My family and I were invited to have dinner with Santa at Meadow Brook Hall and a magical night it was.
First off, Meadow Brook Hall is located in Rochester and was the home of the Dodge and Wilson families. Matilda, widow of automobile pioneer John Dodge and her second husband, lumber broker Alfred G. Wilson built the 110 room 88,000-square-foot, Tudor-revival style home.
Much of the home is inspired by English manor houses of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries that Matilda and Alfred traveled to on their architectural tours of England.
Meadow Brook Hall was completed in 1929 at a cost of nearly $4 million.
Dinner consisted of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce and corn. Dessert was a piece of chocolate or white iced cake with raspberry glaze. The wine glasses on the table were filled with grape and apple juice for the children…it was however “their” evening and the special details were fitting.
The real excitement was Santa and the funny balloon making clown that traveled from table to table entertaining the children. My girls had a great time making this an event we will probably add to our holiday traditions.
After dinner we took a tour of the magnificent home in all it’s splendor. Each room had an exquisitely decorated Christmas tree and on each tree was hidden a pickle for the children to find. At the end of the tour, once all of the pickles were found, the children got a prize. This was a great way to entertain the children during the tour.
We had a wonderful evening as a family that was both special for the children as well as for the adults seeing the excitement in their faces.
I recommend if you are a Rochester resident, a resident of metro Detroit or traveling to the Detroit area, that you visit Meadow Brook Hall and see a huge piece of American history.
Disclosure: My family and I were invited to Meadow Brook Hall for a review. The opinions expressed in this post are mine and mine alone and are not influenced in any way by anyone.
Courtney is the ultimate multitasking mom! She runs three blogs Giftfully Simple, The Digital Mommy and Detroit Mommies , is a Social Media Marketing Consultant and has 3 girls under 6 years old. Courtney is the founder of Detroit Mommies. You can follow her on Twitter @theappleofmyeye. She has worked with companies like Johnsons & Johnsons, Dove, e.l.f., Stride Rite, Sorel, 20th Century Fox, The Palace, Melissa & Doug, Panera, Tiny Prints and Ford (to name a few). Courtney is a Purex® Insider and a Max Mom for Office Max.
