An Afternoon at Big Fish Little Fish Family Rave

We’ve been meaning to go along to Big Fish Little Fish for a while and finally this weekend we went! We’d had a little taste of how fabulous it was going to be when we went along to the free Big Fish Little Fish event they held at The Southbank Centre as part of the Imagine Festival. We loved it and I knew that I wanted to go to one of the monthly events at The Bedford in Balham and I did a little dance around the room when Natasha invited us to come along as a family and see what it’s all about!

The event runs from 2 – 4.30pm on a Sunday afternoon and is only a 5 minute walk from the train station, and the journey from our house is half an hour – perfect – no driving required. We went along with our best friends and their kids, who had also come to the Southbank before and loved it. We already knew that the event was a sell out but rather wonderfully that didn’t mean that it was filled up to capacity – there was still plenty of space to move around, on the dance floor and in the upstairs craft room and chill out rooms.

On arrival the kids were given a glow stick each and then they hit the craft room, the theme was Mad Hatter's Party and Captain Cookie, the resident craft person had all the materials a kid would need to make a Mad hatter hat. It was genius! And it was all laid out so that the kids could adorn their hats with any extras, like playing cards and streamers. Isla got stuck in and I couldn’t resist being involved too.  There was also a fabulous Alice in Wonderland mural for the kids to all colour in and add to, you could even buy a copy of it to take away to use at a party of your own – such a great idea! Also in the room was face painting and temporary tattoos, all included in the ticket price, which is something I really appreciate as so many places you go, you have to pay for a ticket then everything else is extra. There were some great little biscuits and cake you could buy that were in keeping with the Alice theme.

Once the kids had finished getting their craft on, we went downstairs for a dance and it was so nice hearing music that I used to love and dance to when I was clubbing in the 90’s! I love new music as well but there is nothing like a trip down memory lane and a bit of nostalgia. It’s a nice reminder that there was life before kids and gave me the feeling that it’s possible to go and dance with your kids. Hearing Raze - 'Break for Love' and Groove Armada brought me so much happiness. The venue felt really safe for the kids, although I'm  not yet comfortable with the older ones (aged 6) going off on their own quite yet, even though it was a small enough place. Every now and then there would be bubbles and confetti bombs going off and towards the end of the event the parachute came out and everyone piled underneath it.

My favourite memories of Sunday afternoon were dancing with Isla to Neneh Cherry's Buffalo Stance. Such a classic song and a reminder that before kids I LOVED music and I need to start sharing the music I love with them more. And also lifting Noah up to pop the bubbles as they came down from above. 

At the end the kids were given a box of Bear Nibbles and a Happy Monkey Smoothie which was such a lovely touch and we went on our way, slightly sweaty and after being in a dimly lit pub for the past two hours, marvelling that it was daylight outside (something that if you went clubbing back in the day you would also marvel about at 6am outside Leisure Lounge or Ministry of Sound!).

Details of the next Big Fish Little Fish's event can be found here http://www.bigfishlittlefishevents.co.uk/events/

I'm personally getting very excited about getting my Big Fish Little Fish fix at Camp Bestival in the summer and I'm considering a CB warm up at one of the three events BFLF are holding in the run up to the festival.

We were given free family entry to Big Fish Little Fish. 

Camp Bestival - Our Highlights!

When you approach the site and you see the Big Top and the Soul Park it feels really magical. It's plainly obvious how much effort and work has gone into the planning of it all and what I loved about the Friday at Camp Bestival was the vast amounts of space available. This was different on Saturday and Sunday where it was a lot busier. Here are our favourite things from the festival:

Meeting an owl!
As soon as we got on site on the first day we were drawn towards the birds of prey brought to CB by Haven Falconry. Isla was desperate to handle one, so I donated £3 and she got to hold a Little Owl. It was gorgeous. I'm a big owl fan and I would have liked to have gone back and seen one of the the daily displays that they held.

Lulworth Castle itself:
Isla had a good look around the outside of the entire castle every day that we went on to the festival site - she loved looking through all the windows, pointing things out that she could see and making up her own little stories about who lived there. It really is a stunning building. 

Making Friends & Trying New Things
Kids have a knack of making friends instantly. They are best friends for the weekend and there's no sadness that they won't see each other ever again at my kids age, they accept it was temporary and move on. I loved seeing them engage with other children. The other thing I was so happy about was seeing Isla become so brave and want to join in with everything. She was first to put her hand up to participate and she had no fear. I loved that.

Save The Children:
Near to the castle were some charitable organisations and we spent a really long time at the Save the Children tent where Isla made a loom band (aargh!) and had some glitter tattoos done, Noah also had one. The team at Save the Children were lovely and we had a brief conversation about Gaza as I'd signed the petition a couple of days previous. There is a real charity presence at Camp Bestival which makes it feel less commercial.

The Flying Seagulls:
Now, The Flying Seagulls were a real highlight of our Friday at Camp Bestival. They were brilliant. Isla was totally captivated by them from the minute the juggling show started with Billy Bang leading the team of performers in a very funny show. She sat amongst all the other children giggling and following all the instructions that Billy gave out. And when it came to audience participation she was first with her hand up and desperate to stand at the front and try to juggle. It was so lovely to see my girl showing the extrovert in her and I know she is braver than I was at her age. Noah was also quite taken with the Flying Seagulls but he chose to take more of a backseat sitting on my lap to observe what was going on. We must have been part of it for at least an hour and then they came round for donations to the causes they support. They work mainly in Romania, Albania and UK and their aim is to make arts accessible for all including those with disabilities and children in hospital.

