family festivals – the joy of five

With only a few short weeks left until the summer holidays begin I’m sure that a lot of you are already thinking about how to fill those long six weeks. We already have a few exciting things planned with one of them kicking off the holidays in the best way ever – Camp Bestival.

We are literally on countdown now as there is under five weeks to go and the line up is looking as incredible as ever!

Lulworth Castle will soon be turned into one of the most immense festivals you could wish to take your little ones too with entertainment from Mr Tumble, Dick and Dom, Mister Maker And The Shapes, Dinosaur World Live, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, Gruesome Nature Live and bundles more!

If it is music you are looking for then you are in for a treat as taking to the stage this year are Simple Minds, Rick Astley, Clean Bandit, Orbital, Basement Jaxx, Shed Seven, Tokyo Myers, Declan McKenna, DJ Sara Cox taking things back to the 80,s and for the teens there is YouTube sensation, HRVY.

Something that always appeals to us as a family is the huge range of food on offer and this year seems to be just as good with traders such as River Cottage and the Feast Collective, DJ BBQ and his BBQ Zoo, Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen and one I’m very much looking forward too – Rob and Josie’s Gin Festival.

There is a huge choice of accommodation to which may come as a surprise to many of you. Not only can you pitch up yourself, there is also the option to pick a more luxurious stay in one of the yurts, tipis or gypsy caravans that really would make your stay all that more special.

If this sounds like your kind of thing…and lets face it who wouldn’t then I have a family ticket up for grabs and you can enter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

T&Cs

•The prize includes weekend tickets to Camp Bestival for two adults and up to four children (under 18)

• Prize is non-transferrable

• Winners names will be added to a guest list for wristband collection onsite

• ID will be required for collection

• Full Camp Bestival T&Cs here

After our first festival experience last year it was on my to do list to get out and find more family friendly music venues.

So when we got an invite to attend Rave A Roo at The Ministry Of Sound we jumped at the chance!

To be honest when I was younger I was never into big music venues so the Ministry Of Sound was not a place I had been to so I was intrigued to see what I had missed out on.

Standing in the freezing cold, queueing to get into a nightclub in the middle of the day with four children was a little surreal to be honest but number three was champing at the bit to get inside.

If I’m honest I had visions of walking into a dingy club with sticky floors but I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was really clean, and had been set up perfectly for children and adults alike to share the whole experience.

We started in the bar area where I grabbed a cheeky processo while the children played with the neon plasticine and the super cool ball blowing inflatable.

From here we made our way to the soft play area for the littles to let off some steam. After number four got a little to excited with a soft play block we made a quick exit into the main room.
We timed it perfectly as Go! Go! Go! from Nick Jr had just taken to the stage to perfom. They really got the audience involved and there was a sea of people all jumping around to the music.

Once Go! Go! Go! had left the stage the resident DJs kept us entertained with great music that took me right back to my youth. It really got me moving much to the embarrassment for number two! Beach balls were thrown around the audience and confetti showers covered us all much to the delight of the little ones.

There was also a photo booth thatI never managed to get my lot rounded up to have a go in.

The last place we visited before making our way home was the tattoo station to get some UV tattoos.

Number four was so happy with them he said he was never going to wash his hand!

To round off the day we stopped outside to grab a bite to eat. The boys had burgers that were good value for money and the girls had our favourite churros.

All in all this was a great event. A mixture of music, soft play, crafts and lots of dancing plus good food and drinks for the adults was a recipe for a great event and they certainly managed to pull it off.

The only downside for me was not having enough hands to try and keep all four of mine under control in the dark but this was down to my husband dropping out at the last minute and my rubbish parenting skills!!

We will most certainly be returning again!

We were given tickets for the purpose of this review and they are all my own honest opinions.