scareyt

One of my neighbours booked the Methodist Church Hall on Half Moon Lane for a Halloween party, it was ?100 for the afternoon and they were very relaxed about start and finish times. It's the big hall on the junction with Village Way where the Half Moon Montessori nursery are based and there is plenty of room for a bouncy castle plus running around space. Tippi Toes do cheap bouncy castles and soft play stuff that we used as well. It was the cheapest option we found for the amount of space you get!

The bike market sounds great, thanks for the tip!

Bon Velo on Hlaf Moon Lane is worth a visit, they have various brands including Frogs and are very helpful.

I thought of two more: Vegetable fritters - eggs, flour, some baking powder, a small tin of sweetcorn, grated cheese, grated courgette & finely chopped onion or whatever vegetables you have, and a spoonful of green pesto for flavour. The proportions don't really matter and it cooks very quickly in a frying pan / flat griddle. Lettuce boats - sausage meat, chopped green pepper and mushrooms fried up together with some Chinese 5 spice, then add some plum sauce. Serve with cos / romaine lettuce or Chinese leaves to put the mixture into, & chilli sauce for the grown ups to add on top. The cold crunchy lettuce is really delicious with the hot salty / sweet filling and it's still reasonably healthy and very quick. I invented that one in desperation one day to use up the random things we had in the fridge but have made it on purpose lots of times since. I was certain my son would reject the lettuce and pick out all the peppers, but because we called it boats & he could eat with his hands (& he was really hungry!) he ate it all and loved it.

Also we do a lot of fish fingers, sausages & macaroni cheese, and cereal for dinner sometimes. Which is a great treat. My son's favourite emergency meal when he was 3 was cous cous with butter & cheese which sounds a bit weird but he loved & can be on the table within 5 minutes of walking in the door. I did it with a mixture of normal cous cous & barley cous cous to make it a bit more nutritious / less monotonous. And raw veggies on the side - peppers, carrots, broccoli or cauliflower.

Pork stir fry - a packet of pork mince, in a frying pan on a high heat with garlic & whatever veg you have, fry for about 5 minutes then add noodles, some plum sauce & soy sauce for kids, and reheat later for grown ups with some chilli sauce. Zero skill or chopping time involved - I have a little handheld julienne peeler thing so I do carrots & courgettes directly over the pan once the mince is in. Or ready made fish cakes from the freezer with a poached egg each and some spinach microwaved in the packet. I sometimes make a big batch of pancakes if we're up early & have milk to use up, freeze any we don't eat that day and reheat in the toaster directly from the freezer for good breakfasts on a school day.

Also the Bessemer session in the school nature garden on Thursday mornings looks like fun - I saw them there over the summer but just check as they change the schedule often. I hope you find something nice.

Also tippee toes and Bea's baby bop were lovely - a bit more structured than normal playgroups and very friendly.

Hi I know what you mean about baby groups - I found many of the places that are set up for baby activities while mums / careers just hang around quite hard. It might be worth also trying activities where it's something for you to do and the babies can be there too. I loved mum & baby yoga at Brockwell Lido, Hummy Mummies, & mum's boxing at Mind Over Matter boxing. None of them are super cheap but just one thing a week that's about you rather than the baby can make a real difference to your week. I found when there's something for you to actually do you don't get swallowed up by that horrible feeling of being a spare part with no one to talk to, and chatting to other people comes much easier.

Yes I think it's quite common - you're called an external candidate and just arrange it with the school or collage beforehand if they accept external candidates.

Ha Hellosailor I remember laughing hysterically at that thread! Genius. Most kids will be in 'scary' costumes but not all. Last year my son was Peter Pan & this year he's Yoda. Etta I can't wait to see your collection!

There are lots of nice old pubs in Mayfair that have upstairs rooms the right size for those kinds of numbers. Maybe try the Market Tavern in Shepherds Market - its upstairs room is very cosy & Christmassy. The food is nothing amazing, just normal pub grub. Very near Green Park for the kids to run around afterwards. Also Green Park tube is step-free which is nice!

There are lots of nice old pubs in Mayfair that have upstairs rooms the right size for those kinds of numbers. Maybe try the Market Tavern in Shepherds Market - its upstairs room is very cosy & Christmassy. The food is nothing amazing, just normal pub grub. Very near Green Park for the kids to run around afterwards.

We stayed here and liked it. http://villaskamezi.com Each villa has its own small pool and it was nice but very very quiet. It's on the far end of the seafront and a good walk along a nice boardwalk to the restaurants. It could work well for a toddler who naps happily in a buggy. I found it a bit too quiet but it was lovely having our own pool.

There's a kids party from 5-7pm on the Friday outside Herne Hill station. They do it every year and we haven't been before because it's a bit late for tiny ones but it's supposed to be good fun. Details here: http://www.josephineavenue.org.uk/kids-herne-hill-halloween/

Try Henrietta's Handmade Cakes - she's a local mum and makes great cakes.

Science museum, get there when it opens, get in the first lift near the doors & go straight to launchpad. It should keep everyone happy for a good while & you will have it to yourselves to begin with.

Also what's weird about Cbeebies is the live stuff is mostly good and thoughtful, but the cartoons are full of rubbish gender stereotypes.

That's interesting that there is a lot of positive content being created for girls now. I guess what's being slow to catch up is the stuff aimed at boys, which some girls like too, which always gives the girls inferior roles. It's bad news for boys to be see such inequality as normal, and sad for the girls who don't like girly stuff and are drawn to the more adventurous things aimed at boys. I'm thinking about Lego & the Cbeebies stuff mostly.

Hi, another recommendation for Simone and her classes and training sessions - she's very good at motivating you to work hard - even when you don't especially feel like it! :-)

And thank you everyone for your encouragement! It's so good to not feel alone with these frustrations. :-)

Oh dear Lego. One of my new nerdy Lego fan pals on Twitter just sent me this, from a new Lego range, launched today. Sometimes I feel like the world is spinning backwards.

I can feel many more letters bubbling up to the surface.... Do they not realise that girls loved Frozen so passionately because it was actually genuinely about girls, doing stuff, in their own story? There is a proven market for it!!

Oh Lord. I'm now saying a prayer of thanks for having escaped cloud babies -son was too old to be interested when it started. I quite liked In The Night Garden. Also pleased he got to see and love Frozen for a few brief but intense months, before he decided girls stuff is boring.

But that's the point, Peso is supposed to be this timid dufus, but he goes on almost every single mission, including the ones where there is something that needs fixing ? that Tweak should have been involved with. She hardly ever gets to leave. In one episode, they actually wake her up in the middle of the night, just to open the sodding Octohatch for them so they can go off on adventure.