The Christmas Lights Switch On has passed for another year, if you were lucky enough to get tickets for this years Switch On then we hope you enjoyed the show. If you did not manage to get tickets then hopefully you will have better luck in 2012.
The switch on event may have passed, however you can enjoy the lights and allt the activities in George Square all the way through Christmas and Hogmanay. Here is a list of Christmas events in Glasgow including the ice rink and big wheel in George Square.
Sunday 20th November 2011
Location: George Square, Glasgow
Tickets: Sold out.
Wrap yourself and the kids up warm and head along for a special night in George Square in November 2011, for Glasgow’s annual Christmas Lights Switch On event.
Gates open at 4:30pm and strictly no entry after 6:15pm
This year you’ll be treated to a night of fun and frolics as George Square’s monuments and Christmas tree are lit up once again.
Enjoy the Christmas carol sing along, then join in the big countdown and watch the spectacular fireworks display!
Hosted by Clyde 1 with performances from Karen Dunbar star of Sleeping Beauty at The Kings Theatre, Rock Choir and a very special performance of Sleeping Beauty by Scottish Ballet; Glasgow’s Christmas Lights is a spectacular family favourite event not to be missed.
Tickets
Tickets for 2011 Christmas Lights Switch On in George Square will be released at 9am on Saturday 29 October. You can get your hands on tickets in the usual ways.
- Book online at www.ticketsoup.com*
- Book by phone on 0844 481 5787*
- Collect in person at the Ticketsoup Box Office, SECC
There is a maximum of 6 tickets per household. The switch-on is a much loved family tradition in Glasgow and always sells out very quickly: last year it sold out within a few hours of the ticket release time, it also managed to break the ticket soup website and jam their phone lines.
Sign up for the Glasgowvant newsletter and we’ll let you know if any of the details for the George Square Christmas lights switch on change.
* A booking fee of 50p per free ticket and a fulfillment fee of £2.00 per transaction will be applied.
Well me my daughter n my 2 yr old grandaughter turned up around 4.15 n asked at gate nr queen st taxi rank n asked security if there were any tickets when a woman overheard n asked how many i needed….lovely surprise 4 my grandaughter who was 2 young 2 know if she was gettin in or not, so could,nt really lose really….wot a great time she had …and me and her mun….BIG THANX 2 THAT LADY x
hiya i was just wondering how can there be a ticket thing cause cant you easily get in? and is there going to be ice scating and stuff? and can you do that if there is without having a ticket? please reply!
thankyou 
Hi! Does anyone know at what time lights will be switched on?
Thank you!
Actually, my kids know nothing about the lights..as that would be “mean” and “unfair”, but turning up on the night on the off chance there maybe some tickets is also building up hopes and unfair. And it is unfair, GCC are selling the tickets so they have a responsibilty to make sure there is a fairer process..what that is I don’t know that’s up to them. I have every right to whinge and moan, I work my back side of all year and pay my taxes so events like this can be done. And the 1 time off the year that is special then of course I want to take my kids to it and get the build Christmas build up!
And don’t try and preach to me about beig responsible and having “family nights out”…believe me I have plenty of them but it doesn’t mean I don’t have a right to go to this as well…the same of thousands in my positions…so don’t try and get personal about quality parenting skills…
Unfortunately it’s a hit and miss with getting these tickets. I managed to get them this year, but that’s the first time in 3 years. No one is guaranteed the tickets. When I couldn’t get them the last few years, we watched it online with the George Square webcams on the GCC webpage. Not the same as being there, but special all the same.
Happy Christmas to all when it comes x
I tried and tried via ticket soup website when the tickets were released, it was an absolute joke!
I have managed to get 2 from elsewhere (family of 4 and had 2 spare). I really wanted to take my kids but I can’t take one without the other. I was thinking of turining up and asking security if they have any spares but I’m scared in case they don’t and my kids will be dissappointed. It really angers me that gumtree and ebay users are getting away with selling the ticket and ripping people off, surely this shouldn’t be allowed! Greedy fat cats cashing in on childrens disappointment…oh yes Glasgow City Council that’s the christmas spirit! Really makes me angry! GCC need to rethink their strategy on tickets or come up with a fairer why to give the tickets out!
