Jellybabies - the lovely group for mums with babies under 1 year old - has changed its time from September. The group will now be on MONDAY MORNING 10-11.30am at the same venue. 

Jellybeans for toddlers will now run on Tuesdays and Fridays 10-11.30am. 

You can find the info in the Things to do section ​www.marylebonemums.com/things-to-do.html

On Saturday 17th September 2016, Crest of London will be hosting a Teddy Bear’s Picnic for the local community in Manchester Square Gardens. ​Crest of London is a local company, based in Bentinck Street, and is the market leader in London souvenirs and novelty gift items.
 
This fun event is aimed at nursery and primary school aged children.
There will be children’s entertainment, singing, dancing, face painting, popcorn, raffle, side stalls etc.
The event is by invitation only, free to attend and proceeds from the event will be donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.

Places at the picnic are limited. Please reserve your place by emailing kellie@crestoflondon.co.uk with the number of adult and children's tickets  required.
Please note that all children must be accompanied by an adult. 

The Langham London Hotel has recently launched an Afternoon Tea in association with Hamleys as well as launching family rooms and family packages in the hotel. The Family Getaway package includes options such as a VIP tour of Hamleys, afternoon tea, and even Kidzania tickets. It sounds like a real treat for families visiting London. 

We were lucky enough to be invited to sample the afternoon tea just before the launch on 1st August. My 3.5 year old daughter was very excited when I explained that she was going to put on a lovely party dress, and would go to a beautiful hotel to have a tea party. Her expectations were high, and the tea did not disappoint!

The Langham, London Children’s Afternoon Tea is available in the Palm Court. In partnership with Hamleys, the Afternoon Tea is part of a series of initiatives aimed at providing families an enjoyable experience within Regent Street’s Grand Hotel. It is available to children aged 12 years and under and each child receives a complimentary Hamleys teddy bear as a token giveaway of their time at The Langham, London. 

The tea has been created by Cherish Finden, Executive Pastry Chef together with Chris King, Executive Chef of The Langham, London. For those of you who watched Bake Off Creme de la Creme may recognise Cherish as one of the judges. As soon as I realised this, I was a little bit (ok, a lot) excited as I was a big fan of the show and was amazed by Cherish's exacting standards. I was very keen to experience her creations. 

Three seatings are available in Palm Court: 1pm, 3.15pm and 5.30pm. We were at the 1pm sitting and in the future I will always chose this as it was an alternative to lunch and (more importantly) left us the whole afternoon to burn off the higher than usual amount of food (and sugar) that we had consumed by a long afternoon visit to the park!

When we arrived we were offered drinks. Children have a choice of strawberry and kiwi tea, hot chocolate, fruit juice , or as my little one chose, cold chocolate milk. It was delicious and it was great to have some many options for picky palates. 

Then the main event. The most beautiful and carefully thought through afternoon tea. A jigsaw of delicious sandwiches, a Carousel Cup Cake Swirl, a Cookie Monster Macaroon, a Maltesers Chocolate Mousse and a Langham Cold Chocolate along with a Sweet Surprise Bag of assorted candy and classic sweets.  Not only did it look stunning but everything tasted amazing. My daughter couldn't bring herself to eat Cookie Monster so I devoured him in true Cookie Monster style! (he was delicious)
The Children’s Langham Afternoon Tea with Wedgwood is priced at £27.50 per child.

Adults can indulge in the Wedgwood Afternoon tea. The cakes were some of the lightest and most delicious I have ever tasted and looked stunning. And of course no tea is complete without freshly baked, light fluffy scones. 

The decor and atmosphere of the Palm Court are a fantastic mix of modern and traditional. There was no stuffy, old feel at all and the children were warmly welcomed. My daughter proclaimed it to be "amazing" and "the best fun". 

I'm often asked for good places for afternoon tea and in the future I will recommend this as my top place, especially if you have kids, but even without. I have been lucky enough to tea at most of the main tea venues in London and this is definitely up there with the best. 

The Koppel Project on Baker Street is running a program of children's workshops during August based on some of the lovely Phaidon books they sell.
thekoppelproject.com/childrens-summer-workshops-phaidon/

We attended the workshop about Matisse this morning and my 3.5 year old had a lovely time, and brought home a fab book we can use as inspiration to create more art!

Well done Koppel Project. Please do go along to the workshops to support this great idea. Parents can sit and work or just relax in the cafe downstairs, they do great coffee and also gelato!