On Friday 15th August Maxwell and I got up early and awaited for Laura and Max to drop by and pick us up, the festival was up in Hertfordshire and we were traveling from Southampton, the drive to the festival was around a 2 hour drive and I found the drive up there comfortable.
Once at the Lollibop festival we were greeted by staff who showed us where to park. The car park was just a large field and I was shocked to see that you were charged £10 on top of your entry ticket price to park there for the day. Seeing as the tickets were £20, I thought that the £10 parking was a little extravagant. The field had already started to get a little muddy and I was concerned that by Sunday (the last day of the festival) the field may have turned into a mud bath.
From the car park we found our way to the box office where we picked up our tickets up. Upon going into the festival we found that the staff were a little confused about the wristbands we were given at the box office to access the festival, this to me indicated that they had not been briefed well. I was curious to see if the staff would check our bags for security purposes as it was such a large event involving children however we were not checked which meant that anyone could be bringing in anything and the staff would have been none of the wiser.
Once in the festival I was surprised at how busy it was. Immediately we saw a long que to get into the large tent where many of the main shows were. We decided we would walk around the festival and visit stalls and stands. We kept coming back to see if the que had settled down however the whole time that we were at the festival there was a large que and with a energetic 2 year old the last thing I wanted to do was que for hours in the hope I may get to see a show that Maxwell and I wanted to see.
Maxwell and I loved visiting a few stands at the festival. Lego Duplo put on a wonderful stand and it was clear it was a firm favorite with many of the children who were attending the festival. Little Tikes also managed to put on a good stand and Maxwell enjoyed spending time playing on the Little Tikes slides. There was plenty to see and do, the toys which Lego Duplo and Little Tikes had out to play were bright, fun and great for children to play with at a childrens festival.
After a while we headed to get lunch, fortunately I bought Maxwell and I a picnic however this did not stop us sampling the food that the festival had to offer. We found that there was plenty of stalls to choose from and the prices were reasonable. You were able to purchase salads, hot dogs, chips, burgers and even tasty treats like ice cream, candy floss and strawberry's.
After lunch we headed over to the main stage and sat down and waited for a few key acts to come on. We managed to watch Stephie Love who's song has been in my head since we arrived home as well as Mr Maker and also the Horrible History Crew. We managed to be able to see most of the shows which we went to watch however if it had been much busier I think that we would have had trouble viewing the stage. There was also a slight problem at times of adults standing so children behind them had a poor view of the stage meaning they may have missed out on some of the fun of the shows.
After watching the acts on stage we decided we would walk round and see what else the festival had to offer, we managed to meet Harry Potter who was extremely friendly and we also managed to meet his friend Hadgrid who was also fun and friendly. We also managed to meet the Wave 105 crew who spent a while chatting to us and allowed the boys to do some coloring as well as the Haribo bear and the guys over at Bear who handed us delicious snacks. We were aware that there was some face painting going on around the park however I choose not to get Maxwell's face painted at the event.
There was a lot of room for the boys to run around in. Although the room was great it left me thinking that Lollibop could have used the space a little better and had a larger stage to show the acts which we were unable to view in the tent due to the long ques. It was really disappointing to not have watched some of the main shows such as Scooby Doo and Swashbuckle due to the fact that Lollibop had chosen to show these shows in a enclosed tent.
At around 5pm we left the festival and headed back home. Although I think Maxwell enjoyed the festival, I think there is room for improvement and I am unsure if I would pay the £20 ticket price as well as car parking charges on top to attend next year. If I am honest I disliked the venue and I would prefer it being somewhere more central, I would also like to see Lollibop improve there security, being a childrens event I would expect bag searches and I would expect a little extra security in the festival itself. Our main disappointment was that we missed a lot of the big shows, one of the main reasons why we attended the festival in the first place was to see these shows. If Lollibop moved the big shows to large stages with screens which made viewing easier I think we would consider going back.
