Lollibop 2011

I was lucky enough to win family tickets from @mediocre_mum blog to this years Lollibop event in Regents Park.  I have a 3yo girl and a 7yo boy, and as it is pitched as being a Festival for Under 10's it sounded perfect.
We made the day of it.  Drove as far as Shepherds Bush - which I know quite well of course - then took the train into Regents Park.  For my two the train ride is generally as exciting as the destination!
When we arrived we decided to have a walk around to get our bearings.  Everything the kids wanted to do appeared to have extremely long queues and to be honest we were mumbling about it being too busy and that Lolllibop were letting too many people in.   

Then, however, we discovered some places to play that the kids could walk right into.  The odd shaped inflatables, and a fantastic craft stand provided by Oxfam!
Scarlett really wanted her face painted, which was being sponsored by Littlebird and although the queue was huge, due to the number of artists they had on the stand, we were assured it wouldn't take very long.  Indeed it took 15 mins, during which Chris took Jasper off to make Lollibop badges.
We started to get a little hungry so we looked out for lunch.  The offer on display was out of this world and we really were spoilt for choice.  The kids had corn on the cob and we had the most delicious homemade burgers!  (Maybe should have eaten pre face painting but hey)!

We had to then make out way over to meet Ben and Holly, Scarlett was very excited, and Ben was giggling with Jasper which made him blush!  Later on we also saw Peppa and George Pig, with the same reaction.   Although it was a smallish meet and greet area the characters stayed out long enough for everyone to see and get some good pics!
Then we made our way over to the band stand to watch some of the shows.  It was being hosted by Cbeebies presenter Cerrie Burnell who was a real hit with all the children.   We were lucky enough to catch the ZingZillas doing bangla dancing and also our favourite Rasta Mouse :)

From there we went on to scoring a few goals at the Spurs stand - Chris being a little too excited being an Arsenal fan - video here if can bear it, and then also watched a Gorilla show which was explaining the endangerment of the species and how recycling our phones can help them!  A clear message before letting the kids pet the (pretend shhhh) gorillas. 
We played hoopla, did some painting, made butterflies and watched more displays.   Before we knew it it was time to leave and the kids were buzzing about what they had experienced.

Jasper playing on the Hopperz

I'm glad we didn't end up walking around humfing about the queues, as although we didn't get to do everything we wanted, we didn't stop all day and had a great time.
Every day since the kids have been pining to go back, and I've had had trouble explaining it was a one off and its not there permanently.
What a fab day out, and cannot wait to go again next year!
Here are some more pics and videos to show the fun we had on the day, gotta love a Rasta Mouse :)
Annie x

On the Hopperz

Rasta Mouse yeah!

Rasta Mouse Yea