Walk-in giant inflatable snow globe lit with blue interior lighting at night, painted winter backdrop with snowman and reindeer visible through the clear dome

Christmas Entertainment Hire

Twenty-four Christmas hires that run the full spread of a festive event, from grottos and snow globes to reindeer racing, rodeo rides, funfair rides, food and drink carts, nutcracker trails and snow machines. All of it owned and maintained from our 25,000 sq ft warehouse in Rotherham, delivered on our own vans. From £75 for a Santa Sky Dancer to £2,995 for a full Nutcracker Trail. December weekends book from October.

The range

We carry 24 Christmas hires from our 25,000 sq ft warehouse in Rotherham, all of it our own stock - bought outright, maintained in-house and sent out on our own vans. The range starts at £75 for a 20ft Santa Sky Dancer - an inflatable Father Christmas tube man that waves above your event - and runs up to £2,995 for a full Nutcracker Trail with eight to twelve 6ft hand-painted figures, a bespoke trail booklet, a Santa post box and all the delivery and installation included. Most hires fall in the £395 to £895 band - Santa's Grotto at £245 to £395 depending on size, Rodeo Reindeer at £395, Whack a Snowman at £495, Reindeer Racing at £499, and the Giant Inflatable Snow Globe at £1,295 with a trained supervisor for the duration.

You'll see this sort of kit listed elsewhere as Christmas entertainment hire, festive event hire, winter wonderland hire or seasonal event entertainment - it's the same idea whichever label people use. We've been hiring out Christmas attractions from Sheffield since 1999, and we own and maintain 95% of what goes out. Christmas is our busiest season by a long way - popular items like grottos, snow globes and reindeer rides tend to book up by October for December weekends, so it's worth getting a date held early, ideally over the summer if you're planning ahead.

Types of Christmas hire we carry

  • Santa's grottos

    Two inflatable grottos, both Christmas-themed out of the box rather than generic kit dressed up. The standard Santa's Grotto at £245 is a 10ft x 10ft log-cabin-style inflatable with printed wood panelling, snowy roof detail, picket fence, internal lighting and decorations - it inflates in under five minutes and we've set it up everywhere from Rotherham United FC's car park to high street pavements, indoor marquees and the Lescar Hotel pub. The Deluxe Santa's Grotto at £395 is the larger 12ft x 13ft version - a fully-printed brick cottage with snow-capped wooden roof and chimney, holly garlands round the windows, a hand-painted Santa and reindeer scene on the side panels, and a themed interior with painted brick walls, snowy window views and a stone fireplace mantle so photos taken inside feel like a real grotto. A gold throne chair is available as an extra. Both suit shopping centres, town-centre Christmas events, school grottos, corporate parties and promotional days - indoors or out, with DBS-checked staff available for children's events.

  • Snow globes and photo opportunities

    Two inflatable snow globes at different price points. The Giant Inflatable Snow Globe at £1,295 is a life-size walk-in experience - an 18.4ft x 15.1ft clear dome on a blue inflatable base with a painted winter backdrop inside (snowy mountains, pine trees, a reindeer and a snowman in a purple hat and scarf), blue interior lighting and a trained supervisor to run it. Eco-friendly artificial snow that swirls inside the dome can be added for £125, and the blue base panels can be branded with your company name or logo by our in-house team. It's also called a walk-in snow globe, a life-size snow globe or a human snow globe. The Christmas Snow Globe Selfie Photo Pod at £895 is the self-service version - a touchscreen photo booth, camera and printer setup inside the globe so guests take away printed selfies automatically, with optional artificial snow and branding.

  • Reindeer racing games

    Three racing games, two of them built by Carnival Games in the US on their Bounce a Ball platform. The Reindeer Racing game at £499 is a four-player hobby-horse game - players straddle colour-coded reindeer-headed sticks and bounce to race cutout figures across a green-felt tabletop, with electronic scoring and a trained operator for up to three hours, all inside a white picket fence surround. Also known as Racing Reindeer or the reindeer-themed Gold Cup. The Roll a Ball Reindeer Racing at £995 links two Bounce a Ball units for four-player racing - the same mechanic as the old Donkey Derby with balls bouncing off a launch pad onto a tilted target board, LED-lit scoring tracks, built-in PA with festive sound effects and an illuminated backboard with Santa's sleigh and snowy village scene. The Bounce a Ball Reindeer Racing at £699 is the two-player single-unit version. All three need to be indoors or under a marquee - the electronics don't mix with rain.

