Big Fish Little Fish join Camp Bestival’s Travelling Circus

DSC_4545Roll up! Roll up! Camp Bestival’s Travelling Circus in Balham and Hackney Wick….

This May Big Fish Little Fish are holding their last two full London parties until September.
They are part of the Camp Bestival’s Travelling Circus tour and they’ve really pulled out all the stops with loads of special extras – synth workshops, dressing up box and and incredible interactive installation.
BFLF will also be resident in the Bollywood Tent at Camp Bestival this year on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

The fancy dress code for the two raves in May is, of course: “Circus!” and our guests can buy specially discounted Camp Bestival tickets at the events. Read more…

Best Family Festivals 2014

Here are our top picks for 2014!

Now is a great time to start thinking about buying your festival tickets – most of the festivals offer ‘early bird’ prices, which means they are reduced if you book them early.

Whether a festival is good for you depends on what music you’re into and what other things you like doing at festivals, as well as the age of your kids. If you are new to festivals with kids, you may want to read our guide to Choosing the right Family-Friendly Festival. Read more…

Festival on a budget

Times are still tough for many of us but that shouldn’t stop us having fun, especially on the festival front. Even if we have to make a few compromises, and stick to a budget, go to a festival. Read more…

Bearded Theory 2013 Parent Review

bearded theory 2013Review by Joanne Murphy:

Bearded Theory 2013 was my 2nd ever festival.

Sitting near a river, listening to a waterfall (all very safely fenced off), whilst the kids play under a huge ancient tree, was a million miles away from anything I expected my first Bearded experience to be.

Read more…

Camp Bestival 2012 Review

Camp Bestival 2012 weather: Hot and dry the entire weekend.

Review by Michelle Rock-Davis (with a 2yr old and a 4yr old)

CB is in a beautiful location, held in Lulworth Castle grounds in Dorset. A big drive for us from West Yorks, but we over-nighted in The New Forest and so arrived fresh and early.

Set Up – The car parks were well organised and we were prepared with our own truck for carting the tent etc. However, we had underestimated the size of the event and over packed as usual. The trek from our car to a camping spot near some loos and showers was a long walk for little toddler legs and involved a few too many hills. Read more…

Top 15 Music Festivals for Under-5’s – 2012


Top Festivals for Babies and Toddlers 2012 (for 2013 – click HERE!)

For really young kids we tend to recommend smaller festivals, particularly if you are not an experienced festival-goer.  Smaller festivals have the dual advantage of not being so vast that a trip back to the tent for a forgotten dummy takes half the morning, and the stage areas are usually less crowded meaning you can get closer to the bands without fearing your little one getting accidentally trampled on or lost.  That said, smaller festivals often don’t have as much budget for children’s activities, so your choice will also depend a little on the level of laid-on entertainment that your family need.

It really is very hard to choose from all the festivals that take place in the UK each year. But if we have to narrow it down, our short-list of the best festivals to take your really little ones to goes a little like this:

Read more…

Our pick of the Festivals 2012

festivals top trumpsChoosing from the hundreds of excellent family-friendly festivals out there is really really tough.

Many families will place a different importance to different aspects.  Personally I don’t like my festivals too crowded, I like quality music but I’m not so bothered by big names, and most importantly I like a good range of workshops and street theatre to keep everyone entertained.  But people always ask me which are the best festivals for kids so here is my shortlist – the ones which I think have something extra-special about them: Read more…

Pregnant Festivalling Part 2

I was 16 weeks pregnant when we went to Camp Bestival. Now if my last pregnancy was anything to go by then I felt amazing at 16 weeks, in fact the whole second trimester was just wonderful for me and we went on a lovely holiday to Cornwall where we did a lot of walking. I had more energy and was able to eat normally again and started to glow. Read more…

Family Talent Show at Camp Bestival 2011

One of our reader’s gorgeous little 5 year old daughter Rose entered the Family Talent Show, judged by Sara Cox, at Camp Bestival this year… and guess what?… SHE WON!!!!

Thanks so much to her proud mum Catherine for sharing this special moment with us x

Now, if that was my daughter up there, I would’ve been blubbing my little heart out with pride!  Here’s what Catherine had to say about the experience:

Read more…

Camp Bestival 2011 Review

2011 Camp Bestival Weather: Overcast on Friday with a light shower, rain on Sat AM but beautiful sunshine for the rest of the weekend.

Check out our Guest Blog from Melksham Mum on her Camp Besti Experience and also see some other in-depth CB reviews from The Arts Desk , Madame Guillotine, Family Festivals and Tattooed Mummy

Review by: Anonymous (with 10-12 year olds)

Getting to the festival and setting up camp:

Long walk to the camping, despite paying for an extra day, was pretty full and getting spots for two family tents on a reasonably flat area was hard.  Most campers were pleasant but quite a lot of rowdy teens.

