Rollercoaster Mum: Luvverly Lollibop 2011 Review

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Friday 19 August 2011

Luvverly Lollibop 2011 Review


Lollipops at Lollibop

Lollibop – in case you didn’t know is a festival for the under 10’s and this year it took place in the beautiful surroundings of Regents Park in London. It was on for 3 days (5th-7th August). I was probably more excited than the kids when I found out we were going and I am immensely grateful to MummyNews for giving me the opportunity to go and do their review. 

We set out on Saturday with some trepidation and lots of excitement.  This was the first time that I would be taking big one (aged 6) and little one (aged 3) on my own to London (from Hampshire) and travelling on train and tube.  (OH having decided he would rather do DIY at home – hmmph! ) Oh well we were going to have FUN!

We arrived at about 11.30 – having successfully negotiated train and tube (with kids and pushchair). Having read some of the reviews and comments on the Friday I thought we might have to queue but we had no problems getting in and despite the day being a sell out there was plenty of space at the site, which was great as there’s nothing worse than crowds with kids! 

There was so much to do we just didn’t know what to do first! As we passed the meet and greet area there was Peppa Pig and George so we had to stop for little one to have a cuddle with George and pick up one of the free Peppa Pig hats. 
George Pig

Next stop was the Science Museum tent (mainly because I wanted too but both kids really enjoyed it!) My only complaint about this was that it should have been much bigger – the kids could do quick mini experiments like making rockets (from water and alka-seltzers), making huge bubbles (with straws) and playing with a weird mix of cornflour and water – fab!
Gloop at the Science Museum

Then it was a dash over to the Lollipalladium (a big theatre tent) to watch Horrible Histories – I expected a queue but was pleasantly surprised not to find one! Horrible Histories was excellent and very funny and even little one appeared to be engrossed for most of the 45 minutes. 
Horrible Histories

The kids were hungry now – time for lunch! I hadn’t brought a picnic as I just couldn’t face carrying it across London but there were plenty of places to sit if you had. I had been warned of queues but if you picked the right stall this wasn’t a problem and there was plenty of picnic tables to sit at – all in site of the Alfresco Bandstand, which kept us entertained while we ate. The food was fine and no more expensive than at any other festival, sports or outdoor event and most of the stands seemed to do kids portions.

After lunch, we wandered around the stalls (there were some lovely things if you were looking to buy) and then headed off to the main stage. The Teatime Treats were performing (a London kid’s band) and they were excellent with lots of fun lively songs that got the kids moving and using instruments such as the accordion, banjo and ukulele. Unfortunately although undoubtedly far more talented than the ZingZillas or even dare I say it Rastamouse they did not draw such large crowds as the famed Cbeebies characters! 
The Teatime Treats

We were lucky enough to get a quick peek into the press area where we happened upon Rastamouse and da Easy Crew and the girls managed a cuddle and a photo with Scratchy! We hurried back out again to catch the ZingZillas on stage – little one’s face was a picture – happy doesn’t begin to describe it! The girls both loved the ZingZillas and Rastamouse and da Easy Crew and Cerrie from Cbeebies did a great job of keeping the people near the front sitting down – although we preferred standing at the back for a better if more distant view. 
Meeting Scratchy!
The ZingZillas are on the stage!
The ZingZillas






da Rastamouse!
















Once Rastamouse returned to Mouse Land it was off to the face painting – there was a bit of queue but no more than about 10 minutes (although I had noticed it was longer earlier in the day) and it was FREE! (There were other stalls charging for face-painting, tattoos and nail painting). Little one insisted on being a rabbit – buck teeth and all! 
Painted faces

We attempted a visit back to the Lollipalladium to see Charlie & Lola but it was so busy and the view so bad from where we were that we gave up on them and flew off to Fairy School. This was great - the girls made a right mess painting wands, we made fairy headbands and you could search for fairy treasure, make fairy dust and all sorts. 

 However, my fairies decided it was time for tea. The time had just flown by and by the time we got to the big Imagination Stations tent it was too late and all was closed up for the night. If we had got there earlier, we could have made badges, masks, puppets and made things with felt amongst others. We cheered ourselves up by heading to the giant sandpit outside the Minimission disco tent to soak up the last few rays of sun before heading for home – tired and happy! 
Chips for tea!

So overall we thought Lollibop was a great day out for the under 10’s. A fairly expensive day out (£23 per person or £80 for a family of 4 in advance or £30 per person or £108 for a family of 4 at the gate) but a good one. However, if you had brought a picnic you didn’t have to spend any extra money and the queues for things like the Go Karts and the giant slide could be avoided - I just steered the kids around these to do other things – there was stacks of things that you didn’t need to queue for – we hardly scratched the surface. The atmosphere was great with lots of magical tents and plenty of space to run around. Things we wished we’d done – Imagination Stations crafty tent, Roald Dahl’s tent, meet the Gorillas, the Lollibooks storytellers tent and Itsy Bitsy Strictly – oh well we’ll have to go again next year!

 * I received tickets for Lollibop for free via MummyNews but all comments and views are my own*
One of the Weird and Wonderful Lollibop creatures







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