Christmas with the Dickens hosted by Lucinda Dickens Hawksley

Ticket price:

£59 - Standard Ticket

£59 - Access Ticket (with free Companion Ticket available)

How to book tickets:

• On our website
• In person at the ticket desk

Option to donate: 

GiftAid is quick, easy, and it doesn't cost you any extra, all you need is to be a UK taxpayer. For every £1 you spend today, we receive another 25p in government support.

Inclusions:

• Admits one adult to the event
• A serving of Christmas pudding (please see notes about dietary restrictions)
• A replica Victorian Penny as a souvenir of your Christmas experience in the home of Charles Dickens

Dates and times for 2026:
Wednesday 18th November at 5pm
Wednesday 25 November at 5pm
Wednesday 2nd December at 5pm
Wednesday 9th December at 5pm
Wednesday 16th December at 5pm
Wednesday 23rd December at 5pm

Please arrive at 5pm for a prompt 5.15pm start.

Duration:

60-75 minutes

Content:

Suitable for 8+ years.

Location: 

Charles Dickens Museum, Doughty Street, London.

Terms and conditions:

Please note that all event tickets are non-refundable. More here.

Queries:

Please email the Events team; events@dickensmuseum.com

Celebrate Christmas with the Dickens family. Learn about Victorian Christmas traditions and participate in family-style feasting. Every ticket sold supports the charity, enabling the museum and collection to be enjoyed by future generations.

• Join us in the London home of the young Charles Dickens and his family to hear from his great-great-great granddaughter, Lucinda Dickens Hawksley, about the traditions her ancestor promoted and participated in. 
• Gather around our table to participate in a ceremonial serving of the Christmas pudding.
• Take home a souvenir penny, historically what the lucky person would have found in the pudding.

The evening starts with a welcome and guided tour of the historic house by Lucinda Dickens Hawksley. Lucinda is an art historian, broadcaster and author of several books, including, Dickens and Christmas, and Victorian Christmas. She will be your expert guide and, as the descendent of Charles and Catherine, your host in the family home.

The tour will be both interesting and entertaining, we are sure you will want to know more. So, what better opportunity than to sit down with Lucinda, to converse with your fellow guests about what you have discovered, and ask Lucinda questions. This will be time well spent, in good company, and it will be time to bring the pudding forth!

An Arthur Rackham illustration from the collection.

A great deal of steam! The pudding was out of the copper. A smell like a washing-day! That was the cloth. A smell like an eating-house, and a pasty cook’s next to each other, with a laundress’s next door to that! That was the pudding.

A Christmas Carol, 1847

We won't be cooking your pudding in the wash-house and we will do our best to accommodate dietary preferences and advised allergens. Please advise these at the time of booking. If not advised with suitable advance notice we may not be able to provide any delicious festive fayre but there will still be lots for you to enjoy. 

Dickens is widely considered the inventor of Christmas, and, while not strictly true, it can't be denied that he did a lot to repopularise it. Living in Victorian London, his writing endorsed family gatherings at Christmastime with feasting, games and decorations as well as the idea of Christmas being a time of charity, good will, and kindness. All of this you will explore further.

This is an intimate gathering, out of hours, at the Charles Dicken Museum. The maximum capacity is 16 persons to ensure everyone is able to benefit from Lucinda's extensive knowledge and unique experience as a direct Dickens descendent.

 A paid-for bar will be open during the Q&A and our Curiosity Shop will be open for the purchasing of Christmas cards and present buying. Lucinda will also be happy to sign any of her books you may whish to purchase with an individual dedication.

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