Gnomes in a floral utopia, elves ‘playing' on children's toys, a fairy wonderland, Christmas tree and Santa's workshop awaits visitors who wander through Santa's Christmas Grotto in Katikati this year.

The grotto is a free offering, open to all 9am-4pm weekdays and 10am-2pm weekends through to Wednesday, December 28, inside The Junction Theatre in The Arts Junction building.

The grotto is organised by Katch Katikati and built from the ground up by volunteers from the groups involved – for 2022 this includes Western Bay Library, Katikati Theatre, Katikati Combined Churches, Katikati Floral Art, Katikati Toy Library and Fairy Wonderland.

Katch Katikati events manager Kirst O'Rourke says more than 30 volunteers from the six groups involved have spent hours upon hours painstakingly creating six magical new displays.

'The aim of this event is to spread Christmas joy to children and our community after a tough year,” says Kirst. 'And the adults involved in creating the displays just love sharing the festive cheer.”

Kirst O'Rourke with her dog Tui inside Santa's Christmas Grotto in Katikati. Photo: John Borren.

Kirst says the grotto promises to wow young and old alike with the magic of the festive season.

'When you step into the grotto, you're transported into another world of glittering lights, fairies and enchanted scenes. It's a very happy, uplifting place to visit.”

This year a new group to the grotto is Katikati Toy Library, which has created an elves' playground using toys from their library and hand-crafted festive characters to ‘play' in the display.

Katikati Toy Library treasurer Toni Connelly says her group is very grateful to have been invited to set up their first grotto display.

'We are a non-profit group that focuses on offering more than 600 children's play resources to loan to our community.

'Toys and kids go hand-in-hand with Christmas so we're happy to have had the chance to create a display. It also suits our toy library ethos of sustainability in the toy space by repurposing and recycling to make play happen – whether it be using recycled materials to make toys or reusing toys through loaning them. We really hope the community loves our first crack in the grotto!”

Children are well-catered for at the grotto – there's opportunity to get selfies with Santa at set times daily through to Friday, December 23. Katikati Toy Library has a competition to count the elves in their display with three winners to each receive a 12-month toy library subscription. Katikati Floral Art has a ‘Count the Gnomes' competition, with the winner receiving a gnome. Plus, there's a colouring competition with the winner receiving a Mural Town Colouring Book.

The grotto is open 9am-4pm weekdays and 10am-2pm weekends inside The Arts Junction Theatre, 36 Main Rd, Katikati, to December 28. Admission via gold coin donation into a wishing well.