How are they meant to do it fairer? I think instead of “come up with a fairer way” you actually mean “give me some tickets”.
They have a set number of tickets and they give them out first come first served. Yes, tickets soup are mince and could definitely do the distribution better, but as far as the council go it’s not an unfair system. We didnt manage to get tickets, but I didn’t build it up for my kids beforehand. THAT would have been unfair (and to be honest, really quite irresponsible and mean – who deliberately disappoints their kids by telling them they can do something before they get tickets?!?).
Instead, we’re going to come into town one night during the week to see the lights once they’ve been switched on and take the kids to dinner somewhere. We don’t need a stage and a couple of fireworks to have a good family night with our kids…
Hi, does anyone know if babies require a ticket?
Hi Michelle. Babies do require separate tickets for the switch on.
Yes, even babies need a ticket! It says so on the smallprint.
The people on ebay are should be banned from the site, i looked for a way to complain with no luck , as for bidding then not paying, i buy from ebay a lot and , i would be barred for none payment .
HI ALL IF YOU DID NOT GET TICKETS AND STILL WANT TO GO THEN JUST GO TO ONE OF THE ENTRY POINTS, EVERY YEAR PEOPLE HAND BACK TICKETS TO THE SECURITY IF THEY ARE UN WANTED SO ITS WORTH JUST ASKING ON THE NIGHT, EITHER THAT OR JUST GO TO TOP OF QUEEN STREET AND YOU WILL SEE THE LIGHTS AND THE FIRE WORKS NO PROBLEM
Got through but have not yet received my tickets . Going to have four unhappy children on sunday
Can anyone tell me if they have received their tickets yet, I have still not received ours, Got through on phone and confirmed that we were successful, its only 6 days away and I dont want 2 disappointed kids!!
Thanks
I don’t think that any of you people realise the amount of people trying to get these tickets online through ticket soup. Their system constantly crashes due to the amount of “traffic” accessing their website.
Ticketmaster’s websites are the same when trying to get tickets for T in the park etc. No matter who takes over the distribution of these tickets, you are gonna see the same problem happening every year online.
Its much easier going to the ticket soup box office, thats where i get mine every year with no hassle.
ticket soup is a joke was offering 10 tickets when u first went on in the morning and has just told me that the payment for 10 tickets wouldnt have went through why offer 10 when they know that they cant give u them i then ordered 2 lots of 6 tickets as my sister couldnt get through and they said that they cant send the 6 tickets to my sister this is for genuin ppl they ought to clamp down on the ppl selling them on gumtree abd ebay and give them to ppl that realy want them i cant disappoint any of my nieces and nephews so i told them not to send me any tickets just refund me my money ticket soup shouldnt be allowed to sell the tickets they are a joke when they cant stop the ones selling them that only profit from free tickets i also know some one that had 5 sets of 6 tickets sent to all different addresses last year JOKE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
I don’t know if this will work for everyone or not but… basically I was one of the unlucky ones who didn’t get tickets due to the fact that TicketSOUP were hopeless. I sent them an email which was direct and to the point, stating exactly what happened (getting notifications saying my tickets were held when there was nothing held at all etc) but was in no way cheeky or rude.
Well, Ive just had a call from them there. Basically they are very sorry, and they have had some tickets made available. Was able to get 4 there and then.
Maybe worth a shot phoning or emailing them
Tried but failed to get tickets again this year.! i hate the fact that scumbags on e-bay can make so much money that us working class folk just cant afford to pay selling (2 tickets at £26.00.!!) Perhaps if we all bid on them then dont pay that might stop their vile trade.
Sick of this ticket caper every year, same problems with phone ..Online etc
Not good enough!
The people SELLING these tickets for more than the 50p that they cost are complete SCUMBAGS!!! You should be ashamed of yourselves. Dont encourage these robbers buy buying them.
