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Kidsen’s Top Five Family Friendly Festivals

So, it’s that time again. The time when the festival season gets into full swing. If you thought your festival days were over when little Annika or Andreas came along, then you’d do well to check out our mini festival guide. These are the best family friendly festivals that are sure to be great fun for the whole family!!

1. The Big Chill – When: 5-8 August. Where: Eastnor Castle Deer Park. Malvern Hills, Herefordshire Who: Massive Attack, Thom Yorke, Roots Manuva, Gregory Isaacs, Lily Allen.. What: For yummy mummys and daddys who still enjoy good times and with a dedicated “Club Mum Area”, a kids tent and boutique babysitting facilities, the Big Chill makes that possible.

2. Belladrum – When: 6-7 August. Where. Inverness-shire. Who: Amy MacDonald, Feeder and Divine Comedy. What: A laid-back festival, set against the backdrop of Scotland’s beautiful highlands.

3. The Green Man – When: 20-22 August. Where: Brecon Beacons. Who: Flaming Lips, Doves and Billy Bragg. What: A child friendly festival with designated family camping area, a film tent and comedy line up. There is even a boutique babysitting service available. Best of all you are encouraged to bring your own instruments to join jamming sessions around the campfire.

4. Serenata - When: 27-28 August. Where: The Smedmore Estate, Kimmeridge. Dorset. Who: Katherine Jenkins, Russel Watson What: Britain’s first classical music festival. Family friendly with its own dedicated kidszone, cafe and even a kids classical concert.

5. Notting Hill Carnival - When: 29-30 August. Where: Streets of Notting Hill, West London. Who: Everyone who loves music. From Soca, and Samba to Hip Hop & Steel Bands. What: Europe’s biggest street festival, celebrating an array of sounds, food and culture. Sunday the 29th is kids day, with 20 miles of beautiful costumes, food and music.

Don’t Forget Your Essential Festival Gear!

Amidst all the celebrations don’t forget to keep your little one’s ears protected. They have extremely sensitive hearing and very little protection against noise. Peltor KID’s, effectively block out harmful noises without shutting out other ambient sounds – allowing your little one to enjoy the atmosphere. The ear protectors come in lime green and pink – both for high visability and fun!!

Peltor Kids Ear Defenders are available at KIDSEN. Click Here for Details.

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17
Jul 10

Holiday Homes in France or Sweden

The holiday season is here! (Well almost). If you haven’t booked a break yet, you could still get away by renting one of these two amazing holiday homes courtesy of some very fortunate friends of KIDSEN.

The house above is a gorgeous French Farm House that sleeps 8 people – perfect for a group get-away. It even comes with an option of a baby sitter and a cook!

But who’d want to go to France, when you could spend the summer in Beautiful Sweden (because let’s face it, summer is definitely the time to go to Sweden). In which case, check out another friend’s place – a classic Swedish pad just outside of Stockholm.

Click Here to find out more about the holiday home in France

Click Here to find out more about the holiday home in Sweden

France Vs Sweden

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Stuff We Love / Time Off — No Comments
6
Jun 10

Stuff We Love – Fika

What is it?
A Swedish Tradition of Having Coffee and Cakes with Friends. It’s an institution in Sweden – the culinary equivalent of a Siesta.

Why do we love it?
Swedes will literally down tools and go and have a Fika. Nothing gets in the way. The Fika tradition is spreading – there’s even a coffee shop called Fika now open in New York. We love the idea of getting together with friends and having quality food and great coffee. Bliss!

Where can I have a Fika?
Fika is all about indulgence and atmosphere. Our two favourite places for a Fika in London are the Scandinavian Kitchen and Bea’s of Bloomsbury. Try them – you will not be disappointed!

Above: The Wonderful Food and Great Atmosphere at Scandi Kitchen, just behind Oxford Circus. Totally authentic Fika right in the heart of London. A long time favourite haunt of the KIDSEN Team. We unashamedly love everything they do!

Below: Tasty Treats Await at Bea’s of Bloomsbury on the Theobald Road. Lovely!

For more information on Scandinavian Kitchen Click Here

To read more about Bea’s of Bloomsbury Click Here

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14
May 10

Life at Kidsen

With Midsummer fast approaching, the new edition of Life West 9 magazine has a big Scandinavian theme this month. Learn how to create a Scandinavian look in your home, pick up some Scandinavian Fashion Tips, cook up a midsummer feast with their featured recipes and of course read about your favourite Scandi store.