  • Christmas reaction games

    Two seasonal takes on our most popular interactive games. Whack a Snowman at £495 - also called Smash a Snowman or the Christmas whack-a-mole - is a two-player electronic cabinet made in the UK by Game Works Creative on their IPS (Interactive Play System) platform. Same cabinet as our standard Whack a Mole, just with winter graphics - snowmen in scarves and hats, snow-covered lettering and a blue LED rim. Foam hammers, digital scoreboard, ~30-second rounds. Runs from a single 13A socket at about 500W. The Batak Snowball Smash at £495 is the full-size 12-target Batak Pro reaction wall - the original designed by Dr D.W. Nelson in West Sussex - wearing a custom "Peak Wonderland" winter wrap by InHouse Entertainments with cartoon snowmen and snowy mountains. It has 30-plus programmes, the standard 30-second sprint competition format, and we carry the largest stock of Batak games in the UK for hire, so multi-site same-day bookings are something we can sort. Both units are indoor-only, though Whack a Snowman can go outside under a gazebo.

  • Rodeo rides

    Two mechanical bucking rides on the same base - a moulded Rodeo Reindeer at £395 with brown body, white saddle pad, red collar with gold bell, yellow antlers, Santa hat and a light-up red nose, and a Rodeo Christmas Pudding at £395 for something more unexpected. Both run on the same mechanism as our rodeo bull, controlled by a trained operator who can keep it gentle for children or turn it up for anyone who fancies their chances. A digital timer tracks every ride for leaderboard competitions, a circular inflatable surround cushions any falls, and the 16ft x 16ft footprint fits into warehouses, nightclubs, shopping centres, marquees and car parks. Also called Rodeo Rudolph, a bucking reindeer or a mechanical reindeer. Tracy Gavin booked the rodeo bull - same mechanism, same operators - and said: "Tom and Kane were excellent. Arrived in plenty of time and were really friendly. Highly recommend this company and would definitely use again."

  • Christmas funfair rides

    Three proper fairground rides at different scales. The Runaway Train at £1,800 is a track-based family roller coaster with a chain of cars on an undulating looped track and a large cartoon-character frontboard - the sort of thing that pulls a queue from across the field at corporate family fun days and Christmas markets. The Giant Ski Jump at £2,895 is a spinning winter-themed ride - round cars on radiating arms around a top-hatted snowman centrepiece, with SKI JUMP lettering on the back board in icy lettering - a natural centrepiece for a winter wonderland. And the Juvenile Chair O Planes at £495 is a compact 4m x 4m children's carousel for up-to-about-eights, indoors or out, with a self-contained generator if there's no power on site. All three come with a trained operator, £5 million PLI and the risk assessments and method statements your venue or council will need.

  • Festive food and drink carts

    Three setups that draw people by the nose. The Mulled Wine Cart at £895 is a red-and-white striped stall across two gazebos, serving traditional mulled wine and a non-alcoholic mulled fruit drink (Simply Mulled Fruit Winter Warmer syrup) - both Vegetarian Society Vegan certified, gluten-free and nut-free - from stainless steel urns with a trained server to manage pouring and queues. Licensing advice comes included. It's been set up at Amazon offices for staff Christmas events and at NEC and ExCeL for exhibition stands. The Hot Chocolate Machine at £895 comes with a uniformed server, whipped cream, marshmallows and all the cups, on a compact footprint that slots into a stand corner. The Christmas Market Stall at £295 is a 3m x 4.5m commercial mini marquee with a traditional German or Belgian festive frontage - steep pitched roof, wide serving hatch and counter - and we've got up to ten of them available with optional lighting and power distribution.

  • Props, trails and display pieces

    The Nutcracker Trail at £2,995 is a complete town-centre Christmas trail - eight to twelve 6ft hand-painted nutcracker figures in different colourways, weatherproof with a gloss finish for outdoor December use, each on its own weighted circular base so there's no drilling or fixings. It includes a bespoke trail booklet with a map, story, puzzles and a colouring competition, plus a Santa post box for completed forms. The figures come in reds, blues and a couple of other colourways, and we design the booklet around your town or venue. Individual weatherproof nutcracker props are £120 a pair - we've flanked grottos, stages, entrances and market stalls with them. The Santa Sky Dancer at £75 is a 20ft inflatable Father Christmas tube man - the same sort you see outside car showrooms, bright red with white trim and a black belt with gold buckle - powered by a blower on a standard 13A socket. Outdoor mainly, though it works indoors if you've got 22ft of ceiling clearance. Also called an air dancer, an inflatable tube man or a wacky waving Santa. And we carry two photo cut-out boards at £75 to £95 - face-in-the-hole boards with a Santa's workshop or Santa-and-child design, each with its own stand, ready for a branded wrap if you want your logo on them.

