How to Turn your Garage into a Christmas Grotto

It’s nearly the ‘most wonderful time of the year’ again, and Santa and sparkly jumpers are coming whether you like it or not. Most of us love Christmas, especially children, for whom Christmas represents fun, magic and excitement. There is nothing better than seeing a happy child on Christmas morning, surrounded by family and presents, so if you want to make Christmas extra special this year, why not create your own Christmas grotto?

If you have a garage that is full of clutter or even if it stands empty you are wasting valuable extra space. A Christmas grotto would be an exciting feature to any home, for both kids and the adults! Leading concrete garage specialists have come up with 5 great ideas:

1. TIDY: Firstly, you need to tidy up your garage. You can always move things temporarily by placing them into a storage unit or another part of the house, after all, you will only need your Christmas grotto for a few weeks! After you have tidied out your garage, make sure you give it a good clean and remove anything that could be dangerous to children or pets.
2. WALLS: Once the space is ready, you can begin to get creative and Christmassy. Use black card to block out any windows and light, and hang fabrics on the wall to give the grotto a safe, warm and cosy feel. Using fabrics will create a cavernous, den-like feel, and many shops (particularly around winter time) will have shimmery fabrics that you can use. Depending on your preference, you could choose dark colours with silver and white trimmings to create a North Pole atmosphere, or choose red, green and gold to create a fun and traditional space. Add extra touches such as glow in the dark stars to the ceiling. These accessories are cheap and easy to use as you can simply stick them onto fabrics.
3. DECORATIONS: Next, it’s time to decorate! You can use any kind of Christmas decorations for this, the more the merrier. Everyone knows Christmas decorations bring lots of happiness to people of all ages. Anything that can be hung around the room or placed in corners will work well, such as mini Christmas trees, baubles, tinsel, glittery angels and nativity characters. If you want to create a ‘Santa’s workshop’ grotto, don’t forget to add in some elves, reindeers and wooden toys.
4. LIGHTING: You want to make the Christmas grotto appear magical, warm and inviting, so soft lighting will work best. If you have successfully blocked out any natural light, then fill the room with fairy lights – you could use the kind of lights that you usually hang on the tree. Candles would suit the grotto well, but be careful not to leave them unattended or near children. In some shops you will also be able to find lights that are in the shape of popular Christmas characters such as Santa himself.
5. EXTRAS: Play some Christmas music to really set the mood, and light some scented candles such as pine, cinnamon or cranberry. If you don’t want to light candles, you could use a scent spray. Place small gifts around the grotto and hide chocolates so children can find them.

Now you should have a magical Christmas grotto that can be used time and time again over the holiday period. The rest is up to you, will your children meet Father Christmas and his elves? Go on a present hunt? Spend an evening curled up watching Christmas films? Whatever you do, have fun, and have a great Christmas.