BigtopMania Kids Big Top:
Another place where we spent a lot of time. There were opportunities for the kids to show off their talents (we narrowly escaped Isla getting picked to sing 'Let It Go'!), theatre shows that involved the kids from the Treehouse Theatre Company  - (personal favourite moment was when they asked a tent full of kids how should someone die in the next part of the play and a kid shouts in a pool of acid!?! Nice.). This is also where Isla tried out the trapeze. I could have burst with pride over the weekend with everything she had a go at.

Making Stuff!
There were so many opportunities to make things and Isla loves crafting. So we made a brilliant pom pom using strips of mesh fabric, a flower headdress (my favourite make) and an elephant. The flower headdress was the only thing that cost money - £3 but it looked gorgeous and was worth that for keeping Isla occupied. 

The Food:
We ate some delicious food while we were there, some really tasty burgers and pulled pork but my most favourite lunch were the naan wraps from Rola Wala. They were absolutely scrumptious and I'd love to know where we can taste those again!

The Helter Skelter and Merry Go Round:
These both needed to be paid for but it was so cool to see Isla go off on her own up such a high structure. The Helter Skelter is something that she previously would have refused to try or insist I come on with her and I have to be honest seeing how big it was I did nearly say we had to do it together but parenting is as much about letting go so I encouraged her and she loved every second! Noah thought the merry go round was amazing fun too and we rode that together saying Giddy Up all the way round.

The Bandstand:
Some fabulous folk music to be heard here. We sat and enjoyed a cup of Yorkshire tea and listened to the music while Noah slept in the trolley. We particularly enjoyed The Jimmy Hillbillies and we ended up seeing them again when we went into The Travelling Barn Tavern where Isla struck up a 10 minute friendship with a little girl and I couldn't help but smile watching them as they danced and span each other round. 

The Insect Circus:
This was so cool, a travelling 'insect circus', all capable of amazing physical feats! Amongst them jugglers, trapeze artists and tight rope walkers. Isla and Noah were both captivated.

Miscellaneous:
Final things that we loved about Camp Bestival were all the impromptu stuff you would just come across. Random pianos to play, hula hooping competitions, brass bands. Ice creams every day were a must to celebrate the blue skies. 

Things I'm sad we missed are: Dingly Dell - we're big fans of being outdoors and the National Trust so it's a shame that we didn't make it there. The Wall of Death! Really wish we'd seen that, definitely on my list for next year. I'd also like to have spent more time in the Bollywood tent and in the Caravanserai Bar - particularly sitting in one of those Waltzer cars having a drink.

So as you can see there are just too many highlights to Camp Bestival and we will DEFINITELY be going again!

If you want to check out how other people experienced Camp Bestival then have a look at the following blog reviews, each and everyone had a very different experience and I think that in itself speaks volumes for how much there is to do and experience at Camp Bestival

Manneskjur 
Munchies & Munchkins 
76 Sunflowers 
Chelsea Mamma 
RocknRoll Mum 
Vicki Brown Designs 
Parent Shaped 
Purple Mum 


We paid for our tickets to Camp Bestival. This post is purely driven by a need to share our experience with you. 

Camp Bestival - A Family First!

This weekend was a first for us. We went camping as a family. But even better than that we camped as a family at Camp Bestival!! 

I love festivals. I've not been to loads but I have great memories of the few that I have been to. So I felt a bit like I was starting to reclaim back little pieces of me this weekend by going to Camp Bestival. 

We bought our tickets months and months ago and I thought the time would drag in anticipation of the event. I'm not going to pretend it's cheap, because it isn't, however Camp Bestival offer a really nifty payment plan where you can pay a chunk and then pay a small amount weekly. It made the expense feel more palatable and go unnoticed. 

In preparation we got all our camping gear, including a brilliant Outwell tent from eBay - a 6 man beast, which when up made all the difference to our camping experience, so much room and complete with it's own carpet! New sleeping bags, camping chairs, festival bunting made by my sister (v important), glow sticks, kettle and all manner of other camping equipment was acquired. We talked about our camping trip to the kids non stop until the event was suddenly here!

On Thursday we set off from home to East Lulworth in Dorset with much excitement and our car bulging! We purposely bought tickets for early Thursday entry so we had maximum time to set up and get settled. The road was long and everyone was a bit restless by the time we arrived but with the aid of Mr Trolley we got all our stuff from the car to the campsite.

As we were Camp Bestival Newbies we didn't think too carefully about where to camp apart from to pitch within about 5 minutes walk of where we entered the site. This had it's pros and cons. Pros were that we were in a fairly quiet spot, meaning less noise and it wasn't crowded. Cons were that it was a real trek to the festival site, there were no showers in our campsite and toilets weren't plentiful. However I'm not going to complain about this. We didn't suffer for not having a shower (and boy was that shower on my return the best one I'd ever had). The kids loved breaking out of the normal routine and dry hair shampoo isn't bad really.

Once we'd set up (which took hours!), we cooked a nutritious meal (supernoodles), got to know our neighbours and their kids (thanks to them for helping us set up the tent and child minding while we did so!) and then went for a walk to get the festival vibe started. This is where we saw how hilly Camp Bestival is....!

The kids loved sleeping in the tent, they slept well all 3 nights we stayed (should have been 4 but we skipped the last one). Me and the OH on the other hand felt rather worse for wear after a night on the air beds and random car alarms going off, but that wasn't going to spoil our fun. After breakfast off we went for our first day in the festival.

Come back for the next instalment..... :-)

Wow, I've broken my blog silence, Camp Bestival must have ignited more than a passion for festivals. 

We bought our own tickets for Camp Bestival. These posts come from the pure delight that we experienced there and a need for me to get back to documenting our family fun.