Every year towards the end of November our team go through a magical transformation to become their alternative Elf selves spreading frosty Christmas magic at events up and down the UK installing festively fun ice sleighs, reindeer, snowmen and much more.
Heading to Swansea Christmas Parade
This year we had the joy of sending two such elves to Swansea for a live Ice Carving Sculpture event as part as their big annual Christmas parade. This annual spectacle transforms the city center into a winter wonderland, this year complete with a magical Ice Sleigh.
We sent two of the team Dave and Peter with a van packed with six 120kg ice blocks, chainsaws, chisels and their all important outfit change, down to Swansea the night before the event so they were rested and ready for the big event the following day!
The following morning the team woke up bright and early and headed to Castle Square, in the city center to get unloaded and set up before the roads were closed in readiness for the big Christmas event. As soon as the van was unloaded and moved the team got started fusing the ice blocks, by 10:30 they were ready to start up the chainsaws and get carving.
A Very Busy Day
With the Christmas Parade due to start at 5pm, the plan was to have the ice sleigh, rider ready by around 3:30 as the town became busier with spectators. Little did anyone anticipate quite how busy the entire event would be, with families gathering much earlier as our sculptors worked busily away creating the very special ice sculpture.
Each ice sleigh we make is totally unique in its own right, this Swansea sleigh was no exception. As a nod to the Welsh heritage, Peter and Dave made the creative decision to carve ice dragons on the sleigh edge and incorporate Swansea City Council lettering at the back. These details really captured the attention of visitors with many asking how they had created them, and how marvelous the ice sleigh looked.
With the ice sculpture complete by 2:30, and many eager families waiting to take a seat and capture a photo to keep hold of the magical memory, Peter and Dave made the decision to skip lunch and elf up right away! After all Santa gets round all those houses in one night, our Christmas elves didn’t want to let the team down by making some of the patient children wait any longer than they needed to!
Once the team fully evolved into their festive Elf selves they hurried back to the ice sleigh, opened the barriers and the spent the next 7 hours giddily inviting the families and children to take a seat in the enchanting ice sleigh and posing for photos with everyone who asked.
Spreading some Christmas Magic
Crafting ice sleighs is one of our favorite things to do, bringing festive cheer to towns and communities is something the Sand In Your Eye team will never get fed up with. Some of our most recent sleigh events have included a Three Day Live Carve for Living Heritage Events at Sandringham Castle, as well as live carve ice sleighs combined with ice sculpture trails in Sunderland and Saltburn.
Our elves have even been known to create and install an Ice Postbox here and there, giving children the opportunity to write their letters to Santa in our Creative Letter writing Workshops and the post them right there and then ready for our festive friends to send them elf express directly to the North Pole.
The energy in Swansea city center was a joy to be part of, we were thrilled to have been part of the magical event working with Hannah from Swansea City Council for the second time this year. It’s always fantastic when we get the opportunity to build a relationship with a client that goes beyond one event. The team here love working within communities and really tailoring an event or instillation to truly fit what the visitors are after.
