Sheraton Harborside Hotel, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Whatever you do, make sure you check out the lobby of the Sheraton Harborside Hotel this holiday season.  There is a life size Gingerbread House that is perfect for all those social media pictures that anyone can come in to enjoy.   AND, they have a "free to all" wrapping station so you can wrap your gifts.

When I spoke with Head Chef RJ, he said that the Gingerbread house has over 1200 blocks of gingerbread.  Each of them is a loaf pan size.

Sarah Sullivan/Townsquare Media
Sarah Sullivan/Townsquare Media
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Here's Alexa, as in "Hey Alexa," affixing some holiday peeps on the trim.

Sarah Sullivan/Townsquare Media
Sarah Sullivan/Townsquare Media
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The Gingerbread house and the decorations in the lobby will be on display right now until Christmas.

Mike and Chef RJ were telling me that families will go to Thanksgiving dinner at the hotel's restaurant, 250 Market, then wake up the next morning to peer into the lobby, in their pajamas to see the transformation.

Sarah Sullivan/Townsquare Media
Sarah Sullivan/Townsquare Media
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Free Wrapping Station for All

This is such a cool feature of the Sheraton lobby.  You don't even have to be a guest to get this service.  They have set up a table with wrapping paper, tape and a cool tool to cut the rolls of holiday paper to the size that you need.  You can literally to shopping in downtown Portsmouth, bring your gifts to the hotel lobby and wrap them for free.

Sarah Sullivan/Townsquare Media
Sarah Sullivan/Townsquare Media
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If you're with me, we're sitting down at the restaurant for a little holiday cheer before we head out again.

I can tell you from being a shopper/explorer, hotel lobbies in general don't mind if you come in and hang out even if you're not a guest.  I have done it numerous times in various places.  They want you to explore and hopefully, even if it's not your intent to stay on the day you walk in to wrap a present, maybe you'll book a room or two for a week or two in the future.

Happy Holidays!

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Gallery Credit: Megan

 

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