Tag Archives: westfield

Explore! Rescue! Protect! Octonauts Training at Westfield Derby!

Posted on by Abi

Octonauts ShowIf you’re not familiar with the Octonauts then chances are you don’t have any small children. They are popular (animated) underwater characters who spend their days dealing with sea-life emergencies. They explore the deep, rescue creatures that need help and protect animals from harm.

KwaziiIt’s a positive message that kids seem to really identify with. Yesterday they surfaced from the deep blue sea and made their way to Westfield Derby to train wannabe Octonauts (aka fans!) Timed wristbands were available to pick up from the concierge desk for the various shows throughout the day. Each show was entirely free and quite long to boot.

Octonauts ShowAs you might imagine the show was packed to bursting, it’s rare to get anything for free these days, let alone a decent length well rehearsed production. The characters sang and danced to all the familiar songs from the TV show, plus a couple of new ones. I am always amazed how the actors/dancers in these kind of shows manage to seem so agile while wearing extremely heavy costumes.Captain Barnacles

Captain Barnacles (the polar bear) and Kwazii (the cat) asked the audience to perform actions as part of their ‘training’ and amazingly no one was hurt as the huge crowd jumped and shifted about. There were some exceedingly well behaved children out in Derby yesterday 🙂

Octonauts ShowKids shouted out answers to questions about absent characters and seemed truly engaged throughout the entire production. I believe they may have already performed at other Westfield centres around the country, so definitely check out your local one if your kids might be interested.Captain Barnacles

If you missed the show yesterday don’t worry, Westfield are running an Octonauts themed colouring competition and treasure trail around the centre. Just pop along to concierge to pick up the relevant forms and don’t forget to check out the remaining free events scheduled throughout the summer holidays.Kwazii

For More information

For more wonderful events ranging from indoor shows through to craft activities visit Westfield Derby online.

Or you can contact the Westfield team on Twitter, or through Facebook.

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Kids Summer Fashion for a Day Trip!

Posted on by Abi

When it comes to childrens fashion there is always an element of practicality to consider, after all kids can be notoriously rough on their clothes. So how do you dress fashion conscious children for a long tiring day trip? I found the answer at Westfield Derby in one of this season’s top trends…..neon! I took my three to London to test their neon clothes in action.

Neon isn’t always in favour but it can’t be denied that it is bright and noticeable. This in itself makes it the perfect colour to dress your kids in, simply put they are easier to spot which is a distinct advantage if you are visiting a busy area. It also means they are easier to describe should you lose sight of them temporarily.

However unless you want to make your kids look like 80’s rejects you have to play the neon card carefully. I found a wonderful variety of clothes in my local shopping centre (Westfield Derby), where a few designs were on offer in store.

For my eldest son I went for this gorgeous layered top from Zara, it’s quite oversized in design and is available in a range of colours, it’s bright but it wont damage your retina and I can spot him at a distance. I paired this with a more understated pair of navy shorts from H&M, these have a slightly tailored cut which means they can be dressed up or down. He also had a bright neon blue belt, also from H&M although admittedly his t-shirt covered this.

For my youngest son I went for these gorgeous denim shorts from Zara, they are bright, incredibly comfortable and my son loves them. Zara also do similar trousers in bright designs, although I found their legs were slimmer which made them less practical for a very little person.

I paired them with this fabulous Darth Vader t-shirt from H&M. The t-shirt has the added advantage of being glow in the dark, I know he went under a table to show me!

For my daughter I toned done the neon just slightly with this pink skirt from H&M with neon heart accents. This was paired with an incredibly funky animal print t-shirt (also from H&M) and bright wrist cuff.

I think they all looked fabulous, but how did the clothing fair on our trip? From beginning to end it was an insanely long hot day (the hottest day of the year in the South East) but while I wilted in the background all the kids were comfortable, fashionable and practically dressed.

Details

All the clothes were bought from Westfield Derby

Orange Layered Top £3.99 from Zara (this was reduced from £6.99)

Navy Shorts £7 from H&M (these were on special offer in store)

Blue Belt £2.50 from H&M

Orange Shorts £9.99 from Zara (these were reduced from £14.99)

Darth Vader T-shirt £5.99 from H&M

Pink heart skirt £5.99 from H&M

Animal Print T-shirt £2.99 from H&M

Wrist Cuff £1.99 from H&M

 

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Having a Pant-tastic Summer with Spongebob Squarepants!

Posted on by Abi

In my last post I wrote about the challenge of keeping kids entertained at home during the Summer holidays, but what if you want to take a trip out? Not all activities have to cost the earth. For example our local shopping centre Westfield Derby runs kids events throughout the summer, all of which are free! For some of the events, such as craft activities you just turn up on the day. For others (like character meet and greets) you need to obtain a timed wristband from the concierge desk on the morning of the event. Westfield operate shopping centres throughout the country so it’s always worth checking out the website of your local mall to see what’s on.

We toddled along to Westfield Derby yesterday to meet SpongeBob Squarepants in the flesh/sponge. As you might imagine all my children were very excited at the prospect of meeting SpongeBob in ‘person’, so they prepared a short selection of jokes to share with him. Jokes such as:

Why did the hamburger cross the road? To Ketch-up with the fries!

Why did the Octopus cross the road? To get to the other tide!

Knock Knock! Who’s there? Fish! Fish who? Bless you!

That’s some comedy gold right there!

SpongeBob wobbled about in appreciation (his nose spun in circles!) before pausing to take a photo with the kids.

They all received a sheet of small SpongeBob stickers from NickToons, where SpongeBob is having a ‘Pant-tastic Summer’ on the channel everyday from 9am. See Nicktoons.co.uk for details.

As we left SpongeBob gave them all a larger sticker so they could proudly display their visit to the world!

For More information

For more wonderful events ranging from indoor shows through to craft activities visit Westfield Derby online.

Or you can contact the Westfield team on Twitter, or through Facebook.

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