Win a family ticket to the opening day of Santa’s Christmas Wonderland at Paultons Park, home of Peppa Pig World!
With Christmas just around the corner, I have teamed up with family theme park, Paultons Park to giveaway a family ticket to its Santa’s Christmas Wonderland.
The festive season wouldn’t be complete without a visit to its sparkling winter wonderland, complete with a snowy grotto, where animated characters, including Rudolph and Donner the reindeer, sing and dance.
Alongside all of this, children and parents can wander through the world-famous Peppa Pig World at Christmas with twinkling illuminations, step into Paultons Park state-of-the-art 4D cinema to experience a Christmas adventure film and enjoy the Park’s enchanting new hand-crafted Victorian carousel.
And to make the journey truly magical; children can meet Santa Claus himself and receive an exciting present.
The prize consists of one day family ticket for two adults and two children
Tickets are valid for the opening day of Santa’s Christmas Wonderland on November 15 2014
Prizes are non-transferable and cannot be exchanged
A time slot to enter the Wonderland will be allocated in advance of the visit
Only 1 option is mandatory (leave me a comment) – the rest only improve your chances of winning so just complete as many as you feel like
UK entrants only – you must be over 18 too (sorry)
The winners will be contacted by email and must respond within 1 week of having been emailed (I’ll try all known avenues to contact them) or a new winner will be drawn
When the giveaway is closed, Rafflecopter will select the winner completely at random
This one has been brewing for awhile. So miffed am I about the price of In the Night Garden Live prices, I can’t just drop it.
So Dexter turned two a few weeks back. We had a family BBQ here and (against all odds) it was a real success. We still wanted to celebrate as a family though so had our eye on In the Night Garden Live (NO FOLLOW) which is currently touring the country. As Dexter is such a huge fan of the show we thought it would be the perfect surprise for him to see the live show and meet Iggle Piggle in all his eerie blueness. Okay, it would be hell for Craig and I (it’s bad enough for the 20 mins we’re forced to watch every evening), and taking a screaming Heidi wouldn’t be much fun either, but it would be memorable day for the little man.
The closest tour date to us is Richmond Park in London (bear in mind we’re looking at upwards of £50 train fare for us to get there) so Craig popped online a few weeks ago to book the tickets. He was about to pay when I peered over his shoulder and saw the prices. What happened next might as well have been in slow motion. I ripped the laptop from his hands and we had a heated conversation with plenty of expletives. I just couldn’t get over what they were charging for just one hour’s entertainment.
For a weekend ticket: £27.50 PER ADULT!!!
As if this wasn’t bad enough…
£27.50 PER CHILD!
But it gets worse…
£13.75 for my (would be*) 6 WEEK OLD!!
= £96.25
*I say ‘would be’ as this is the age Heidi would be at the time of the performances - and more notably as there was just no way we were paying that - £96.25 for an hour’s show!!!
Think I’m being tight? Well here’s why EVERYONE SHOULD BOYCOTT IN THE NIGHT GARDEN LIVE.
I have a problem with just about everything.
First up £27.50 for an adult is excessive. Of course, it’s cheaper during the week and in other locations but this just fires me up even more. It’s as though they know they can charge more in an affluent area in London, and they’ve added a further premium on the weekend when families are more likely to be attending together as daddy has a day off from work.
Then there’s the child price. By child, they refer to any tot who isn’t in mum’s arms or strapped into a car seat. To charge the same as an adult is just ridiculous.
Then there’s the price for Heidi. Given she’s likely to be asleep or have a face full of boob, why should we have to pay for her???
Incensed, I took to Facebook to see what everyone had to say:
Okay, perhaps my rant hasn’t reached as many as I’d hoped… but, with this post, I hope it’s about to reach a whole load more!
But even with the limited coverage it’s had so far, it hasn’t escaped the notice of the guys behind the production. They invited me to email them (no doubt to stop me ranting over public forum) to which I happily did so. I received a nice enough email back. By ‘nice’ I mean they were perfectly polite - but I’m STILL not happy.
Where do I start with this??
Yep it didn’t escape my notice they have a giant inflatable tent to house the show in. Whilst I can appreciate this is costly to set up, so is every single stage performance shown in the UK. Cinema, West End plays, local theatres, even buses and airplanes all differentiate between a child and adult in terms of pricing despite the fact that children count towards their seating capacity. No doubt their impressive showdome is also to ensure parents who have not re-mortgaged their house cannot see in.
