Raisie Bay

InflataNation – Birmingham

We were really excited to receive an invitation to visit InflataNation inflatable theme park. My Children have always loved bouncy castles and InflataNation is the perfect place for children of all ages to bounce and play.

We visited the Birmingham InflataNation but you can also find parks in Manchester, Cheshire and Beverley. 

Inflatanation sign

What is InflataNation?

InflataNation is a theme park full of inflatables. Exactly what you would imagine it to be. There are inflatable slides and bouncing areas along with ball pits and activity zones. The park is open to all ages and abilities, so yes, the adults can bounce along with the kids. There is also an area especially for the under fours so that they don’t miss out on the fun.

If you don’t want to bounce, or can’t like me, then there is a fabulous cafe area where they sell food, snacks and drinks.

large inflatable theme park

The Theme Park

From the moment you enter you are floating on inflatables. But there is so much more to do than bounce. The slides are great fun for all and you get a choice of height just in case you are not brave enough for the bigger slides. We liked how you could slide down together in two aisles, it’s a race to the bottom. 

large inflatable slide

My kid’s loved the wrecking ball area where you each stand on an inflated pillar while swinging the wrecking ball at each other. The last man standing is the winner.

There is also a gladiator style duel where you hit each other off the podium with inflatable batons. And an inflatable assault course which two people can race to complete.

Or if you just want to bounce or play in ball pits you can do that too.

You get an hour in the park to enjoy all the activities and there is so much to do the time just flies by.

child pushing a large peg into an inflatable wall

The Cafe

The cafe area was clean and spacious and in the perfect place to watch all the action. 

We decided to have lunch there and were happy with the food served. Two of my children had meals from the kid’s menu, Star and her Dad had pizza and I had a panini. The kids had slushies with their meals while me and their Dad had some nice coffee.

I thought the prices were reasonable, we spent £36 for five of us, but we could have saved money by not choosing the more expensive drinks. Also available were family servings, so you could have pizza or hot dogs for the whole family at a cheaper price than buying individual meals.

The food was served within 15 minutes which was good and it was brought to our table.

the cafe
the menu
Part of the menu, there were also kid’s meals and snacks available

Safety

You are advised to wear long sleeves and long trousers in the theme park because it is possible to rub your skin after excessive play. It is well ventilated to keep you cool, but it’s  constant physical work while in there and you are bound to get a bit hot. I’d suggest covering up in something light. You will need to wear socks.

Before you go in you can read the safety rules which are shown on a big poster on the wall in the cafe. There is also a short safety video to watch and you are guided to view this five minutes before your session starts.

Other Features

There is a viewing area which looks out over the park and you can watch your children play. There are also extra tables and chairs up there to take your food and drinks. This area was accessible by stairs only so I didn’t get to see. Graham took some photos for me.

a view of the inflatable park from above
a view from above of the large slide

There is also a kid’s party venue, a special place set aside for the party goers before they go into the park to bounce.

The theme park also offers several classes including fitness classes, inflata tots and disability friendly sessions. The disability sessions are for those on the autistic spectrum where a calm environment is created and parents or carers can enter for free.

The Cost

The general cost is £9.95 per person for one hour play for over 4s. £5.95 for under 4s. However, there are many offers available such as family passes for two adults and two children for £32.50. You can also pay for extra time, £7 for over 4s and £4 for under 4s. There are also passports for those that wish to attend regularly and different prices. 

Parties vary depending on what package you want but the cheapest price is £12.50 per child.

You can also book adult only parties if you don’t want the kids getting in the way!

Our Verdict

The kids gave the park a big thumbs up and would love to go again sometime. They had tons of fun and it totally wore them out. Graham had fun too, but I think maybe he should have been a bit easier on himself.

I thought the place was clean and spacious. The cafe area was a really lovely place to sit and watch while waiting. Access was easy for my wheelchair and there was a disabled toilet.

The food was nice and the portions a good size.  There was a nice variety of fast food to enjoy and service was good. The coffee was especially nice.

I think the cost was reasonable, especially if you take advantage of the special offers. It makes for a great family outing.

Boo in the inflatable theme park

Please visit https://www.inflatanation.com/ 
for more information. It is recommended that you book your session before arriving.

Disclosure: we were given free entrance to InflataNation for the purpose of this review, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Kids Pass, The Family Savings Card

Kids pass have a fabulous offer right now where you can enjoy a whole year of savings for only £34.99. Click the banner above if you would like to know more.

What is Kids Pass?

Kids Pass is a family savings card giving you savings on a whole range of things from food to funfairs. You can search locally for offers or download the app. and search while out or on holiday. There are so many savings to be made.

We used our card when we were on holiday to visit The World of Country Life. We had a fabulous day out and it was great knowing that we’d saved £22.40 on our entry fee.

