I’ve found the best Christmas shopping venue in the UK – it’s got every shop you need & a massive soft play that’s FREE
IT can be difficult to keep little ones entertained when you go Christmas shopping.
The last thing they want to do is get trailed round the shops, being told that they can't get everything when Christmas is so close.
But one mum has shared a genius hack to wear toddlers out during a day of shopping - and it's completely free.
Sophie took to TikTok to reveal there's a little-known gem inside the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent - a FREE soft play for toddlers.
"It's an absolute game changer where you wanna get your shopping done but you've got a toddler who wants to run around, who wants to crawl around, and you can burn off their energy," she said.
"It's inside gravity which is on the bottom floor just underneath the cinema and it is absolutely brilliant.
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"I make sure I utilise it every time I go to Bluewater.
"So when you walk into Gravity, just walk straight past the tills and it's on the left hand side.
"You don't even have to ask to use it, you can just go straight in."
Sophie added that the soft play section is "small" but "really perfect for just those 15, 20 minute crawl about and climb" to let little ones "burn off their energy".
"I wanted to get the last of my Christmas shopping done but understandably she was a little bit fussy in her pram so I took her into here and it did the trick," she continued.
She also said that more shopping centres should offer the free soft play option, "because I think it would actually entice parents to spend more money and spend more time there".
"I know it would for me because it's nothing better than having a relaxed toddler in their pram after a crawl about!" she concluded.
And loads of people in the comments section admitted they had no idea that the free soft play was even there.
"I go to Bluewater at least once a week, this is so good to know," one wrote.
"Omg howww did I never know this !!!!" another added.
"Game changer!" Sophie replied.
"Wow thank you… go once a week with a 1 year old normally pay for the session," a third commented.
To which Sophie responded: "It's just the soft play that's free, the rest you pay for."
"I always thought this was for use only if you’d paid for ticket are using gravity facility itself?!" someone else asked.
As Sophie replied: "Nope you can go straight in!
"I even asked yesterday to make sure i could go in because of the toddler session and they said go straight through."
"I never knew this!!" another admitted.
"The amount of times i went with my son as s toddler and this would of been a great thing for us!"
"Thank you, I needed to know this to finish my Xmas shopping today!!" someone else praised.