Kidsen’s own Corina gave Life West 9 a very insightful low-down on life at Kidsen including our plans for the future, whilst at the same time reminiscing about childhood in Sweden.

The new edition will be with locals soon. You’ll also be able to read the interview online. We’ll post the link here soon!

Quick Update – The New Edition is Now Online – See it Here

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4
May 10

Stuff We Love – Our House

What is it?
A Gallery and Artists Workshop Selling Gorgeous Works of Art and Beautiful Scandinavian Inspired Furniture. The Artists Live Above the Space, Hence the Name!

Why do we love it?
Apart from the gorgeous stuff (See below) the gallery has a real charm to it and the Swedish owners are really lovely, friendly, people.

Where is it?
Slap bang in the middle of Columbia Road (Number 142) so you can pop in next time you’re picking up your Peonies.

How Beautiful is This? Painting by In-House Artist Robina Doxi

We Love These Lamps by Ola Leander aka The Scandinavian

How do I find out More?
Easy – see their website for details:
http://www.ourhousegallery.org/index.php

Product News / Time Off — 2 Comments
15
Apr 10

Katvig Road Test

As any follower of KIDSEN probably knows by now, we love to road test items ourselves. This month, we headed off to Greece on holiday and we brought some of our favourite Katvig Summer Stock to see how it fared.

The girls loved it and it got top marks for being light, comfortable and easy to play in. And of course it broke the cute-ometer!

See the Two Tone Pink Katvig Playsuit at KIDSEN

Click Here for the Katvig Playsuit in Pink and Grey

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13
Apr 10

The Real Pippi Longstocking Ship

People have been telling us for ages that we must take the kids to the Diana Memorial Playground in Hyde Park because it’s such a fun day out. Two things finally swung it for us:

1) It’s Free

2) The Centrepiece of the Playground is a real pirate ship, not dis-similar to the Hoppetossa which the girls love from all their Pippi Longstocking stories.

Sure enough, we had a great time and the kids loved it too! Highly, highly recommended.

Click Here For details of the Diana Memorial Playground

You can buy the Hoppetossa Pirate Ship Toy at Kidsen. Click Here for Details

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8
Apr 10

Our Next Holiday – A Home Swap!

One of our friends has just put us on to an idea for a cheap holiday – a home swap! Now, we know home swapping has been around for donkeys years, and we love our house, so it’s not normally something we’d consider, but when we saw this website everything changed!

This is all about luxury home swapping. You either have a nice place, or a place in a nice location and it’s designed for people who care about their homes, so you’re pretty much going to get a decent “home from home”

You can zero in on a specific location that you want to visit and see all the properties available. Like the 5 Bedroom Architect Designed Home near Stockholm (Above) with stunning views of the archipelago (below).

It’s too tempting and as much as London can be bitter sweet, we know there’s always going to be people wanting to come here, so we’re thinking seriously of handing over our keys!!

For details visit Luxe Home Swap:
http://www.luxehomeswap.com/

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30
Mar 10

Too Much Nudity?

Had some friends over for dinner the other night and they arrived as we were putting our two children to bed. I was reading a Swedish Children’s Book called Totte och Malin to my two and a half year old. One part of the book explains in really simple terms the difference between (ahem!) little boys and little girls.

Being brought up in Sweden, where this sort of thing is very common, I thought nothing of this, but afterwards one of my English friends (who will remain nameless) was really shocked that we would show this to a young child…

We put it down to cultural differences, but then I decided to write a quick blog post and canvas public opinion.
So, what do you think – did Claire over-react? Oops sorry Claire!

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4
Oct 09

Kidsen Makes It’s Festival Debut…

Kidsen_Queens_Park

If you live in London and haven’t attended the annual Queens Park Day Festival, it’s certainly worth adding to your Filofax for next year. There’s a great range of family activities and it’s always a brilliant day out.

We were honoured to be offered a stall at this year’s celebrations, so we packed up our brightest children’s toys, prams and baby clothes and headed on down to set up our first ever KIDSEN Stall.

Luckily, we were able to persuade our friends at Scandinavian Kitchen to join us on our stall. Their mouth watering traditional Scandinavian cakes ensured we had a steady stream of customers all day.

It was great to see all of you down there and to meet new faces – even if some of you only stopped by for the Cinamon Buns!!!”

Bronte from Scandinavian Kitchen and her now legendary Cinamon Buns!

Our Snapshot of Queens Park Day

We stepped away from the Kidsen stall to snap a few things that we really enjoyed. The pictures are below. Thanks to all involved for a great day out!