Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Earlier this month The Wobbly Jelly was invited to see this years Assembly Hall pantomime, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Much to the horror of the Jelly Babies, I went without them and instead invited the big sister of their buddies, Zara Bailey to come along and watch the show. We had a fabulous night together and even got to see a few of the stars of the pantomime after the show, before we were both whisked home by Zara’s dad.

Here’s eight year old Zara’s reveiw.

On Wednesday night, I went to see the Snow White pantomime at the Assembly Hall theatre in Tunbridge wells. It was really funny and also sometimes a bit cheeky!

My favourite character was Dolly. Dolly was Snow White’s nurse (nanny). Every time Dolly came on stage, she was wearing a different outfit. On one occasion, she wore a burger and chips dress!

The ‘Bad Queen’s’ joker Muddles, told most of the jokes. He was hilarious! One of my favourite jokes involved the Bad Queen pushing Muddles onto his bum, he then jumped up and pointed to his bottom and shouted “Oi, you broke my bum! Look there’s a crack in it!!” I think that the show was really good because it was entertaining, funny and you were never bored.

The following week I returned with the Jelly Babies and their cousins who live in New York. The eldest Jelly Baby felt sure he wouldn’t enjoy but within moments he was giggling away and particularly loved the moment when he thought he had been caught picking his nose. The littlest Jelly Baby and her cousins loved all the song and dance routines and spent the next 24 hours re creating them at home. I thought all the cast were fabulous but Su Pollard was absolutely knock out as the wicked stepmother.

The pantomime is on until Monday, January 2nd 2017 so you’ll have to be quick if you want to catch this hilarious family show.

When the Wobbly Jelly met Mister Maker

When you are as big into crafting and making as The Wobbly Jelly is, and you’re also rather partial to an hour or two in front of CBeebies, there can’t be many better offers than a trip to the theatre to see Mister Maker and the Shapes Live, followed by a chance to meet the legend himself. We leapt at the chance when our local theatre, Assembly Hall, Tunbridge Wells invited us to do just that. The littlest Jelly Baby’s excitement was infectious and I found myself counting the number of sleeps until the big day.

For those parents who have been living under a rock for the last decade, Mister Maker like Tony Hart in the the 80s and Neil Buchanan in the 90s, is inspiring a generation of children to get creative. His high energy, fast paced television show has been on air for almost a decade but I’ll be honest I was curious as to how he would hold the attention of the audience for the length of a theatre show.

The moment Mister Maker jumped on stage (via Brazil) I knew the littlest Jelly Baby (aged 3) and I were in for a treat. The next 90 minutes whizzed by in a whirl of music, dancing, jokes and of course lots of crafting. It felt more like we were attending a huge party rather than a theatre performance with children encouraged to get up and dance, and parents invited to join in too. The littlest Jelly Baby was thrilled that the show included all of the things she associated with Mister Maker – gloopy glue, the doodle drawers, and of course the shapes. Adding further to her sense of excitement, the audience were appointed Mini Makers participating in their very own ingeniously devised minute make challenge.

Over the last five years I have accompanied the Jelly Babies to a whole host of children’s theatre productions based on their favourite television shows and as much as they have adored each of the shows, this is the first that I can honestly say I have loved. The thing that made the show so enjoyable for me, alongside the fact the audience were central to the entire show,  was that the adults had been thought of as much as the children. With bursts of pop music from the nineties interspersed with the more traditional children’s songs and some jokes aimed at the parents and grandparents rather than the children and even some classic rave moves, the entire audience were catered for. We were both a little glum when the show came to an end but were thrilled that it was almost time to meet our crafting hero and I’m delighted to report that Phil Gallagher a.k.a Mister Maker was just as delightful as he appears on the television. We hope he’ll treasure the Big Pencil Case The Wobbly Jelly made him, just as long as we’ll treasure the memories from the day Mister Maker visited our home town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just what is our favourite party accessory at the Wobbly Jelly?

If there’s one thing we love at The Wobbly Jelly, it’s a party.

You may have already had a glimpse of some of the parties we’ve thrown, that feature on the Enchanted Parties section of the website. And planning for the Jelly Babies’ birthday parties (both of which are not until September) is well under way.

Both parties will feature brightly coloured balloons, noisy games, a sumptuous party tea, thick wedges of birthday cake wrapped in paper napkins and going home bags bulging with tiny tokens of loveliness just as the parties my mum threw for me did.

However there is one tradition that has featured at every one of my children’s parties which I don’t think even existed back in the days of my celebrations and that’s the fabulously indulgent….Piñata

These Tissue covered, cardboard creations serve a dual purpose. For the majority of the party, they are fabulous decorations but at the end of the party they become the ultimate party game. Filled with sweets and trinkets, the children get to take turns bashing the piñata (usually whilst they are blindfolded) until, much to the delight of the party guests, they explode, spilling their contents over the floor.

We fill our piñatas with sweets and trinkets that the party guests are going to take home in their party bags. When the bounty falls from the piñata, we encourage the children to collect it all up together as fast as they can and pile it onto the table, for an adult to divide up between the bags.

They are the perfect climax to a fabulous event.

A last hurrah before the parents arrive to collect their sugar drenched, adrenalin pumped children(and you reach for the gin and breath a huge sigh of relief that everyone has survived the party relatively unscathed.)

Over the last five years we’ve had a whole array of piñatas but it is only recently since the Jelly Babies’ last set of birthdays that I stumbled across the magnificent Piñata Piñata on Instagram.

These piñatas are something else.

The Rolls Royce of the piñata world.

Each piñata is lovingly hand crafted by Ruth O’Reilly at her home in Ireland. With a huge array to choose from, the Jelly Babies and I have spent an unhealthy amount of time drooling over our favourite ones on the Piñata Piñata website. As each piñata is made to order, if your party theme is a little off the wall and you can’t quite find the piñata you are looking for, Piñata Piñata will create a bespoke piñata that is perfect for your event.

For more information on these beautiful piñatas  pop over to the Piñata Piñata website. http://pinataspinatas.com.

Prices start from just €15 and the piñatas can be shipped anywhere in the world. Shipping within Ireland costs €5 and shipping to the UK, €10. For all other locations please contact Ruth through her website.