Gloworm Festival Weekend Fun with Interplay

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You may have seen our posts on social media, but we have just had one of the best family weekends in a long while! We spent the weekend at Gloworm Festival, a family fun-filled festival for kids and big-kids alike! Set in the grounds of Thorsby Hall in Retford, Gloworm Festival has amazing things on offer for everyone!

Taking place in August each year, Gloworm Festival attracts families from all over the country and luckily for us, we only live 40 minutes away! I have wanted to go to Gloworm for a number of years now but never got around to booking tickets and then Lottie came along, so we didn’t end up going again last year. We were recently sent a family ticket for the whole weekend as one of the Interplay ambassadors, but you can also camp over too which we would definitely do another year! Interplay sponsored the Creative Zone this year and they include amazing brands such as FabLab, My Fairy Garden and Face Paintoos.

When we got to Gloworm on Saturday we were a bit overwhelmed by how much there was to do there and the amount of people who all descended on the park at 10am! Once we got through the queue and into the park, we had a wander round the whole Festival to get a feel of where things were and what there was to do. A few days before I had printed out a schedule of main events, we wanted to attend so we knew we had an hour until the first one.

The first place we headed was inside the Interplay Creative Zone, Mia was able to have a go with the Face Paintoos Magical Face Paint kit. Face Paintoos have created a fab alternative to the traditional face paint. So much easier to apply, cheaper as you get 5 designs in a kit, and they don’t get rubbed off in the first 5 minutes! Mia decided on a Unicorn for the Saturday and a Dolphin on the Sunday! The face paints are really easy to apply, literally peel them off, stick them where you want them and use a wet sponge (included in the kit!) to dab the back of the tattoo. Press lightly for 15 seconds, peel the backing off and that’s it!

The Face Paintoos Magical Face Paints lasted all day both days and actually stayed on until Monday nights bath time so we will definitely be using them again! We were very impressed! The colours are bright, and the images are clean and clear. To take them off, just use the wipe included in the kit and without much rubbing, they come off easily. Even with Mia’s pale and sensitive skin, they were removed quickly without the hassle of the usual face paints!

As well as the face paints Mia also had a go at some FabLab Glitter Tattoos in the Interplay Creative Zone tent. Like the face paints, they are easy to apply by peeling the back, sticking onto wherever you want them, dabbing with glue and then adding the glitter! Mia opted for a lightning bolt and a cat both in gold and she managed these herself. I think she did a good job! I helped her do her nails in various different colours and she loved this as it was her first time having her nails painted! We also highlighted her hair with the FabLab kit. This took me a few go’s to get the hang of and needed quite a lot of applications to show up in her hair. I think it would be easier on lighter hair, but we will give them a go again as they washed straight out that night in the bath.

The Interplay Creative Zone also housed the Fuzzikins sets which we were lucky enough to be sent a few weeks before. With a post office and pizzeria with cute little animals to play with and lots of accessories, Mia loves the fact that you can collect and create your very own little village complete with fuzzy characters. The best thing about them is that you can design and colour all of animals and then rinse them off and start all over again! A huge win for any crafty child! She really wants the full cottage now!

After this, Mia immediately spotted the Ferris Wheel and although I’m not a fan, I said I would go on with her. It turned out to be the only place I could enough phone signal to send any messages! It was a great place to spot where we were headed next as from the top, we could see the White Post Farm area with goats, owls, chickens and more, the Tumble Tots tent for Lottie to have a go at, and the Main stage!

Throughout the weekend, we watched various ‘acts’ on the main stage. We watched Jo Jingles (we already go to their classes) which Lottie loved dancing along to and we also got to see Cook and Line from Swashbuckle which is one of Mia’s favourite shows! We met Peppa Pig and a real-life mermaid too! We didn’t have time to see anything else but there is literally something on all day to keep the kids entertained as well as live bands in the evenings!

There are so many different food outlets to choose from and if it weren’t for the wasps on pretty much all of the cakes, we would have eaten more! I would advise taking a picnic at least 1 day as the food is very pricey but we loved everything we tried, and it was all freshly made. The churros dipped in chocolate were amazing and I would particularly recommend the wood fired pizza!

There is so much to see and do at Gloworm Festival, we didn’t manage to do everything! We didn’t get to the Tiny Tots tent or the Fab inflatable at all, we very quickly scooted round Tumble Tots and we missed the Pirate show on Sunday afternoon. There we no freebies left by the afternoon on both days so this was a little disappointing for the girls, but we would know next time to do those things first. The queues were also very long for the rides, but we managed. The fact you can stay all weekend is amazing and we will definitely consider doing this next time! If you’re unsure of what to pack for a festival, you need to take a look at The Strawberry Fountain who have some great info for you and a checklist too!

Have you been to Gloworm or another family festival before?