Disney Junior VIP Summer Party 2014

Today we attended one of Disney Junior VIP summer parties for 2014. Lot's of people entered a contest to win tickets and we were one of the lucky winners! The prize was for tickets for 1 adult and 2 little ones to attend at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens venue.

I took Wyatt along with me as well as my little niece, Lily-Mai and on arrival we were greeted by some lovely members of the Disney team who gave us all a special wrist band and were shown to the function were everything was being held. 

There was lots of little stations with activities for the kiddies to do.

Wyatt's favourite activity was Jake's treasure game. He had to through juggle balls at several buckets filled with gold dubloons to put them in the team treasure chest. It took some time to get him to move on to the other activity stations ;)

Lily-Mai's favourite activity was making her own special amulet, just like Princess Sofia's. I ended up with 6 of them hung around me neck!

Other activities including building blocks...

Colouring their favourite playhouse characters...

Helping Doc McStuffing diagnose her patients...

and learning about different food groups with the activity plates.

There were also lots of characters to have their photos taken with but unfortunately I couldn't persuade either of my little ones to do this as they aren't a big fan of people in costumes at the moment.

I did however get them to sit still long enough to take their picture on Princess Sofia's throne.

At the end of the party all the little ones were given a lunchbox to take away with them and a goody bag each.

This is the loot in each goody bag. It included a DVD, stickers, Disney magazine, Henry Huggle Monster bag, inflatable sword and lots more. Wyatt and Lily-Mai were very happy with all their goodies ;)

All in all the kids had lots of fun participating all the activities and we are very grateful to Disney Junior for giving us the chance to attend one of this years events x

Stay Play Explore - Family Fun Short Break

Stay Play Explore - Family Fun Short Break

This week we took our little family on our first short break away together and decided to take advantage of the Stay Play Explore offer in Leicestershire.

They offer various types of mini breaks including family adventure, gourmet taste and theme parks but we chose the family fun option. This consisted of tickets for a family of 4 to 3 out of 5 attractions based in Leicestershire and includes an overnight stay at a 4* hotel with breakfast included for just £109!

The attractions to choose from were:

• Conkers
• Twinlakes Theme Park
• Snibston Discovery Museum
• National Space Centre
• Twycross Zoo

We chose Twinlakes, Snibston Discovery Museum and Twycross Zoo and stayed at the Hinckley Island Hotel. We also decided to book an extra night so we wouldn't be rushed to visit all 3 attractions in just 2 days which cost us an extra £70.

Snibston Discover Museum

Snibston Discovery Museum is a hands on kind of museum with many different kinds of interactive exhibits featuring trains, mining, toys and engineering. 

(Adam learning how waves are made)

Outside they have a very large play area that also lots of way to discover and learn whilst having fun.

You can also take a tour of the colliery with an ex-miner, visit the century theatre or take a train ride on "Pitt" the diesel locomotive.

One of the areas outside we particular enjoyed was being able to have our picnic on old train wagon!

Twinlakes Theme Park

Twinlakes is set in 100 acres of countryside and features many family rides, attractions, animals and birds to see. Indoor play areas are great for when the weather isn't so fantastic and there is also a water play area for days when the sun is shinning. 

Our two boys (and their daddy!) had a blast on all the different rides!

Twycross Zoo

Twycross Zoo is set on 80 acres of land and features over 150 different species to see and learn about including many endangered species.

The zoo is a renowned world primate centre with a wide variety of species on show.

Throughout the day there are animal feedings that you can watch. We chose to watch the adorable Humboldt penguins having their lunch which the kids adored seeing. The zoo keepers gave us lots of facts about the penguins and we learnt lots of stuff we'd never known about them befor.

The butterfly house was a favourite and it was lovely walking through and seeing all the different bright and colourful butterflies fluttering around us.

Overall Verdict

We would definitely recommend booking a short break with Stay Play Explore as it'd fantastic value for money and there are lots of options to meet all families needs.

Giveaway Winner Announcement

Congratulations to the lucky winner of the Cosmetic Candy UK giveaway, Sarah Mummytofive Stevens.

Keep following for some exciting content coming up over the next week plus another giveaway!

Silent Sunday 03/08/2014

Silent Sunday