Doing #Blogstock with the family

Firstly, despite the truly British weather providing the rain showers and cold winds, the family learnt a lot and had lots of fun in the process. Running around the field, trying out new foods and talking to everyone in sight, including laughing and talking when Bill Odie and Mark Avery were talking. I was so embarrassed! We had a glamping experience from Hertz, which made the weekend a bit more special and I learnt a great deal about organisation, creativity, nature and YouTube (post to follow). 

I made a little video with snippets of our weekend at #Blogstock to give you a little idea of what our weekend involved, hopefully next year there will be a lot more things for the smaller ones as it is so nice to be at a family friendly festival with them. They enjoyed teasing Cuckuu and the team, eating Key Lime pie for the first time with KBC PR and Isla loved watching Frozen with the girls from the Affilinet UK team. Everyone was so lovely to us all, they adored the children and that made it such a nice place to be. 

Here’s my top tips for doing Blogstock with the family: 

1. I arrived on my own on Friday lunchtime, so I managed to mingle with the other bloggers and brands, without being interrupted! You know how it is. The family joined me at 7pm, we had a pizza dinner, the kids ran around for a bit and a boogie to the live music and then we got settled in our bell tent for the night. 
2. We stayed in a Hertz bell tent, which is a VIP area and we did Blogstock glamping style. We didn’t have to worry about setting a tent out, setting it all out and filling up the car. It made it less stressful and a bit more special than our usual camping trips. 
3. Bring some snacks for breakfast, as there was amazing food to try out but it didn’t open until 9am. If your kiddies are anything like mine, they will be up at 6am and ready to start their days. We had bits in the tent ready for them so they could grab it before the food stalls opened. We all tried yummy Canadian pancakes for breakfast on Saturday which was: pancake, maple syrup and crispy bacon! 
4. As always, you cannot predict the weather in England, so bring raincoats, wellies and warm jumpers. There is little “undercover” space so it is best to be prepared. 
5. Make sure you have Daddy with you, or your partner/friend, so that you have time to go to the sessions you want throughout the weekend. It was great, even though I only went to four sessions I learnt a lot and managed to spend a lot of time with the family too. 
6. Be prepared to learn, but not just at Blogstock! What I mean by that is, although I only got to go to four sessions, other bloggers went to other sessions. I took notes at one session and passed it on  to another and I hope to receive the same from other people. Sharing is a great way of learning more. You can’t be everywhere at once. Especially if you have the little ones with you. 
7. Bring cash. There is no means of paying for anything without cash. You will need cash for your meals in the evening, lunches etc, if you want beer or wine. Water is free throughout the session, coffee/tea etc was free from 9am until 5pm, as I mentioned before breakfast was put on Saturday morning for free too and there were also some snacks put out on tables throughout the day. There was nothing else to buy though. You couldnt buy objects etc. Blogstock provided some childrens toys, like a cricket set and a bouncy castle and soft play area too. 
8. The children did come with me to a couple of sessions, the bigger sessions that were held in the marquee. So that was allowed. If you have older children then you might get away with them coming to any sessions. My little ones were quite noisy, they enjoyed listening to Bill Odie and Mark Avery though. Noah laughed out loud at Mark Avery at a crucial silent moment which made the entire marquee giggle. It was a funny moment, if a little embarrassing. 

I hope these little tips help if you are thinking of going next year with the family, it was a good weekend and definitely interesting. I am hoping next year there will be even more things for the family to do: an indoor area possibly and maybe some crafty stalls for the children and a petting zoe, a face painter or even a circus tent for the children – that would be cool! Those kinds of things that entertain the little ones. Also, some candy floss type of stalls and a sweetie bar. That would entertain the big kids too! 

Thank you Blogstock for having us, for the wonderful lessons learnt and also for the opportunity to create friendships with people too.