It’s no secret that Sullivan is insanely obsessed with nutcrackers. It’s been a solid year of this obsession and it doesn’t seem to have an end in sight! To be honest, I kind of love his little quirky desire to carry a nutcracker around everywhere, it makes him unique! Well, this year my mom showed him a performance of the Nutcracker ballet on YouTube and his love grew to a whole new level. After watching it for about a week straight, I found out that the American Ballet Theatre was performing the Nutcracker ballet at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. If you’re local to Orange County you probably know this venue, but if you’re not you may be missing out. Even though we live in the Inland Empire it’s an easy drive out and it’s always well worth it because of how top notch the performances are. This Winter there are a bunch of super fun things happening there actually, not only can you see the Nutcracker through the 22nd, but they are also hosting Blue Man Group in January (more on that below). After our first trip to a live theatre performance, I have a few tips to share that will hopefully help your experience when you take your kiddos!

5 Tips for Taking Kids to a Live Theatre Performance

1. Prepare them for proper theatre etiquette: You’ll want to talk about it with them before hand. If you have young kids like I do, we talked about it for about a week before the show and practiced at home. No matter what, be prepared for them to not be perfect (because #kids) which is why it’s super important to choose a kid friendly show or a performance that you already know your kids is connected to. This is out of respect for other theatre goers but also saves you a headache trying to deal with the stress of a noisy and/or grumpy kiddo.
2. Dress them in comfortable clothes: It’s going to be hard enough for your kiddo to sit still and quiet for the duration of the performance, so make sure whatever you put them won’t make it even harder for them. That means no tight or restricting outfits. I was super intentionally when I chose the kids outfits even though they were on the dressier side that they would still be comfortable.
3. Arrive to the theatre early: You’ll want to show up early enough to get a good lay of the land. Find out where the bathrooms are, where your seats are, if snacks and drinks are allowed grab something from the concession stand. It also helps get some wiggles out of the kids especially if they’ve had a bit of a drive to get there. Speaking of bathrooms you’ll want to get there early enough to take at trip before the start of the show, trust me. Segerstrom also has fun things around the lobby areas for the Nutcracker like photo opps and gift shops. For Blue Man group they will have a ton of stuff for kiddos on the specific kids nights! Another really fun thing to do is take them down to look in the orchestra pit, my kids thought that was amazing!
4. Keep their mouths occupied: This may be the weirdest tip but it will look different depending on the rules of your theatre. Some allow food and some do not so obviously you’ll need to follow the rules depending on where you are seeing the show. Basically the idea is that if their mouths are busy chewing they won’t be as tempted to talk. So if snacks are allowed have some “non noisy” options for them. If not, maybe have some gum or mints for them instead.
5. Grab a souvenir: It’s super fun for you and your kiddos to have something to remember the night. If you are not wanting to spend money, grab a program and frame the cover. If you are up for spending a bit of cash you can find a range of items for sale with most performances. Sully grabbed a $10 nutcracker ornament after the show and it’s now his most prized possession.

We had such an amazing experience for the kids first real live theatre performance. Luckily we have seen all sorts of shows at Disneyland and they have been to the movies a couple times but this is a whole different experience! We will for sure be taking them back soon because both Christian and I have a deep love for the theatre. I highly recommend the Nutcracker is you have kiddos. The show is so fun and dynamic with incredible music they will probably recognize because most of the songs are played often at Christmastime. There are incredible costumes, lots of movement, and a ton of different big numbers meaning lots of changes throughout the show to keep your kids engaged. One of the best parts about taking kids to the Nutcracker is that there are a ton of kids dancing in the show, in fact two of the leads are children! My kids loved they could relate to the dancers on stage. This performance by the American Ballet Theatre was spectacular and so fun and even funny. Despite there being no talking during the show, they conveyed emotion and humor in an incredible way. We will for sure be making this a yearly family tradition.

The next show we are hoping to take the kids to see at Segerstrom is Blue Man Group. They will be there January 7th-12th but is you attend the 7th or 8th is Kids Night on Broadway. That means that you can use the code BLUEKID to get a free kids ticket when you purchase a full price adult ticket! Tickets start at $26 which is super affordable to take the whole family, and even more so if you take advantage of the free kids tickets! Like I mentioned before there will be pre-show activities before this show in the lobby starting at 6pm. You can find coloring, photo opps, and crafts! If you are interested in taking your family you can snag tickets here.

Moral of the story, take your kids to the theatre! It is such an incredible experience for them in so many ways. Introducing my kiddos to the arts is something I feel really passionate about as it can be both fun and educational. As we move into homeschooling next Fall I’m planning on using it as a way to enrich our lessons which gets me super excited. I mean, there’s really no reason NOT to take your whole family to the theatre!