Birmingham has Christmas wrapped up

Toy robots, canal boats and Peter Pan are all heading to Birmingham this festive season. The lights are twinkling and the city is ready for a packed programme of events, so pay a visit and celebrate Christmas in Birmingham!

Back for its seventh year, the hugely popular Frankfurt Christmas Market is the world’s largest authentic German Christmas market to be staged outside Germany or Austria and will be in Victoria Square from 15th November – 23rd December. There’s more than 90 stalls with food, drink and crafts, and it’s expected to attract more than two million visitors during its six-week run.

Sports fans can get their skates on from 29th November – 13th January 2008 when the UK’s largest ice rink, T Mobile Street Ice, is set up in Centenary Square. Enjoy open air skating on the Olympic sized outdoor rink and text your favourite tunes to the Street Ice DJ!

For a more traditional take, head back in time to meet Queen Victoria and find out more about how Christmas was celebrated in Victorian times. Christmas craft activities and seasonal musical add to the traditional atmosphere during the Victorian Christmas weekend at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 15th – 16th December.

Families can come face to face with Santa in the picturesque surroundings of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens at Santa’s Christmas Wonderland on 2nd December. Or, if you fancy something less traditional, head to Thinktank where Robo Challenge brings live robotic fighting to the city’s interactive science museum at Millennium Point on 28th and 29th December. There’s also the Robot Hall of Fame offering a rare chance to see robots on display from TV’s hit series ‘Robot Wars’.

Birmingham’s theatreland is buzzing - it offers up to 17 million seats a year to watch performances, and Christmas is no exception. Slava’s Snowshow returns to the Birmingham Hippodrome 6th –10th November. This visual spectacular has won countless awards and has performed in over 25 countries to more than one million spectators. Escape to Neverland with the boy who never grew up with The REP's brand new musical production of Peter Pan from 28th November - 19th January 2008.

Christmas isn’t Christmas without a panto and John Barrowman, the time-travelling friend of Dr Who, will head the cast of the glittering pantomime spectacular of Aladdin from 10th December – 27th January at the Birmingham Hippodrome.

Birmingham is the perfect place to celebrate Christmas in style. With 1,000 shops in the city centre including chic shopping centres The Mailbox and Bullring, there’s no excuse not to dress to impress at the festive parties.

With a sleigh-full of events and generous helpings of festive cheer, Birmingham has something for everyone this Christmas.

For further details of events in Birmingham, to book tickets for T Mobile Street Ice or arrange accommodation in the city, log on to Visitbirmingham.com.