Tots to Teens: Post Santa letters and explore Christmas markets at Waterford's Winterval festival

Pictured at the 2025 Winterval festival programme launch are Lana Murphy (8), Katelyn Darmody (9) and Pippa McGrath (7). Picture: Patrick Browne.

Books make great Christmas stocking fillers and we’ve got two festive choices to recommend this week.

Flossie McFluff Saves Christmas is the second in a series of children’s books that Eoin O’Brien has written about a feisty forest fairy. It opens with Flossie getting ready for Christmas. She is lighting candles, hanging holly and drinking hot chocolate all while singing Christmas songs.

But then a storm blows in, the river rises and burrows are flooded. Suddenly, Flossie and her woodland friends have nowhere to sleep. They make their way to a tall pine tree at the top of the hill, where they learn that the true magic of Christmas is spending time together.

Published by The O’Brien Press, Flossie McFluff Saves Christmas will make perfect bedtime reading for young children this festive season. It costs €9.99.

Reuben’s Hunt for Christmas is the third picture book by Tipperary-based mum-of-four July Kennedy Fogarty.

Written in lyrical rhymes, it follows the adventures of a little green frog called Reuben. Reuben has never experienced Christmas and wants to learn exactly what it is. So he sets off to find it, making lots of new friends along the way.

Aimed at children between the ages of three and seven, the book shows how Christmas is all about giving, sharing, and being with those you love.

It’s for sale in Tesco and Dunnes nationwide as well as online juliekennedyfogarty.com, and costs €11.99.

Moments to cherish

There are moments in a child’s life that parents want to cherish. Their first haircut is one. The loss of their first milk tooth is another.

This silver-plated gift set from Newbridge Silverware makes a beautiful memento of such moments. It costs €40, with the option of adding a personalised engraving for an extra €10. It comes in a special gift box and can be purchased directly from newbridgesilverware.com.

Team Hope’s shoebox

Two Dublin-based dads have created a heartwarming animated video urging us to support Team Hope’s Christmas annual shoebox appeal.

Ian Downes and Derek Doyle work in a production company and were inspired by Rachel Browne’s book, Bunny’s Shoebox Journey, which tells the story of a shoebox of gifts that is packed by a baby bunny.

After it’s dropped off at the post office, the shoebox makes its way across land and sea to arrive at the doorstep of a lonely fox who thinks he’s been forgotten at Christmas.

The inspiration for the story is Team Hope’s shoebox appeal to help make Christmas special for children affected by poverty.

Every year for the past 15 years, the Irish charity has sent tens of thousands of shoeboxes to children in Africa and Eastern Europe, amounting to more than 3m shoeboxes in total.

There is still time to send yours this year. At teamhope.ie, you can create a personalised shoebox for €25 and watch the uplifting video.

Winterval in Waterford

Over one million festive visitors are expected in Wterford for Winterval 2025. 

Waterford is celebrating Winterval, its annual Christmas festival that will run from Thursday to Sunday every week from now until December 23.

It promises festive fun for all the family, much of it free of charge. There will be a Christmas market in the city centre featuring more than 100 food and craft stalls. Expect to find everything from hot chocolate, mulled wine, churros, and doughnuts to knitwear, jewellery, candles, soaps and lotions.

Santa is setting up his own grotto in the 12th-century caverns beneath Waterford’s Medieval Museum. The New Street Gardens will be transformed into a winter wonderland, with every tree, path and corner illuminated by fairy lights. 

Cathedral Square will host a Christmas light show featuring music and special effects. Children can post their letters in the Winterval Santa Post Box and enjoy the mini disco party complete with disco lights that will take place there throughout the day.

For the full lineup of all events, see winterval.ie.