Hi I also phoned using mobile,telephone and computer just after 9. Computer says 35 min ,27min then 1 min was excited at this point…back to 40 min. Just after 11 I gave it one more try and was lucky to get tickets. Its not a gd enough system as it says do not refresh this page as you will loose your place in the que,well don’t say 1 min then back up to 35 min.Shame on you ticketsoup
Every year I try to get 4 tickets and every year no matter when I try I am always unsuccessful. I think it was much fairer when you just turned up very early every year because since it has changed to tickets only my kids and I always miss out. My kids are 12 on 29 December and have been every year since birth until system changed – not happy.
I was lucky enough to get tickets thru the ticket soup website but I just wanted to post about some low life that’s selling tickets on Ad Trader, £50 a pair or £120 for 6. It’s disgraceful that people are making money selling tickets for a free event.
yeah there is a couple on ebay as well, some folk have no integrity
defo joke again this year ticketsoup, we had 2 laptops,2 mobiles and a landline and didnt get any luck from 9am onwards due to it saying we had entertered wrong info either numbers from card or address which was not the case and it had said they wyd reserve the tickets for me for 12 hours but i cudnt see a reservation number…..i had signed into my ticket soup before trying to get tickets…..it just so happened i went onto glasgowvant facebook page where someone was of great assistance and kept telling me to check my past bookings in my ticket soup as my reservation would be in there and it was so maybe some ppl should check just incase there reservations are sitting there ……if it wasnt for that guy i would of lost out once again to get these golden tickets.
Glad you got them Amy. And glad to be of assistance!!!
Can I say that the same Happened to me .. I was ready at 9am requested 6 tickets got them went to pay booking fee got the error” details didn’t match” after 15 attempts(also called my bank to check my details exactly matched) still no luck , tried my sisters card and details still not joy .. kept going till there were sold out.but kept saying we will hold these for 12 hours but there was no reference.I hoped they would have some details so tried calling
.I got through after 62 attempts to be told they was nothing they could do as i didnt have the reference number .
Am gutted, my toddler son is gutted as he was helping me book them . Glasgow miles better ??? not any more.
Then there is folk who want to make money selling them , that’s a disgrace .
Absolute waste of time trying to get tickets! My mum started trying to get through bang on 9am but after over an hour opened the website and was in a que position 18 minutes away. This eventually got to 3 minutes but then proceeded to skip between 35 and 5 minutes until the website crashed. Eventually got an answer on the phone only to then be put on hold but had to hang up after 35 minutes to go to work.
Gutted we never got “free” tickets this year and will really miss it. Pretty dissapointed in the way the phone lines & website is run. Fair enough first come first serve but surely theres a better way eh!
I also logged onto ticket soup just before 9am and at 9.01 was advised that I would have a wait of 27 minutes. I didn’t think this was too bad and waited by the computer whilst the minutes went down. When it finally said I was less than a minute away it then jumped back upto 68 minutes and stayed there for longer. Really disappointed that I was unable to get tickets. Perhaps there needs to be more than one website used to spread out the demand.
Once again Ticket Soup have made a mess of it. I was online just before 9 this morning and tried repeatedly to order tickets using various cards as every time I got that far it said my order had not been processed but the tickets would be held for several hours and I should contact a tel no and quote a reference no (which I wasn’t given anyway!). Every time I called the no it was engaged – surprise!!!
I signed up to the Glasgowvant and Ticket Soup newsletters so I wouldn’t miss the date the tickets were released. I have a ticket soup account but it wouldn’t let me log into this to process my order quicker either. I got sick of having to input all my details several times to get nowhere and gave up over an hour later. Let someone else handle the ticket situation next year as Ticket Soup have proved 2 years running that they are incapable.
Surprise the same thing happened to me it said I had 3 tickets which I tried to submit card details for four times !!!!!! and like you it kept repeating I had run out of time which was rubbish I hadn’t, I also tried to get through on the telephone and when I did it said sorry tickets are sold out . Maybe the tickets went out on an earlier date ???????