  • Snow effects and side stalls

    The Snow Effects Machine at £495 is an Antari unit that puts out 400ml of artificial snow per minute through a 10-metre hose, with a 20-litre tank giving about 50 minutes of heavy snowfall. Extra fluid is £12 per 5 litres. It's outdoor only - the photos show it blanketing entrance steps, town-centre trees and castle courtyards. And the Hook a Duck stall at £495 - also known as a duck pond - is the traditional fairground side stall with a twist: we run it staffed, 25 prizes are included, and we can bring festive ducks if you want the stall to match the rest of the Christmas setup. Sophie hired a set of carnival games from us and said: "incredible, great value for money, super friendly and punctual staff."

The range at a glance

  • Deluxe Santa's Grotto - fully-printed brick cottage with snow-capped roof, arched doorway wreath and hand-painted Santa and reindeer scene

  • Giant Inflatable Snow Globe lit with blue interior lighting, painted winter backdrop with snowman in purple hat and scarf visible through the clear dome

  • Reindeer Racing - four colour-coded hobby horse sticks, white picket fence surround and winter scene backdrop

  • Whack a Snowman - two-player Game Works Creative cabinet with LED targets, foam hammers and digital scoreboard

  • Rodeo Reindeer - brown mechanical reindeer with yellow antlers, light-up red nose, Santa hat and blue inflatable surround

  • Nutcracker Trail figures - three 6ft hand-painted nutcrackers in red, blue and light blue uniforms with gold staffs

  • Mulled Wine Cart - red-and-white striped stall with stainless steel urns, festive bunting and Christmas tree decorations

  • Santa Sky Dancer - 20ft inflatable Father Christmas glowing red above a high street at night

What's included

  • Delivery, setup and collection

    Everything delivered in our own vehicles by our own team - set up, tested and ready before guests arrive, collected after. No third-party couriers in the chain.

  • £5M public liability insurance

    Full £5 million public liability insurance as standard, with indemnity to principal cover when our staff are supplied. Risk assessments and method statements emailed to you or your venue before the event.

  • Trained staff and operators

    DBS-checked staff for children's events as standard. Trained operators on all rides - rodeo reindeer, funfair rides, ski jump - and uniformed servers on food and drink carts. Optional attendants for hands-free operation of any game.

  • In-house branding

    Custom branding on grottos, snow globe base panels, Whack a Snowman cabinets, Batak target surrounds and photo cut-out boards - artwork, print, application and removal all handled by our own team.

  • Power sorted

    Most equipment runs from a standard 13A socket. Generators supplied where there's no mains on site - we carry our own from 5 kVA upward and handle the distribution.

  • Documentation and licensing

    Risk assessments, method statements, PIPA certificates for inflatables and LOLER records where applicable - all emailed to you or your venue before the event. Licensing advice included with the mulled wine cart.

Christmas hires in stock
24
Price range
£75-2,995
Years trading since 1999
25+
Equipment owned in-house
95%
Public liability insurance
£5M
Google reviews, 5/5 rating
209+

Christmas is our busiest season

December weekends fill up faster than any other dates in the calendar. We start taking Christmas bookings from January, and the popular items - Santa's grottos, snow globes, reindeer racing and rodeo reindeer - tend to be gone by October for the peak Friday and Saturday dates.

If you're running a corporate Christmas party, a children's grotto, a Christmas market or a town-centre light switch-on, the earlier you get in touch the more straightforward it is. We've had clients book in the summer for a December event and we've had last-minute calls in November where someone's been let down by another supplier - we'll do our best either way, but the range is wider if you're not up against the calendar.

Every hire is covered by £5 million public liability insurance, and we email risk assessments and method statements to you or your venue before the event - which tends to be the bit that gets a council or a shopping centre past their internal approvals. DBS-checked staff run children's events as standard.

Get a Quote
Santa's grotto set up outdoors at Rotherham United Football Club with inflatable Santa, picket fence and queue of families

Who hires Christmas entertainment

The range gets booked by a spread of different people for different reasons, which is part of why we carry this much of it in the first place.

Corporate Christmas parties and office socials tend to book the games and rides - rodeo reindeer, reindeer racing, Whack a Snowman, Batak Snowball Smash - often in a branded corner with a leaderboard running. Shopping centres and town councils book the grottos, nutcracker trails and snow globes for footfall-driving activations that run across several weeks. Schools and PTAs book the grottos, the photo cut-out boards and the Hook a Duck stall for Christmas fairs. Christmas markets book the market stalls, the mulled wine cart, the hot chocolate machine and the Santa Sky Dancer as a beacon. And community groups, churches and charities book a mix - usually the lower-cost items on a tighter budget - and we supply the same documentation and insurance regardless of the size of the booking.