And whilst we’re at it, it’s lovely that they’ve received positive feedback from parents to say ‘their babies’ really engaged with the show - I have no doubt this is largely absolutely true. This is because children aged between 6 months to 18 months are still babies. They won’t recall the experience in years to come, they probably won’t remember it the day after! As for 6-week-old’s - they can’t see beyond 30cms of their face and don’t think of anything at all except whether they’re hungry or not.
I appreciate it’s tricky to apply a lower age limit to a show targeted at children - after-all, where does the baby end, and the child begin?… and I don’t expect them to ID kids on the door. But they’re already doing this - by offering a babes in arms policy in the first place, they’ve drawn that line for themselves - just let these ‘babes’ in for free!
Lest I forget, this is a “price that compares very favourably with other TV-based live shows”! Not so. Rather than spend the equivalent of a weekly food shop in Waitrose, I’ve just booked for Dexter to see Justin Live! in our local theatre in September instead. This has cost us less than than half the price of In the Night Garden Live and (thankfully) is less likely to make mine and Craig’s ears bleed. What’s more, we won’t be shoved out of the door after an hour to make way for the nest procession of mugs.
Finally, I would simply love to see the ‘customer feedback‘ they refer to above. I can’t imagine that any right-thinking parent would happily nod along to the fact they’re being ripped off.
… Don’t forget the add-ons!
As if all this wasn’t bad enough - there’s add-ons that will make your eyes water. Yes your child could carry away a goody bag worth £45 for a miniscule £29 (£24 if you pay in advance) - which they are incredibly careful to stress has been positively received by other parents.
Well yes… this might be so. But the parent who can’t afford such luxuries is likely face an evening of tears and a tantrum that would register on the richter scale if their child sees another beaming and clutching their swag! Did you poll these guys? I think not.
Feeling pissed off? I don’t doubt it. Well prepare to feel even more so.
Helpfully, as you’re nearing the end of the online checkout process, there’s yet another add-on…
Yes! Your child could meet a character!
Not to be missed, your child could spend a whole 2-3 minutes overcoming their shyness and meeting a life-sized non-speaking actor in a costume! The price? Oh don’t worry, it’s ONLY £15! £15 PER CHARACTER. If your little Veronica Salt should want to meet BOTH Iggle Piggle and Upsy Daisy it’s £30! That’s more than you are already paying to usher your little one through the door in the first place!
In conclusion, if we had wanted to give Dexter the In the Night Garden experience…
It would be £96.25 to get us us all in the magical showdome
+ a further £59 to have him meet his idols and take away a bag of memories
I’m sure I’ll be bleating on about The Baby Show for a few weeks to come yet. This is my millionth show (it certainly feels like it) and it never disappoints me. As soon as I don that magical press bracelet I turn into a David-Bailey/Kerry-Katona hybrid that doesn’t shut up, gets sore cheeks from grinning, and is often found on the floor pretending to flex her professional photography skills when she’s really just trying to spread all the water that has gathered in her pregnant ankles back up to her thighs.
It’s a great networking opportunity for the blogger set, and many of the brands are known to us. We’ll have reviewed for them in the past, we’ll converse regularly with them on Twitter, and could probably recite their entire stock if asked (I have several sample products to review so expect a few dedicated posts on these later). But it’s also a great opportunity to discover new brands - distributors or otherwise - and share our thoughts on what we believe is set to be a hit over the next few years.
Here’s just a handful of those newly discovered mum and baby businesses that impressed me with their products:
Slumber Roo
A Devon-based distributor with an impressive range of brands under their wing including Moby, Scootababy, Boba, Beco and Babyhawks slings. The staff (*waves to my new mate Rosie*) were incredibly knowledgeable and gave in-depth demos to us sling novices without the hard-selling techniques regularly deployed by Alan Sugar’s babes. Here’s me modelling the Boba sling with Eric (the eerily life-like baby doll) - I did warn you my smile was scary.
I’m seriously tempted by this sling. Although I’m not planning on having a wardrobe stocked up with every baby-wearing device known to man, I can definitely see the benefit of rocking the sling on short missions to the shops and back. Given I’m soon to have two in nappies, there’s something to be said for having my hands free to stop Dexter pinching penny sweets whilst I’m selecting a bottle of wine in the newsagent. This one was by far the comfiest I tried on, and thanks to Rosie I can do it up without cutting off baby’s blood supply!
