Chances are, if you live in the West Yorkshire area and have a child, you will have heard of BoomChikkaBoom. Faye and her team are quickly becoming on of the biggest children’s entertainers in our area and, when you attend one of their events, it’s easy to see why!

We first attended one of their legendary Baby Raves back in November 2014 when Lucas was just five months old. Located in Havana nightclub where I had spent many a drunken night, I suddenly realised how drastically my life had changed, from staggering in heels down the famous Wakefield cobbles to pushing a buggy carrying my pumpkin themed baby down the same cobbles. (It was their Halloween party, incase you didn’t guess!)

Since then, we have visited a few more Baby Raves and even hired them for Lucas’ fourth birthday this year which was a resounding success with all his little friends.

This summer holidays they held a Messy Playa party at Wrenthorpe Village Hall and myself and a friend quickly snapped up tickets as they sell out fast! It was the first time we had experienced something other than a Baby Rave with BoomChikkaBoom and we were looking forward to seeing what they had to offer. I’d done a bit of “Messy Play” with Lucas as a baby but hadn’t so much as attempted it with poor Sienna! Typical second baby syndrome! Being a bit of a neat freak, Messy Play is out of my comfort zone so I liked the idea of doing it somewhere they wasn’t my house and where I didn’t have to tidy up after it!

Rice, play dough, water, sand, sticking, foam, paint and coloured spaghetti were all set out on tuff trays around the hall and the children were encouraged to go wild. We took Lucas and his friend Miller (both aged four), Edie, aged 17 months, Sienna, aged 7.5 months, at the time, and every child really enjoyed themselves. At first I wondered whether the older two would but they really enjoyed making ice creams with the foam and hooking a duck in the water. They were also super careful of the younger ones around them which was really sweet. It was a sensory overload for Sienna who seems to like the water and spaghetti the best and seemed a little confused by the paint and foam. Maybe she’ll be like me and not like being messy. Edie really enjoyed it all and pottered around each tray which I think Sienna was missing, as she wasn’t crawling at that point. I had to pick her up and put her at each station. I think she will enjoy it even more now she can crawl around and explore for herself, being Little Miss Independent. The sessions are 45 minutes and for the last 20 minutes or so, the leader sang songs with the children and there were bubbles and snow too! She was really good with the kids and even indulged Lucas’ new obsession – The Greatest Showman – when he asked for the song to be put on and she did so at the end while we were getting cleaned up.

If you are going to one of these events here’s my advice:

• Take spare clothes for the children – I stripped Sienna to her nappy so didn’t need spare clothes for her and Lucas played in a t-shirt and pants which I then changed him out of after.
• Take a towel and wipes – All the mess easily comes off with easily. I wrapped Sienna in her towel then wiped down the bits that were a little more “stuck”, like the paint.
• Make sure you dress yourself in something you don’t mind getting messy! This is something I didn’t think about and when I was picking Sienna up to move her about, I got cover in it too so make sure you were some old clothes.

At the end, it felt weird to have made lots of mess and not help tidy up but obviously this is one of the aspects of the BoomChikkaBoom Messy Playa events that appeals to parents! We’re so pleased that they’ve started using Wrenthorpe Village Hall as a location for their events and can’t wait to go to more in the future! You can find more of BoomChikkaBoom’s events on their website, or follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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