Cinema Tickets

If you like to going to the cinema you can save up to 40% off your tickets. This includes Odeon, Cineworld, Empire, Vue and other cinemas. Just check which is nearest to you and print off your offer. Or even easier, take your phone along with you with the app. installed and your ticket is available at all times. 

Restaurants and Take Outs

Don’t want to cook, or away from home? Then you can save money on restaurants and take outs. Offers include 20% off meals at Sizzling Pubs, BOGOF at Papa Johns and Pizza Hut, Kids eat for a £1 at Prezzo, 25% of Frankie and Bennys and Bella Italia and so many more. You may even find offers at your local curry house, or chip shop. And if you are on the road, there is 20% off at Road Chef.

If you get into the habit of checking your app. before buying any food out then you will be sure to save loads.

Holidays and Days Out

Kids Pass can save you loads on holidays and days out. You can claim cash off your Butlins, Haven, Parkdean or Away Resorts or Forest Holidays booking. Or if you wish to stay at Alton Towers, Legoland, Chessington or Thorpe Park too. There are also savings at EnergyKids and Clubzone.

The Days Out section is huge and includes all sorts of Adventure Parks, Farms, zoos, aquariums, Go Ape, Bowling, ice skating, swimming, soft play, you name it, you’ll probably find it on Kids Pass.

How Does it Work?

For your fee you can search the site for hundreds of savings. The site is easy to navigate with everything neatly divided into categories. You can choose to look at offer that are near your location, or search for offers on a map. It also keeps a record of all your savings so you know just how much you’ve saved. When you’ve found your offer you can just read the terms and conditions and print off your tickets.

The app. is much easier as you can use it on the go, and there is no need for printing your ticket as you can use your phone to display the relevant details to claim your discount.

To get good value out of your Kids Pass, you do need to check it regularly. That’s why it’s best to get the app. on your phone. Then every time you have a day out or want to order a meal. Obviously, the more you use it the more you will save.

If you are not ready for a full years membership then you can try Kids Pass for 30 days for only £1

Be warned, these offers will be ending soon though! 

I am an ambassador for Kids Pass so anyone joining through my links will earn me a commission. I have, however, brought you a honest description of the program and I have not been paid to write this post.

Halloween Days out coming soon!

a little boy putting a scary pumpkin into a giant dinosaurs mouth.
Mix It Up Linky
Sticky Mud and Belly Laughs

Shopping Until I’m Dropping

Day Out

After a fairly chilled out week last week we decided we’d had enough of sitting around and went out for the day on Saturday. Well, I say the day, we actually didn’t leave until after lunch. Two reasons for this, I didn’t want to spend any more money than necessary and the kids didn’t really want to go out. I mean, how cruel of me to drag me away from their electronic devices!

So, we ventured out to a National Trust Property, Baddesley Clinton, which turned out to be only half an hours drive away. It was a gloriously sunny day and it was just so nice to actually get out side in it. It was also really nice to get inside the cool house after five minutes of leaving the air conditioning of the car.

We did spend some time in the garden in the shade though, soaking up enough vitamin D to last us another week.

On Sunday we rested. As you do.

(Well, if you don’t count the washing pile that put Everest to shame, or the Sunday roast I decided to cook, or the bathroom that was definitely in need of a scrub before the round of showering kids scummed it up again.)

Shopping

Then it’s been non-stop. Shopping, baking, doctor visits, dentist appointment, more shopping, even more shopping and barely a moment to snap open a laptop.

If you are wondering why all the shopping wasn’t done in one go then I need to explain. First up there is food shopping which is quite necessary. Then there was birthday card shopping, a total of 10 cards were purchased. Oh, and we decided that it would be a nice idea to visit the toy store so the Little Man could spend his birthday money, and the girls could spend theirs. The joys of having three kids’ birthdays in the space of four weeks! One is ‘the birthday yet to come,’ but as we will be on holiday we let her have some money early, and the other is the ‘birthday past,’ but we kept back some money especially for this spending spree. The Little Man has his birthday this week, ‘the birthday present,’ but we went shopping a couple of days earlier so he didn’t feel so bad about his sisters having presents on his special day.

Oh well, it made sense when I thought it all up.

Then more shopping because I had to go to Hobbycraft for supplies. I have a Christening to go to on Sunday, it’s quite a special one as we are going to be the Godparents. I’ve never been chosen as Godparent before and I wanted to get something special. Only I couldn’t find anything that didn’t break the bank, so I’m making something myself. I’m a bit worried about it now, but I’ve been assured that it looks good. I’ll show it to you later, if you want me too.

So, I guess the word of the week this week has to be Shopping! 

a stylish woman holding up a hoard of shopping bags
Photo by freestocks.org on Unsplash

Debs Random Writings
The Reading Residence

My Sunday Photo 5th August 2018

After a chilled out week I was getting a little cabin crazy so I managed to persuade my kids that we needed to go out. Oh no! But what would they do without their screens, their Ds’, laptops, PS4.  Maybe they could take the Ds’ for use in the car on the journey, it was a compromise I was willing to make for a little freedom from these four walls.