Slumber Roo also stock Jellystone Designs teething range. We nearly bought the jchews SMARTPHONE for Dexter a year ago but unfortunately couldn’t find it in black (Slumber Roo will be stocking these from May!). As most mums and dads regularly find their black devices gummed to death by their dear babies - whipping out a bright pink fake one definitely wouldn’t have fooled my little genius back in the day, but I have high hopes for the black one for Mini Madam. There’s a large selection of teething jewellery too which looked great.
Eric is also handily modelling some Beco Rock-a-Thigh socks which are rumoured to have real staying power. I have no idea why we didn’t buy up every pair they bought to the show as Dex could really use some new ones. He’s in full on foot-fetish mode at the moment and is forever whipping off his shoes and socks in his pushchair and launching them in the aisles of Tesco.
Emi & Nell
I loved this stand. Loved, loved, loved it. Had Craig have been stupid enough to let me hold the credit card for the day, I’d have bought every last thing (… and ended up a single parent to two babies).
Famed for their use of organic fabrics. chic colourways and vintage-inspired designs, they stock beautiful nursery accessories and clothes that remind me of Suri Cruise. Their beautiful pom pom balls and lampshades are the nicest I’ve seen in some time, and I’m regretting not buying the grey and pink bedding set they had discounted for the show - this was exactly what I’ve been looking for over the last few months! Oh and those gorgeous tutus… I could go on…
Given there always seems to be a lack of nursery interiors available to buy at the show, I was pleased to see they’d scored a stall in the Baby London Boutique section. I hope they smashed their sales targets and we’ll see them again as The Baby Shows needs them in my opinion.
Not limited to interiors however, their clothes are to die for (if a little pricey). I have to include a few piccies from their website as I can’t possibly expect you to fall in love with them as much as I have from my own photos.
Toto Kidogo
Husband and wife team, these guys are single-handedly bringing a bit of a revolution in playmats to the UK. The story goes that since becoming parents they’ve bought a number of genius baby products from all over the world. Now their jet-setting days are over and they’ve bedded down in the UK they’re repeatedly asked where they bought them. Their Parklon baby play mats are the perfect example.
They hit every nail on the head. With tons of engaging imagery, they’re educational and bright for curious toddlers. They’re also waterproof, wipe clean and non-toxic. They feel a little like snake skin (of course they’re not!) as in they appear to be made from dozens of tiny squares with a memory foam inner. This makes them incredibly flexible, and ideal for protecting wooden floors and carpets from little madams and monsters, whilst providing a safe landing for their knees.
I particularly liked the fact these mats are double-sided as there’s plenty of variety. One of them even featured a roadmap design that would be perfect for micro-machine wars!
We currently have an interlocking foam playmat with a pop out letters and shapes. This looks gorgeous but Dexter makes a mess of them everyday. It is currently sat under his highchair to protect our carpet from an onslaught of mashed potato, tomato sauce and gravy, but Toto Kidogo’s one would be far better for this purpose, and much more besides. Luckily she’s agreed to let me review one in a few months time when they receive their next shipment.
Nappy Cakes By Betty
How much do I love this girl? You could even argue that this wasn’t a new discovery for me as we started tweeting each other weeks ago after I discovered her on the #BabyHour hashtag. Exhibiting at the Baby Show for the first time ever, I’m not sure how she ever managed to get all her specially prepared show cakes to the ExCel as they’re incredibly heavy - actually I take this back, look at her other half’s guns! (I should point out he spent around 30 minutes holding this whilst I nattered with the girls).
Far from being the little old tea-addicted lady I strangely imagined her to be, Betty was young, pretty and madly enthusiastic about her creations. She’s also incredibly sweet and charming. It’s clear she loves what she’s doing and bringing smiles to people’s faces. Her nappy cakes are unrivaled in my opinion. The love and attention to detail that goes into every one of them, and all those elaborate designs and quality ingredients make them the ideal baby shower present for someone special.
She’s passionate about sourcing the best nappy cake contents and it shows. There are traditional wooden bookends, bubble blankets, gorgeous soft toys and more crammed into her cakes (depending on which you choose of course). I’m not sure I could ever bring myself to dismantle one of them to use… but if anyone is stuck for a new baby gift for me (dad?) I want one!
So that’s it! I’ll be raving about the usual biggies at a later date, and there will be reviews on new friends Cudaboo (the ethical clothing range that’s partnered with 3 conservation charities), and Peep Baby(a chic and stylish breastfeeding poncho that’s stocked in Harrods) next week, but aside from this, these were my top picks on the day. Do check out their websites and say a quick hello on Twitter and FB.