Entertainment – Line up and Kids Activities:

Very good adult / older teen lineup, plenty for under 5’s but lacks things for the older primary / younger teen age group this year. Read more…

Big Fish Little Fish join Camp Bestival’s Travelling Circus

DSC_4545Roll up! Roll up! Camp Bestival’s Travelling Circus in Balham and Hackney Wick….

This May Big Fish Little Fish are holding their last two full London parties until September.
They are part of the Camp Bestival’s Travelling Circus tour and they’ve really pulled out all the stops with loads of special extras – synth workshops, dressing up box and and incredible interactive installation.
BFLF will also be resident in the Bollywood Tent at Camp Bestival this year on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

The fancy dress code for the two raves in May is, of course: “Circus!” and our guests can buy specially discounted Camp Bestival tickets at the events. Read more…

Festival on a budget

Times are still tough for many of us but that shouldn’t stop us having fun, especially on the festival front. Even if we have to make a few compromises, and stick to a budget, go to a festival. Read more…

Camp Bestival 2012 Review

Camp Bestival 2012 weather: Hot and dry the entire weekend.

Review by Michelle Rock-Davis (with a 2yr old and a 4yr old)

CB is in a beautiful location, held in Lulworth Castle grounds in Dorset. A big drive for us from West Yorks, but we over-nighted in The New Forest and so arrived fresh and early.

Set Up – The car parks were well organised and we were prepared with our own truck for carting the tent etc. However, we had underestimated the size of the event and over packed as usual. The trek from our car to a camping spot near some loos and showers was a long walk for little toddler legs and involved a few too many hills. Read more…

Our pick of the Festivals 2012

festivals top trumpsChoosing from the hundreds of excellent family-friendly festivals out there is really really tough.

Many families will place a different importance to different aspects.  Personally I don’t like my festivals too crowded, I like quality music but I’m not so bothered by big names, and most importantly I like a good range of workshops and street theatre to keep everyone entertained.  But people always ask me which are the best festivals for kids so here is my shortlist – the ones which I think have something extra-special about them: Read more…

Family Talent Show at Camp Bestival 2011

One of our reader’s gorgeous little 5 year old daughter Rose entered the Family Talent Show, judged by Sara Cox, at Camp Bestival this year… and guess what?… SHE WON!!!!

Thanks so much to her proud mum Catherine for sharing this special moment with us x

Now, if that was my daughter up there, I would’ve been blubbing my little heart out with pride!  Here’s what Catherine had to say about the experience:

Read more…

Best Family Festivals 2014

Here are our top picks for 2014!

Now is a great time to start thinking about buying your festival tickets – most of the festivals offer ‘early bird’ prices, which means they are reduced if you book them early.

Whether a festival is good for you depends on what music you’re into and what other things you like doing at festivals, as well as the age of your kids. If you are new to festivals with kids, you may want to read our guide to Choosing the right Family-Friendly Festival. Read more…

Bearded Theory 2013 Parent Review

bearded theory 2013Review by Joanne Murphy:

Bearded Theory 2013 was my 2nd ever festival.

Sitting near a river, listening to a waterfall (all very safely fenced off), whilst the kids play under a huge ancient tree, was a million miles away from anything I expected my first Bearded experience to be.

Read more…

Top 15 Music Festivals for Under-5’s – 2012


Top Festivals for Babies and Toddlers 2012 (for 2013 – click HERE!)

For really young kids we tend to recommend smaller festivals, particularly if you are not an experienced festival-goer.  Smaller festivals have the dual advantage of not being so vast that a trip back to the tent for a forgotten dummy takes half the morning, and the stage areas are usually less crowded meaning you can get closer to the bands without fearing your little one getting accidentally trampled on or lost.  That said, smaller festivals often don’t have as much budget for children’s activities, so your choice will also depend a little on the level of laid-on entertainment that your family need.

It really is very hard to choose from all the festivals that take place in the UK each year. But if we have to narrow it down, our short-list of the best festivals to take your really little ones to goes a little like this:

Read more…

Pregnant Festivalling Part 2

I was 16 weeks pregnant when we went to Camp Bestival. Now if my last pregnancy was anything to go by then I felt amazing at 16 weeks, in fact the whole second trimester was just wonderful for me and we went on a lovely holiday to Cornwall where we did a lot of walking. I had more energy and was able to eat normally again and started to glow. Read more…

Camp Bestival 2011 Review

2011 Camp Bestival Weather: Overcast on Friday with a light shower, rain on Sat AM but beautiful sunshine for the rest of the weekend.

Check out our Guest Blog from Melksham Mum on her Camp Besti Experience and also see some other in-depth CB reviews from The Arts Desk , Madame Guillotine, Family Festivals and Tattooed Mummy

Review by: Anonymous (with 10-12 year olds)

Getting to the festival and setting up camp:

Long walk to the camping, despite paying for an extra day, was pretty full and getting spots for two family tents on a reasonably flat area was hard.  Most campers were pleasant but quite a lot of rowdy teens.

Entertainment – Line up and Kids Activities:

Very good adult / older teen lineup, plenty for under 5’s but lacks things for the older primary / younger teen age group this year. Read more…