Baddesley Clinton

Just a few miles away was a place I’d been longing to visit, Baddesley Clinton.

 

Baddesley Clinton, front courtyard of 15th Century house.

This is the forecourt, isn’t it just delightful. Built in the 16th Century the house has a lot of history. Mostly to do with the hiding of catholic priests in underground tunnels, which are still there. But also it was home to some extraordinary women with some amazing talents and interesting views. I will write more about our visit later, even the kids were glad we left the house and screens behind in the end.

Of course they were thrilled when we first got there as the house is surrounded by a moat!

front of house with a bridge over a moat

Of  course there were plenty of ducks around too, as well as sheep roaming free in the grounds.

The house was really interesting to visit, there was so much to see. The kids did a little trail around the house where they had to find a number of hidden things which they really enjoyed. I couldn’t go upstairs but I was given a virtual tour by iPad (don’t tell the kids!) It looked really interesting and the kids loved it, which is quite surprising because, if I’m honest, they don’t really like being dragged around old buildings.

Telling the Time

Just one more photo for this post. In the middle of the walled garden, instead of swings, which Boo was disappointed about, there was a Sundial. It was almost right, we just need to move the sun a little. This was taken at 3pm. I’d say it was telling us it was 2.30pm

 

Photalife

 

Sunday Snap

 

Thunder, Hospitals and Holidays

the storm lighting up the night sky

I Hear Thunder

Wow did we have some storms this weekend. I was woken in the early hours of Sunday morning by the most enormous thunder crash. It’s a good job that storms don’t frighten me, although they do make me wary as I know they can be dangerous. Thankfully, the kids didn’t wake up.

Sunday morning started quite sunny and we thought the storms were long gone, then mid afternoon we could hear rumbling. It was weird, not like normal thunder that comes and goes but a continuous rumble. I wasn’t even sure it was Thunder at first, but then I saw a flash of lightening, and another, and another. Within minutes came the rain and a proper deluge it was, the garden was soon like a pool. It just kept coming and coming, continuous rumbling, constant flashes and so much rain.

There were areas of flooding nearby, even some of the main roads were more like rivers. Living at the bottom of a hill we’ve seen a fair bit of water but the drainage is pretty good around here so it soon disappears again. The water in the garden was almost up to the edge of our patio doors but it didn’t come inside. I think we were lucky.

It was the rumbling that affected me most though, it really didn’t stop for over an hour, just a deep heavy grumbling in the sky, the heavens were certainly annoyed at something!

Hospital

I spent last Thursday at the hospital with my Little Man after an accident at school. He hurt his arm on a radiator and the GP thought he may have fractured the bone. It turned out to be just bruising though. Sadly our day revealed a lot more though, the bullying that has continued for my boy on a daily basis. He is being kicked and punched on a daily basis both in the classroom as well as the playground. This is after us complaining to the school. We are now taking him out of school on a concern for welfare. In fact we are considering not sending him back at all. You can read the full story here on my post last week.

Also on the subject of hospital, I’m off for my IVIG treatment today. I’m hoping it gives me a little more relief for the rest of this week. I don’t think one days treatment is helping much though, I really need to talk to my consultant about alternatives.

Whitsun

This week is the Whitsun holiday from school and it feels kind of strange because for the past four years we have taken a holiday. This year, however, we have decided to take our holiday in August. It feels like a long wait, but at least we will be going for a full week instead of a midweek break.

I am hoping that we can fit in a couple of days out this week but it will probably be nearer the weekend. I’m not even sure where we will go yet but Star wants to go to the Nature Centre. We’ve been there loads of times before but she’s happier going somewhere familiar.

I want to go to a National Trust Property, there are still a few nearby that we’ve not visited yet. Maybe we can fit in both.

What have you been up to this week?

 

Debs Random Writings

 

 

A little Note About Positive Reviews on Raisie Bay

A little Note About Positive Reviews on Raisie Bay

Some people only write reviews when things go wrong with products, which is good because it lets people know that there could be potential problems. I’ve also seen negative feedback with say things like, I had to return this item because the colour did not suit me…is this useful?

I write reviews on most items I buy because I like to give genuine feedback. If I have a genuine problem with a product I will write my review in the appropriate place.

I write reviews on my blog too, but they are mostly positive. Why? Because I only write reviews for the things I’ve loved. If I don’t love them I let the person who sent me them know with details why and then let them decided if they would rather me write a negative review or not write one at all. It’s always the latter.

This is my blog, my place and I’ll let you know about the things I love. If you want to find out what other people have hated about the product then you will need to look elsewhere.

My reviews may all be positive, but they are still genuine.

Where to next?