LolliBop 2012

We were lucky enough to be invited to LolliBop 2012 at Regent's Park, London last weekend and happily went along on Saturday, the second day of the weekend long event. It was a beautifully hot and sunny day, perfect for lots of little ones to enjoy all the fun and games that had been created for them.

The festival was held in a corner of the very large Regent's Park and was perfectly cordoned off keeping the children safe and secure. There were a huge range of activities for the children for all different ages (listed here) and there was definitely something for everyone from the under four year olds section through to the Halfords' race course (which got booked up well in advance!).

For such a large section of park, there was unfortunately not much natural shade, however the organisers had done an excellent job of creating several areas to provide an escape from the blistering heat; in the picture above you can see the coloured banners which were one of the areas. I'm grateful that they had also created a bloggers' lounge which was under the shade of some trees giving us an opportunity to cool off. (I later discovered that there was another section of the park which had a few trees and provided a relaxing area, but it wasn't obvious on the map or when walking around).

The refreshments were very good and it was nice to see a good range of family foods and drinks from Pizza Express, pie stalls, burgers and milkshake stands. The Oreo cookie milkshake was to die for! Unfortunately while the queues for these weren't long in length, they were in time, so next time I'll be taking a picnic. The toilets were portaloos and the least said about them the better. I'd envisaged the portacabin style facilities which I've seen at other children's events, where a sink with running water and soap are available.

These were some of our highlights of the day:

• Top left: Alex and Katy from CBeebies perform the I Can Cook song
• Top right: watching Mister Maker in the LolliPalladium tent
• Bottom right: being a shopkeeper in John Lewis Lane
• Bottom right: creating a sandart picture with ScratchPatch

It's only when I look at the official higlights of the weekend that I realise how much else we missed, despite being there for most of the day. I can't wait to go again next year, when I definitely will not be wearing black!

We were provided with free tickets for the purpose of this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.