Ballater Winter Festival

22/12/2025

🎄✨ Ballater Winter Festival Hamper Winner Announcement ✨🎄

Thank you to everyone who bought a ticket for our Ballater Winter Festival hamper your support is truly appreciated and helps make the festival so special 💙

The winning date was 22nd November, and the person who guessed correctly is 🎉 Claire Cameron 🎉 congratulations!

We’d like to thank everyone once again for taking part, and we wish you all a very happy Christmas and a wonderful festive season 🎅🎁✨

18/12/2025

Ho ho ho! 🎅 Our cuddly little Jellycat Pippa is feeling very festive… but when is her birthday? 🎂🎁

Guess her special day correctly and you could unwrap a magical Christmas hamper, filled with festive goodies and seasonal treats 🎄🤍

❄️ £3 per date
🎀 Choose as many dates as you wish
💌 Message us to reserve your dates – once they’re gone, they’re gone!
🎅✨

Good luck and happy guessing! 🎄❄️

Jellycat kindly donated by ballater Treehouse

15/12/2025

🎅🐾 𝗣𝗦𝗔: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝘂𝘁𝘆… 🐾🎅

We’re 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 out of our elf costumes (no promises 👀🧝‍♀️), but 𝗣𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗮’𝘀 𝗕𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗛𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗿𝗮𝘄 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 🎁🐶

✨ £200+ hamper
✨ Only £3 per date
✨ Guess right = WIN BIG

The elves insist you pick a date before they disappear back to the North Pole… and before Pippa starts bossing them around 🐕✨

Comment, message, or email us to grab a date 🎄

10/12/2025

🎄🐾 𝗣𝗜𝗣𝗣𝗔’𝗦 𝗕𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗛𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗛𝗔𝗠𝗣𝗘𝗥 𝗗𝗥𝗔𝗪 🐾🎄

WOW… the love for Pippa has been unreal! 💛🐕 Thank you so much to everyone who’s already picked a date—you’re officially in the running for our £200+ festive hamper of dreams! 🎁✨

⏰ There’s still dates left, but they’re going fast… and remember, Pippa’s birthday will be revealed before Christmas!

✨ Only £3 per date
🎂 One lucky winner
🎁 One VERY epic hamper

To grab your date(s):
📍 Comment below
📍 Message us directly
📍 Email: [email protected]

We’ll send over the payment details straight away 💸

Good luck everyone… Pippa’s tail is already wagging in excitement! 🐾🎄💛

02/12/2025

🎄🐕🎄 𝗚𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗣𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗮 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝘂𝗽𝗽𝘆’𝘀 𝗕𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗱𝗮𝘆 & 𝗪𝗜𝗡 𝗮 £𝟮𝟬𝟬+ 𝗛𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗿! 🎄🐕🎄

What. A. Weekend!
We’re still de-elfing (pretty sure Dominique is still in her elf costume 😂), but we wanted to let you know there are still dates available for 𝗣𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗮’𝘀 𝗕𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗛𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗿𝗮𝘄!

We’ve got an 𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗖 𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 £𝟮𝟬𝟬 (seriously—check out the photos, it’s amazing!). To be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is 𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗣𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗮 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝘂𝗽𝗽𝘆’𝘀 𝗯𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗱𝗮𝘆 — Pippa has been very kindly donated by 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘉𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳.

✨ 𝗢𝗻𝗹𝘆 £𝟯 𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲! ✨
Pippa’s official birthday will be revealed before Christmas.

If you’d like to choose a date (or, you know… a few 😉), you can:
📍 Comment below
📍 Message the BWF page directly
📍 Email us at 𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗹@𝗴𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

We’ll send you the bank or PayPal details—whichever you prefer.

For available dates, please see the images attached.
Good luck, and thank you for supporting us! 🎄🐾💛

01/12/2025

✨ A Magical Thank You from the Ballater Winter Festival ✨

What an enchanting day it was. Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Ballater Winter Festival. Your smiles, laughter and festive spirit made the whole day shimmer with joy.

To our wonderful stall holders, food vendors, local businesses and eateries thank you for filling the streets with warmth, creativity and delicious festive treats.

A warm thank you to Ade Scripps, whose help with all sorts throughout the day along with his Christmas music across our venues added a lovely touch to the festival. And to our choirs and singers, thank you for bringing such lovely music to the day.

Our deepest gratitude to our generous supporters: the , Ballater Victoria Week, Balmoral Arms, and the Ballater Community Trust. Your kindness and backing helped make this festival possible.

And of course, the biggest thank you of all goes to our troop of elves, whose energy, sparkle and festive mischief transform Ballater into a place where Christmas magic truly comes alive. We especially love seeing everyone dashing about in their red and green outfits like little bursts of Christmas magic darting through the festival.

Wishing everyone a very happy, warm and wonderfully magical Christmas! 🎄

30/11/2025

✨Just a glimpse into the day yesterday. A huge thank you to all our incredible volunteers who helped make it happen. ✨

29/11/2025

Asraf closed the show for us this afternoon.
(Videos to follow)
https://www.instagram.com/asraf_music?igsh=MTFlaGtkenpraXpzaA==

29/11/2025

All set up at 9:30am

28/11/2025

’Twas the night before Winter Festival,
And quiet lay the square,
While Ballater dreamed of morning light
And all the joys waiting there.

The Christmas markets slumbered,
Their treasures wrapped with care—
Gifts and glittering goodies
For shoppers everywhere.

The hot chocolate bar stood ready,
With warmth for every hand,
And choirs poised to fill the air
With carols sweet and grand.

Santa’s grotto sparkled softly,
His workshop prepped for play—
Where children soon would craft and laugh
Throughout the festive day.

And resting by the pine trees,
A magical sight so dear:
Santa’s gentle reindeer waiting
For tomorrow’s thrilled cheer.

So Ballater breathed with wonder
On this calm and starry night,
For Winter Festival was coming—
A day of pure delight.

22/02/2025

🎄❄️ 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 - 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 🎄❄️

*** 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧!! ***

We know many of you have been asking about how to book for this year's Ballater Winter Festival - we are very pleased to say we are now open for applications!

We are continuing with our firm favourites - including an indoor grotto & workshop with Santa, indoor craft fayre, outdoor Christmas market, Cairngorm Reindeer, children’s amusement rides, local primary school choirs, tractors and the local fire brigade.

If you would like to join in, please head on over to our website for full details and online application form 😊

The Ballater Winter Festival is returning in 2025!The elves are thrilled to announce the Ballater Winter Festival will be going ahead in 2025 and will take place on Saturday 29th November, 2025.  We are planning:· An indoor Santa’s grotto experience including crafts, games, movie, tattoos (in t...