Family Activities

Hyde Park Winter Wonderland: Wot so Funee?

Last week we had an invite to the spectacular Hyde Park Winter Wonderland experience. Mummy has always wanted to go, but balked at stories of queues and prices with young children in tow. Come the day, Mummy was ill in bed with gastric flu. Being caring souls, we deposited a tray of lucozade and paracetamol by her pillow, and gave her a cheery wave before heading off with Daddy in search of hedonism. What we did at Winter Wonderland   We rode the giant observation wheel – 3 revolutions in 5 minutes were just perfect to show us everything we …

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Hogwarts at Christmas: my Mum is a witch

  My Mum is evil. I don’t say this lightly, because I love my Mum – today. I didn’t yesterday because she did the Hogwarts at Christmas tour. And she didn’t take me! I know! Evil, right? The Making of Harry Potter studio tour from Warner Brothers has been closed for a week – which is pretty epic news in itself, given that 6,000 visitors pass through its doors each day. But this is what they’ve been doing: They actually sieved fake snow onto the awesome Hogwarts model! Part of the tour over the festive period involves an explanation of …

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Wedding vows: part 2

The groom read his vows from his tablet

Image credit: Stephanie Belton Having seen the love for Mummy’s wedding vows, Daddy was keen to share his own words from the day. It’s copy pasted from his own typing, which he sent from his iPad, which he also used at the altar to read his vows from! Hels Bels, H Mc B, I really do love you so much. You are & will always be my best friend. You give me advice & support when I ask for it, tell me to pull myself together when I don’t ask. Though sometimes you do seem to take my bosses point …

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When pyjama day became party day: Wii Party U review

A rather epic parcel arrived in the post yesterday. As with another recent delivery, the word awesome was used quite a lot by my brother. As luck would have it, yesterday was also the day we had planned for a pyjama day, and we quickly cast aside all thoughts of baking, movies and craft in favour of exploring this box of goodies. We were beside ourselves with excitement and wanted to get started straight away. It did take Mummy about half an hour to set us up, but then she is a neat freak and wanted all the cables tidied …

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Saturday night is Sodastream cocktails night!

By GG… It’s the weekend! Which in our house heralds only one thing. Daddy cracks open the Sodastream flavours and mixes some mean cocktails! We reviewed our Sodastream Source machine back in June when Daddy took a nostalgic trip back in time on Father’s Day, recalling how he had once attempted to fashion champagne from a bottle of Blue Nun in the seventies. The new machines have come a long way since then, and ours is elegant enough to be allowed a permanent spot on Mummy’s minimalist kitchen work surfaces 😉 Now, we tried them all at the time and …

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Harry Potter Studio Tour London review – don’t bother with Universal

I am not well-known for wanting to go out. I may have mentioned before that leaving the house is a process which requires expert “people management” skills on behalf of my parents. It begins with a bright and cheerful “Today we’re going to….” followed by some strategic groaning and face-making by yours truly. So I astonished even myself when I was up and dressed before the old’s alarm went off, on the day we had scheduled to visit the Harry Potter Studio Tour in London. When you book tickets you have to choose a time-slot, and we were a tad early …

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Geocaching – a treasure hunt for families with a difference

Durdle Door – a geocache location I have to confess that the word geocaching used to leave me cold. I had visions of map-reading in extreme circumstances, rain, rock scrambling, and walking – WALKING! Just Dance it is not. Nor is it hanging out with friends, watching the X-Factor, or chilling out in bed with a book. In short, not something I wanted to do. But then we did geocaching at Center Parcs: we scrapped over who was going to follow the GPS coordinates, and by the time we had our second code we were hooked. We came home determined …

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7 things you need to pack when camping with kids

I dragged my parents camping several times this summer. Some of it they enjoyed (namely, the parts where they were asleep, and the parts where they were drinking cider), some of it they didn’t. I enjoyed ALL of it. I know how to have a good time, and so I offer you my best tips for getting rid of the camping jitters and throwing yourself into the spirit of camping with kids. What to take when camping with kids Friends: there is nothing like a couple of middle-aged people whining about boredom to wreck your holiday. There are fields full …

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How to Use Up Leftover Egg Yolks: Chewy Lemon and White Chocolate Cookies Recipe

The perfect recipe to use up leftover egg yolks   Egg yolk recipes are thin on the ground, unless you’re keen to make a homemade custard. And let’s face it, who wants the bother of making a custard (or one step further, an ice cream recipe) when you’ve just whipped up a pavlova (likely the reason you have leftover egg yolks in the first place)? This egg yolk cookies recipe is the answer. It’s a basic method I’ve used for many years, and it’s a great way of using up leftover egg yolks when you’ve made a meringue. Really simple, …

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7 reasons why you want to be a Center Parcs blogger in 2014

This year I was a Center Parcs blogger. What this means is that I had a bit of a giggle joining in with challenges every month and writing about them on the blog, and then I had a free holiday at Center Parcs. As an 8 year old, anything which forces my mother into the craft box with me is welcome, so I can thoroughly recommend it from that perspective. You too can be a Center Parcs blogger! Center Parcs are now looking for next year’s recruits, so I thought I’d give you 7 reasons why you might like to …

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Jamie Oliver’s Big Feastival the only family-friendly festival you need (review).

