A world-exclusive interactive Christmas adventure from The Lumistella Company, home to The Elf on the Shelf® Santaverse™, a storytelling universe, is coming to one of Europe’s leading shopping and retail destinations, Bluewater in Kent, in November.

The Elf on the Shelf® is a beloved global Christmas tradition where Santa’s Scout Elves visit families each day during the festive season and report back to Santa each night on their family’s Christmastime activities. This year, The Elf on the Shelf® Christmas Adventure, a never-seen-before interactive, theatrical experience designed to entertain and delight the whole family, will be making its global debut in the UK from 16 November.

Visitors to Bluewater will have the chance to explore an immersive, interactive 25-minute adventure as they step through a new Elf Door, transporting them to a North Pole-inspired world of wonder and festive play.

Guests will find themselves immersed in a fun mission of festive games and challenges with the aim of helping the Scout Elves spread Christmas cheer to make sure Christmas gets off to a flying start.

As well as making a wish at the wish-gatherer, challenges will include Christmas tree decorating and snowball throwing. Meanwhile Santa will be watching over the ‘Christmas Spiritmeter’, a magical machine monitoring Christmas Spirit levels. Santa plans to drop into some sessions to encourage the children to complete all the challenges on their Christmas Spirit Checklists.

James Waugh, Centre Director at Bluewater, said: “This is going to be the most hotly-anticipated Christmas experience we’ve ever launched – it’s a true world-first experience and we can’t wait for families to see what we’ve got lined up.

“The Elf on the Shelf is a beloved family tradition, so we are thrilled to be able to offer this immersive Christmas experience for our guests this year.”

As part of the experience, guests will collect stamps on their Christmas Spirit Checklist as they complete games and challenges and there will be an Elf Name Generator to provide individual elf names. Finally, each child will receive a gift to take home to remember their festive adventure.

The Elf on the Shelf® Christmas Adventure, which replaces Bluewater’s Christmas Grotto this year, is a ticketed event and guests are advised to book early to avoid disappointment. Tickets are priced from £6.50 for adults and £14.50 for children. To be the first to have access to tickets, sign up to Bluewater’s new member rewards club, PLUS+, via https://bluewater.co.uk/

The experience, which will be located on the Upper Rose Gallery, next to FatFace, opens to the public on 16 November and runs until Christmas Eve. A full list of times and dates, plus information on accessibility options will be available online soon.

Bluewater’s Ice Rink, the centre’s Winterland experience, and The Giving Tree will all return this year alongside the new The Elf on the Shelf® Christmas Adventure.