family day out

If you are anything like me you will love a good festival! I attend them throughout the Summer with friends leaving my children with my fabulous parents! I enjoy the break but think the kids enjoy a break from me too if I am really honest with myself! However, now and again my children, boy aged 15, and girls aged 7 and 6 often are on my case about them going to festivals. As they are getting older I can understand why they want to get involved especially when they see how excited I get! My son has attended Bingley Music Live with friends from school and we have attended the Aire Do!, a festival in Keighley, West Yorkshire, which in the past has showcased the likes of Rudimental and Jake Bugg.

Last year when entering the gates at the Aire Do Festival I was surprised to see how excited my two girls were just at the fact they were getting a festival wristband! They are definately likely to follow in my footsteps as they were dancing around in front of the main stage whilst listening to Black Sabbath play Agadoo and zipping in and out of the little dance tent.

This year, as soon as they found out I had booked my first festival ticket, they were on my case. “muuuuuummmmmmmm, when can we go to a festival?” Although the Aire Do is a great little boutique festival it is not until August, so there is a little while to wait. It also got me thinking about which festivals were actually family friendly. I have been to many, who claim to be family friendly, but in all honesty just do not have the facilities to keep your children entertained whilst you can go off and party….it is not realistic is it 😀

I began to delve into the world wide web, do a little research and see what I could come up with. There seems to be a real lack of festivals marketed at families, which is such a shame. The ones that are, do appear to be aimed more at older children. For me, I have two age groups to contend with, and the teenager is the more difficult of the two! I did however, come across a festival which is local to me, called Boomerang Jam. It is to take place on Sunday 25th and Monday 26th May 2014 at The Old Brewery, in Leeds. Conveniently located some 7 minutes away from the train station it is easy to reach, or alternatively if you are travelling by car there is a large car park so no need to worry about the travel arrangements, which can often be a big stress for a family day out. The highlights seem to be appearances by Peppa Pig, Fireman Sam, Bob The Builder and Ben 10 amongst others….thats the little ones sorted out then….but what about the teenager? There promises to be stunts by bmx bikers and skaters as well as the dance tent and lots of workshops to keep them entertained. My teenager is also a particular lover of food…any food, but he also appreciates food.

I have decided there definately seems to be enough here to keep a 6 year old princess, a 7 year old skater girl and a football crazy, x-box mad, foody teenager entertained. Therefore, I for one shall be giving it a try, and I will of course report back! It is important in these difficult times that the quality time we so desperately seek with our families is time which we feel is well spent and of course value for money. I will be visiting to see if this is what we will be getting. From the face of it, it looks promising so lets keep our fingers and toes crossed and pray to the universe that finally there may just be a family festival which not only promises to deliver a great day out for all the family, but actually does.