Highs for the kids at Big Feastival 2013

Call me Victor Meldrew if you will, but most of the time I enjoy staying at home. I like my own company, my family (though if you tell my sister I said that I will shoot you with my best stick), and just hanging out with my toys. Going out is – well, it’s hard work to be honest: getting dressed, putting shoes on, walking, all of those things are just an irritation, and I prefer to be getting on with life. But on Sunday I was actually keen to leave the house. I surprised everyone, including myself by looking …

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A Just So Festival Review – Not your average camping trip…

The Just So Festival feels funky and colourful

This year we attended our first festival as a family. Prior to my arrival, M&D spent a fair bit of time at festivals, by all accounts being carefree and jolly, though how that’s possible without the presence of a fun-loving child, I have no idea. Anyway, they’ve been in enforced festival-hibernation for 8 years, and this was the summer they intended to go back to their grass roots – literally. We started with Magic Summer Live – a music festival, breaking ourselves in gently with just one day. That ticked, could we manage a whole weekend? We donned our wellies …

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What floats my boat – a Center Parcs family post

This year we are a Center Parcs family. What that means is that me and the Bug bang on and on and on about “when are we going back to Center Parcs, Mummy?” while Mummy daydreams about the 3 blissful hours she spent in the Aqua Sana spa there, not having to listen to such stuff. It also means that we get to feature Center Parcs on our blog, whilst having a go at the fun challenges that they set us. All good so far. However, several of the challenges this year for the Center Parcs family team have revolved …

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5 things you never knew you could do in London for kids

We live close to London, so we’re lucky to have it on our doorstep whenever we’re stuck for something to do. From lunches in Chinatown, to cycling practice in Regent’s park, via an hour (or several) in Hamley’s. Our children are so lucky to have this city available to explore. And yet more often than not we go to the usual places, the obvious sites, missing the many hidden jewels that London for kids has to offer. So this holiday we decided to explore some of the secrets of London for kids. London for kids: Stratford This week we visited The …

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Letting go: good clean fun with Persil’s small and mighty kids campaign

This post is sponsored by Persil. It is our summary of a fabulous week outdoors in the sunshine 🙂 Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is the best thing in the world. Strange statement, I know, for a post about good dirty clean fun outdoors, but bear with me. 15 years ago my regular night-time pattern was to sleep until 2am, wake for 4 hours, then drift off to sleep around 6, ready for the alarm at 7. Every single night. For more than 10 years. I was a wreck. I survived on coffee, and moaned about everything. CBT changed all that, and …

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A BIG night in with Lucky Voice online karaoke (review)

Did you read that? What it says on the box? Oh, yes! Mummy is never going to get access to her laptop ever again!  Because this karaoke party kit arrived last week from Lucky Voice, and now I’ve got the hang of it, I’m planning to exercise my vocal chords every opportunity I get. Lucky Voice have a chain of upmarket Karaoke bars across the country, but this is the first time they have ventured into our homes online. My Mum is rubbish with technology, so she had a bit of a faff trying to set the party kit up, …

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Can you really go to a music festival with kids?

I am told that my Dad was once quite cool. I am led to believe that he introduced Mummy to indie music. Prior to their meeting she was all a bit Take That and Celine Dion (I know!!) but he soon sorted her out with a trip to the V Festival in Leeds. There they had an enormous row about a baked potato, and she fell in love with Gene and the Supernaturals. Daddy, on the other hand, was a huge fan of Dodgy (which I presume is where he gets his fashion sense from), and was fond of something …

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It’s more fun outdoors

Last week I took delivery of this: Almost instantly it began to rain. Undeterred, we made it our mission to let the roof down, as often as possible, irrespective of temperature. The sole purpose of the day, for the whole family, was getting out in the Mini Cooper. Instead of whiling away half the day wondering what to do, we went out and found it. When I say “it,” I actually mean nothing at all. We didn’t do stuff, we just went places. And we surprised ourselves with the results. We saw bluebells (really late this year!): I always love …

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