Gogh, and Streic/Strike where you can learn about the miners’ strike of 1984 – there’s a moving section on how the community came together at Christmas time to make sure it was still a magical time for children.

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Elf-led crafts

Saturday 30 November-Sunday 1 December, 11am and 2pm

£6.50 per child to complete all 3 crafts

Age guidance: 4+; limited tickets available

Ready to become one of Santa’s magical elves? Perfect for all ages, this hands-on activity is your ticket to a truly elf-tastic transformation. Create a classic elf hat and signature elf ears, make a jingle bell stick, and a snowy decoration to display on your Christmas tree.

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Elf Adventure Trail

Saturday 30 November-Sunday 1 December, 10am-3pm

£4 per trail

Age guidance: 4; limited tickets available

Explore the museum in search of magical elf clues. Once completed, head back to the main hall to claim your Christmas prize.

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Crafty Legs Christmas Market

Saturday 30 November-Sunday 1 December, 10am-4pm
Free entry
Browse an exclusive selection of market stalls offering handcrafted gifts, holiday décor, and artisan foods to find that perfect present for loved ones or a special treat for yourself!

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Festive Film Screening: The Snowman

Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 December, 10.30am, English; 12pm, Welsh; 1.30pm, English, 3pm, English
£6 per ticket, age guidance 3+

Take a seat in the museum’s Reardon Smith Lecture Theatre for a festive family screening of the classic Christmas film, The Snowman. After a welcome from Father Christmas and Rudolph, settle back and watch the film, before a visit from a friendly snowman. This is an hour-long experience, with the film being 26 minutes. Please note, Father Christmas will be on the stage and will not see children individually.

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Silent Disco

Saturday 7 December, family event 6pm-8pm, adults only 9pm-midnight

Family event £9, adult event £18
Sing along to your favourite party classics as some of the city’s finest DJs battle it out under the dome of one of the city’s most prestigious buildings. Pick up your headphones on arrival and switch between three different channels as the DJs take you on a musical journey between different genres.

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Festive Afternoon Tea

Wednesday 4-Sunday 22 December, selected dates, 12pm and 1.45pm
£25 per person
Enjoy a selection of homemade festive finger sandwiches and a variety of savouries and cakes, served alongside your choice of Welsh Brew tea or freshly brewed coffee.

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National Waterfront Museum, Swansea

The National Waterfront Museum tells the story of industry and innovation in Wales. Housed in an original listed warehouse linked to a ultra-modern slate and glass building, the museum explores the transport, materials and networks that contributed so much to the industrial history of our nation over the last 300 years.

Christmas highlights include The Green Fair, full of ideas for a more sustainable Christmas; a chance to make your own snow globe with the elves; a day of free family entertainment and activities with Big Waterfront Christmas; carols around the firepit and a screening of an animated adaptation of the Dylan Thomas classic, A Child’s Christmas in Wales.

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The Green Fair

Saturday 23 November, 10am-4pm and Sunday 24 November, 10am-3pm

Entry is free

Everything you need for a truly Green Christmas, from gifts to ideas and advice. The Green Fair will see more than 40 different stalls packed full of environmentally friendly, organic, fair trade, recycled and locally produced goodies.

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Elf Workshop – make a snow globe

Saturday 30 November and Sunday 1 December, 11am, 1pm and 3pm
£6.50 per child, age guidance 6+

Guided by Mother Christmas, each child will create their own sparkling snow globe in this imaginative workshop.

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Big Waterfront Christmas

Sunday 1 December, 12pm-4pm
Free entry

A feel-good festive afternoon featuring mischievous elves in the Elf Show, real life donkeys, a life-sized polar bear lantern, festive crafts, youth dance performances and storytime with Santa.

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Winter vintage and makers market

Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 December, 10am-4pm

Free entry
A seasonal mix of vintage delights and local makers. Find the perfect festive gift or treat.

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Chestnuts and carols around the fire pit

Sunday 8 December, 12pm-2pm

Free entry

Gather around the garden fire pit to celebrate the arrival of winter. Enjoy hot toddies, chestnuts, crafts and singing to embrace the festive spirit.

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Festive Film: A Child’s Christmas in Wales (U)

Sunday 8 December, 2pm (English), 2.30pm (Welsh)

Free (26 minutes)

Escape the festive hustle and bustle with this heart-warming 2009 animation of the Dylan Thomas’s classic. A young boy asks his grandfather, ‘what was Christmas like in your day?’ The old man’s answer draws us into a fantastical, colourful and unexpected world when there were wolves in Wales, when mermaids swam in Swansea Bay and hippos trudged through the snowy town.

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Big Pit National Coal Museum, Blaenavon

Famous for its underground tour into what was once a real mine, Big Pit is a living, breathing reminder of the coal industry in Wales and the people and society it created. This Christmas, Father Christmas/Sion Corn will be reading festive stories in a cosy cottage on the site. While you’re there, head 300ft underground as a real miner shows you what life was like at the coal face, enjoy a multi-media tour of a modern coal mine with a virtual miner, visit the exhibitions in the Pithead Baths and historic colliery buildings, as well as the Streic/Strike exhibition about the 1984 miners’ strike.

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Storytime with Santa

Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 December, 10.45am-4.30pm various sessions available, English and Welsh language options

£10 per child

Join Santa and his elves in a cosy cottage, for a warm welcome, a festive story told by Santa and the chance to get creative with some Christmas crafts. Includes a gift plus an opportunity to take photos.

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National Roman Legion Museum, Caerleon

Wales was one of the furthest outposts of the Roman Empire and in AD75, they built a fortress at Caerleon – one of only three permanent fortresses in Roman Britain – that guarded the region for more than two centuries. The National Roman Legion Museum lies inside what remains of the fortress and is filled with exhibitions and artefacts (many excavated in Caerleon) that show how the Romans lived, fought, worshipped and died.
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While in Caerleon, you can also visit the remains of the most complete Roman amphitheatre in Britain, the only remains of a Roman legionary barracks on view anywhere in Europe (both free) as well as the Roman Baths where you can explore the remains of the immense natatio, or open-air swimming pool, that once held more than 80,000 gallons of water (admission charges apply).
At the museum this Christmas, you can find out more about the Roman winter festival Saturnalia, plus, browse the Caerleon Christmas Craft and Food Market held at Caerleon Town Hall and enjoy carols around the Christmas tree.

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Saturnalia

Saturday 7 December, 11am-4pm

Free entry

Celebrate Saturnalia, the Roman winter festival. Meet a Roman Soldier and find out how the Romans would have celebrated the festival. Make a ‘Calennig’ and discover more about this festive tradition, then take it with you to decorate your own home.

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National Wool Museum, Llandysul, Carmarthenshire

The National Wool Museum in Llandysul charts the story of the Welsh woollen industry. The museum is located in the historic former Cambrian Mills, where shirts and shawls, blankets and bedcovers, woollen stockings and socks were all once made and sold not just in Wales but to the rest of the world. This Christmas, you can sing carols with a local choir or make Christmas crafts.

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Gŵyl Hwyl: Christmas

Saturday 7 December, 10.15am

Free entry although donations welcome to support the museum’s work

Join Siân Corn for a unique opportunity for children to experience the spirit of Christmas through creativity. Following a special story and movement session, children will then make a craft.

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Community carols

Saturday 14 December, 1pm

Free entry although donations welcome to support the museum’s work

Festive singing in the museum’s Longyard with Llandysul Community Gospel Choir.

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National Slate Museum, Llanberis

National Slate Museum is undertaking an exciting redevelopment project, and will be shut over the Christmas period. Find out more here.