We're a repeat supplier for Amazon - we've run Christmas entertainment at their fulfilment centres - and for Specsavers on their schools careers events. We've also worked with Sheffield City Council, Doncaster Council, RMBC and a fair few schools, charities and community groups across South Yorkshire and further afield.

Get a Quote
Mobile trailer stage at a Christmas lights switch-on event with PA, lighting and smoke effects at night

Where we deliver

From our 25,000 sq ft warehouse in Rotherham we're five minutes from the A1, M1 and M18, which puts the major venues within reach without much lead time. We deliver Christmas hires regularly to NEC Birmingham, ExCeL London, Manchester Central, Olympia London, Harrogate Convention Centre, ACC Liverpool, Leeds First Direct Arena and SEC Glasgow, as well as across South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester.

The same kit works just as well at a school fair in Sheffield, a shopping centre grotto in Leeds or a council Christmas market in Doncaster. We've taken the Rodeo Reindeer from an Amazon fulfilment centre one day to a nightclub in Sheffield the next because the kit is ours and the vans are ours and there's no third party in the middle making the logistics someone else's problem.

If you're putting together a wider Christmas or winter event that needs more than just the festive kit - staging, PA, generators, marquees, festoon lighting, fun food or branding - we carry over 600 products across 68 categories, so it all goes on one booking with one invoice and one point of contact.

Get a Quote
Christmas market stall lit at night with illuminated garland and serving hatch, warm interior glow showing through

Common questions

What's the difference between your two Santa's grottos?

The standard Santa's Grotto at £245 is a 10ft x 10ft log-cabin-style inflatable - printed wood panelling, snowy roof, picket fence out front, internal lighting and decorations. It inflates in under five minutes and suits school fairs, smaller venues or any event where the grotto is one part of a wider setup. The Deluxe Santa's Grotto at £395 is larger at 12ft x 13ft - it's a fully-printed brick cottage with a snow-capped wooden roof and chimney, holly garlands, a hand-painted Santa-and-reindeer scene on the side, and a themed interior with painted brick walls, snowy window views and a stone fireplace mantle so the photos taken inside look like a proper grotto rather than a hired prop. A gold throne chair is available as an extra on either grotto.

What's the difference between the Giant Snow Globe and the Snow Globe Selfie Photo Pod?

The Giant Inflatable Snow Globe at £1,295 is the walk-in dome - guests step inside the painted winter scene (mountains, pine trees, reindeer, snowman), our supervisor runs the attraction and manages the queue, and you can add eco-friendly artificial snow that swirls inside for £125. The Snow Globe Selfie Photo Pod at £895 is the self-service version - it includes a touchscreen photo booth, camera and printer setup so guests take away printed selfies automatically without a supervisor running the flow. If you want a supervised walk-in experience with queue management, the giant globe is the one. If you want self-service photo prints, the selfie pod is the one.

Can the Christmas equipment be used outdoors?

Some of it can, and some of it can't. The nutcracker props and trail figures are built weatherproof with a gloss finish for outdoor December use - they've been through several British winters without trouble. The Santa Sky Dancer is mainly an outdoor piece - weather-resistant fabric, though the blower needs to stay dry. The Snow Effects Machine is outdoor only. The grottos, rodeo rides, funfair rides, market stalls and food carts all work outdoors. Electronic games - Whack a Snowman, Batak Snowball Smash, the reindeer racing games - need to be indoors or under a proper marquee or gazebo because the electronics aren't weatherproofed. If you're setting up outdoors and aren't sure which items will work, tell us about the site when you enquire and we'll talk it through.

How does the Nutcracker Trail work?

We deliver and install eight to twelve 6ft hand-painted nutcracker figures across your town centre or shopping centre - in shop windows, doorways, public squares, wherever makes sense for the route. Each figure stands on its own weighted circular base, so there's no drilling or fixings to worry about. We design a bespoke trail booklet for your town or venue - a map marking each nutcracker's location, a Nutcracker story, a few puzzles (spot the difference, word search, that sort of thing) and a colouring competition section - and we supply a Santa post box for completed trail forms, or a digital entry form if that's easier. You supply the prize - past clients have put up anything from £50 to £500 in high street vouchers. Delivery, setup and collection are all in the price, and the figures stay out for the duration of the trail, through rain and frost.

Book your Christmas entertainment

Send through your dates, venue and rough footfall and we'll put a Christmas entertainment package together. Want grottos, rides, games, food and branding all from one supplier? Mention it in your message.

Is it on grass or hard standing?
Do you have electricity on site (within 25 metres)?
Do you require the items to be staffed by us?
For event bookings
Are you VAT registered?