Sleighbells Farm & Gift Shop

Scrooged at Sleighbells. We spent over an hour looking for a tree...you know how it goes. You find a great tree then realize it belongs to someone else. Eventually you..well kinda settle because your tired. I placed my tag on the tree and had someone with a chain saw cut it down. My son and I hauled it up the hill and back down. While they were bailing the tree we decided to go inside for some hot chocolate. When I went to get the tree a worker asked me to speak with the manager. I'm thinking great the tree broke or someone accidentally went home with it.

NOPE. The manager said I cut down someone's tree. I proceeded to tell her there were no tags, no ribbons. She said there was orange spray paint on the trunk and then said she had no idea what happened to the tags. I continued to argue with her and she said she wouldn't charge me for cutting down the tree, and that I could go back out.

Sorry, but no. Most of the good trees are already taken...so good luck if you go out there. We have been going out there for the last 10 years, and things continue to get worse..so we're done there.

This review is for the Santa ONLY. This is hands down the best Santa. Genuinely interested in the kids. He knows how to get them to smile at the right time for photos. Plus he talks to them about manors and good behavior too!

Magical!!! Every year I come here for a tree and decor. Now I come here for Santa pictures and memories!

DO NOT COME HERE FOR TREES! (Unless you are well versed in the varieties of Christmas trees)
This was my first and will be my only experience at sleigh bells. They tell you the trees are organized in areas and provide a map you can take a photograph of. The trees are quite expensive and so we went to the field with the cheaper grand firs. We selected our tree, got it shaken and paid nearly $20 more than their price list stated. When I questioned this I was told I had a noble fir tree. Unknown to me the field they marked as grands was a field of nobles. When I brought this up stating I should not be charged for their mistakes they merely apologized and said I could give back my tree and go look for another one.

Not to mention the selection was terrible, the trees are not well maintained: trimmed or nourished, and they are not worth their prices.

I was thoroughly excited to visit this place after I've driven by for years and wanted to stop in. We were looking for a Christmas tree and was invited by a family member to go there and get a tree.

When we got there, it was rather chaotic. I had no idea what to do and there were no signs stating ANYTHING about either price or directions. I was lost. We asked the people at the tree area what to do and they gave us a run down. After we picked up our tree we brought it down, but there were no designated places to drop it off so that it could be shaken and bundled. We finally tracked someone down and they told us where to drop it off. There was confusion around the tags as well. My brother actually got kind of yelled at by an employee because apparently the tags were not supposed to be separated and they told my brother that employees were getting fired for letting people separate the tags. (That gives me suuuuuch a great impression of management [insert sarcasm]). Again, there were no signs or ANYTHING stating how to get a tree.

The gift shop was incredibly crowded. There were no places to sit, and they charged $5 to sit with Santa and take a picture with your own phone. Maneuvering room was very limited and I felt claustrophobic. I had to go outside.s

Long story short, it was unorganized chaos. I do not like going into anything not knowing how much I am going to pay for something. This place could improve a lot of things, mostly customer service and organization. I got a nice tree, some delicious kettle corn, and a cup of free hot (meaning slightly warm) chocolate, which moved the experience from 1 star to 2, but I won't be back. There are other places which offer a better experience and more products (such as food and HOT chocolate and cider) for a family friendly Christmas tree shopping experience.

It saddens me to know the place we have come to has slowly dwindled in the genuine experience of ornament shopping. I have been coming here for over 25 years. However 15 years ago my husband and I created a tradition to secretly shop for each other's ornaments as there was so many to choose from. Every year we would come here and the excitement of opening our ornaments the night of to put on the tree was our adult treat. No more. It's been skim pickings for 4 years and almost a forceful purchase just to have something that night. Last weekend was the first year we walked out both empty handed and very sad. Off to find it somewhere else if even that as christmas is 6 days away. No time to hunt. Their selection went from 100% down to maybe 20%, not a good number. When I asked why they said they sold out. Really? For 4 or so years now. The crowd is no different from past. The only reason I am giving a 3 rating is for santa. We bring our 5 yr old here and have since she was born and we love the scene presented for pictures and memories. The wait is very short and nice santa. But that is all. I dont know what happened to the shop ornament purchase but they have fully failed us. I was stopped this last weekend by another shopper and asked what happened to the ornament selection as she'd been going for many years too. I told her it's been getting less and less for many years now. It used to be such a grand place to go every year....other than Santa the kettle corn was nice. (Had to add this as I do appreciate great service but I've held my sadness back for our experience for too long). I left broken hearted.

I don't have anything else to compare Sleighbells to. I have been to this place in Sherwood many times over the years. While there are some items decently priced, most items are simply overpriced.

Santa and the Santa setup is nothing amazing and so a $5 price tag to take your own photos is on the steep side if you ask me. If you don't care about the photos, then it's free for the kids to talk to Santa.

While some complain about the hot chocolate being cold or cool. I would agree with other reviewers that it's plenty hot to drink and not hot enough to worry about kids being burned. So I am fine with that. First cup is free and $1 per cup after that.

The inside temperature is a little cold for my taste. But some people may like that as they may feel they don't need to shed any layers upon entering.

Today (Saturday) was extremely busy. I didn't get a tree, but many people were at the shop and getting trees.

Overall, if you are near Sherwood and want a large selection of decorations to look at, it's worth checking out. I would not travel great distances for this experience though. But again, remember my review is based on not having another similar experience to compare it to. This is the only Christmas shop in the middle of a tree farm, that I have been to.

So far, I prefer a more convenient setting with paved parking lots and lower prices with bigger indoor spaces.

While I am no expert in everything that Sleighbells has to offer, I didn't see anything that stood out as hand made or unique. Everything appeared to be items mass produced that you could get elsewhere for cheaper. Which is unfortunate as I think this type of business would be more satisfying if it had a lot of handmade/unique items instead of the usual catalog and store items.

Disappointing. As a child, my family went to Sleighbells only once and as an adult I now understand why. The last few years I have been urged to go by a few friends and this year actually ended up going. I recommended sleigh bells to a few friends and am completely embarrassed at doing so. It was incredibly crowded but really, tis the season. My irritation was the lack of organization and conflicting information received from employees.

The kettle corn was tasty but cold, the hot chocolate was almost warm and totally lumpy and there were no maps or pricing information readily available. Upon request we learned the pricing tiers for the different kinds of trees, but there was no information on which trees are which or where they could be found.

We found a great tree in good health, it looks beautiful and the price was okay. But the experience was a disappointing one.

Sleigh bells was disappointing this year. They had hardly any ornaments that they used to have. They looked like they are either going out of business or trying to make it more easier to walk through. I really only visited here for ornaments but ill have to find a new place because they dont have a good selection anymore and are more tiny village focused now. We found only 2 glass ordainments we really liked and went to check out and it was $113. They were about $55 each when anywhere else we could probably find them for $15-20, so we left without buying anything.

Bought a Christmas tree from them. Amazing lot, my tree looks fake because of how perfect it is, and it took me about 5 min to find it. With a 2 year old and a 10 week old, that was a HUGE plus to walk into a forest of perfect trees.

Also, they had a certified fireman there to tie the tree down to the roof with efficient use of string, and some very good knots that I could not tie myself. It's kind of nice to know that a fireman basically guarantees that the tree is "fit for highway speeds" on your roof.

Had a quick and unconfusing process for buying, paying and receiving your tree.

Found a couple good fun trinkets in the gift shop which is cramped but has a few neat things to look at.

We will probably return. Mostly for the service and good prices on 6ft Noble Fir ($38).