Before we had Max, we were the stereotypical students. Going on nights out, drinking a little bit too much and staying out all night eating some dodgy chips as we stumble back to someones house. Having Max in the middle of uni put an abrupt stop to that. But we've swapped nights out for family festivals, and much more kid centric events. That's not to say we can't have some fun, so we joined Big Fish Little Fish over at the Old Fire Station, Bournemouth to get stuck into their family friendly rave!
Dubbed the 2-4 hour party people, Big Fish Little Fish create a family friendly environment for babies to parents to enjoy music, dance and feel a bit nostalgic. They've been working with Camp Bestival for the past few years to bring their raves to the festival, but been touring venues for much longer.
This party was done in conjunction with Camp Bestival to celebrate the launch of the theme for this years festival which is Camp Bestival Sets Sail. We came wholly unprepared without a costume (blame the snow!), but there were fab families decked out in a mixture of dandy sailors and swashbuckling pirates. We even saw a few mermaids dance past us!
Upon entering, we were handed a glow stick and immediately greeted with a sea of soft play for the little ones. It really goes to show how much they think of families as there was more than enough space for looking after sleeping babies and distracted tots whilst everyone else spent ages dancing and crafting. It's worth noting that there is a licensed bar at the events, but whilst parents had a couple of drinks, it never felt like anyone was hammered.
The one great thing about the Big Fish Little Fish events is it's more than just a rave. With a craft area, face painting and the soft play area, kids will stay amused for the whole time and have little areas to take a break in when they need to rest their legs. Max and I had a fab time colouring in the giant colouring sheet on the wall and adding our own little touch to the artwork. He had his face painted in a not so scary tiger and created a seaworthy hat at the Creation Station.
Of course the main event was the rave itself. With music coming from DJ Trevor Loveys from Switch/House of 909 fame it felt like I was 18 again (and lets face it, toddlers and drunk 18 year olds act pretty similar at times!). With an amazing light show, bubbles and glitter cannons, the kids were loving life and dancing as much as the grown ups were. Add in free balloons and the amazing parachute ending, and the kids were in awe of the whole experience and I had to drag Max out to get him home.
Overall an amazing time was had by all. We loved it, Max loved dancing to the music and hated my embarrassing mum dancing! We loved all the free facilities and things to do on offer and for us parents, the nostalgia factor was well and truly there. Thank you Big Fish Little Fish for letting me reminisce and still get home for dinner!
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