Festive Family Adventures: London City Breaks

This is a sponsored post but it fits in really well as we're off to London on Friday to do exactly this :-)

At Christmas London is, without a doubt, one of the most magical places in the UK to take the children. No longer are city breaks regarded merely as a ‘parent escape’ - there’s so much to do in and around the capital that it would almost be a crime not to discover the delights with youngsters.

When you’re hoping to attend events and explore attractions across London, choosing a central London hotel is a wise choice. During the festive season high end hotels can cost a small fortune, making family trips slightly unaffordable.

Holborn is a top location, close by to all the amenities of Covent Garden and Leicester Square. Book your Holborn hotel with Travelodge for the lowest price family rooms in the region.

As usual, the West End will be brimming with brilliant productions for families this winter. On-going shows include Shrek The Musical, Matilda The Musical and The Lion King, which are all situated close by to Holborn.

To get you into the festive mood however, book tickets for one of the many pantomimes scheduled throughout December and January in the capital. 2012’s central London panto is Beauty and the Beast at the Shaw Theatre, while Cinderella, Dick Whittington and Jack and The Beanstalk are also on stage in East London.

Away from the world of the West End, London has plenty lined up to keep the little ones – and their parents – entertained this Christmas.

Hyde Park Winter Wonderland wows the crowds, young and old, every year, and 2012 is set to be no different. With the addition of the new Magical Ice Kingdom, this awe-inspiring attraction has everything every family needs to get the Christmas season off to a merry start.

As well as the famous outdoor ice rink, get ready for a day of Christmassy adventures and action. Hyde Park’s transformation in 2012 is set to include fairground rides, eateries, the Christmas markets, Santa Land and more.

This memorable day promises to be bigger and better than ever before, as The Magical Ice Kingdom transforms hundreds of tons of ice and snow into a literal wintry wonderland. Sculptures are said to include unicorn-pulled ice carriages and the throne of the Ice Queen.

Being so close by to Oxford Street, make sure you find the time to pop into Disney’s flagship store. Fans of the Disney Classics and contemporary Pixar animated films will be spoilt for choice when it comes to spending their pocket money. Expect lots of exciting in-store events.

While the joys of flagship Disney wonderment and the Hyde Park Santa Land are bound to impress, in the eyes of a child nothing can beat meeting the big guy himself at Hamleys Toy Shop.

Easily one of the best known and most loved toy retailers in the world, Hamleys really goes to town at Christmas. Officially the largest toy store in the world, children will be blown away by seven floors containing every child’s Christmas wish list.

The festive season starts here. Book your bargain family room and get ready for a magical city break that the whole brood will remember forever.

A Picture Catch Up

Hello my poor deserted blog readers. Life has been exceedingly busy around these parts so I thought I'd give you a quick pictorial catch up :-)

I managed to escape for a weekend away with one of my best friends which involved lots of lovely food, drink, giggles and walking in the Northamptonshire countryside:

I'm not the biggest fan of Halloween but Chick got to go Trick or Treating to a couple of houses and we put some decorations up:

Followed hot on the heels this year by Bonfire night. We had all three kids together this year so decided to do something different and went to the Santa Pod raceway. They have drag racing there  and jet powered cars and monster trucks! The jet powered cars are crazy loud and Mr. M wasn't a big fan either!! The fireworks were amazing though and certainly made up for the cold:

For our anniversary last month I bought the man tickets to see Evanescence so we had a date last week and went all Rock 'n' Roll:

Last weekend we had Chick's birthday party and she got an amazing cake made by my very talented boyfriend:

What have you been up to??

Sleepover hints and tips

As you are probably aware my darling little Chick is almost 10 *sob*! Her idea of a great evening is to have a sleepover with friends so when Calpol and their Second Chance Saturday competition asked me to give you some pointers as to my sleepover tips, I jumped at the chance.

Firstly I would say – Be Prepared! .........Prepared for the mess and the noise and the fact that they probably won’t fall asleep until much later than usual!

Ensure that the other children come prepared – with their own pillow, teddy, book or whatever makes them comfortable to stay away from home.

Have some snacks ready.....I try and give then homemade popcorn with treacle poured over the top. It’s healthier than shop bought stuff and they can help to make it. Also grapes and nachos are great to have around in bowls for snacking on or for Midnight feats!

Let them make noise/have pillow fights/giggle/have a midnight feast/paint each others’ nails.....it’s nights like these that my girl thinks I’m ‘the best Mum in the world’! Gotta be worth some parenting brownie points!!

If the weather is good then a sleepover in a tent is even more fun.....according to the 10 year olds!!!

I wouldn’t normally let Chick do it at any other time but I find when she’s having sleepovers, they seem to find it much easier to drift off to sleep watching a DVD, especially if they’ve come with you to choose it!!

Following the above tips sleepovers in our house tend to run pretty smoothly......apart from the occasional shhhhhhhhh shouted up the stairs to giggling girls ;-) What sleepover tips would you give?

Disclosure - Calpol are giving me a voucher of my choice for writing this post but all words, ideas and pictures are mine.