Those of us involved in town centre management have grown to dislike Christmas over the years.

What was once an exercise in nice-to-do, in terms of switching on the lights, has become an exercise in never-good-enough.

Back in the day, Christmas events in town and shopping centres were about carol singing, a few lights, a nice tree and some last minute shopping. Today everything is high pressure.

Is the tree big enough or good enough? Has the right choice or grade of celebrity been secured to switch on the lights? Is there a parade? Are there fireworks?

Are customers going to spend as well as countdown, sing and “ooh and ahh” in the right places? How early in the year can we get away with switching the lights on so that we get our money’s worth?

As you can imagine, or maybe don’t stop to consider, everything comes at a price. Sometimes this is a considerable price for just a few moments in the year.

Not too long ago, a celebrity with a reasonable profile would charge not far off £10,000 to switch on the festive lights.

Those with immense pulling power today will charge considerably more – maybe boosted by their influence over social media such as Twitter. The equivalent of 1p per follower is probably a conservative estimate.

Add to that quotes of a few thousand for a cracking Christmas tree with decorations and the price starts to stack up - and not in a good way either.

Christmas parades cause their own problems in these precautionary times of litigation and due diligence.

Crowd barriers, risk assessments, public liability insurance, wristbands and hand-wash all play a part. Less so the actual participants. When did “flaming torch parade” become “low energy LED tea-light parade”?

It would seem that Christmas events need to regain their sparkle. In line with town centres becoming more about community-owned spaces and hubs for socialising, should we not build upon these values and, just for once, make Christmas magical for the children and stave off the economic worry for two or three hours.

Think children.

Think Father Christmas – a proper jolly one that deserves to wear the red suit.

Think reindeer – real ones that smell, sniff and snort and have a fair chance at pulling the sleigh.

Think fairytales – pantomime characters in costume that talk and interact.

Think grown-up toys – a new electric car from BMW that mum or dad might want to see under the tree.

Think Christmas jollity – church bells, carols and singing and dancing.

Think recognition – do younger children really watch Eastenders and TOWIE or do they watch CBeebies, Boomerang and the myriad of other channels now avaliable.

Think High Wycombe 2013.

Stand up, be counted, support your local town, be a child for two hours.