London Festivals with the Family: To Go Or Not To Go?

The summer season is nearly here and with summer comes the opportunity to enjoy festivals. While they’re certainly not everybody’s cup of tea, they can be incredibly exciting, with live music and activities to keep everyone busy throughout the days.

Whether you’re a festival veteran or a complete fledgling, having a family can sometimes affect your ability to enjoy festivals in all their glory, with many people choosing to give up on the idea altogether. It goes without saying that the festival experience changes somewhat when children come along – the idea of being wild, young and free doesn’t necessarily exist anymore, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy them.

 If you’re wondering whether to head to a festival in the capital this summer, you can click here for budget accommodation deals in London so that you and your kids have somewhere comfortable to lay your head.

While some people will be ruling out the concept of a festival with their brood, others may be weighing up the options. What are the pros and cons of taking kids to these summer traditions?

 Pros
 • The learning experience for your kids is immeasurable
 • Fun-filled for the young ones, in an environment they wouldn’t ordinarily see
 • A chance to appreciate culture, hone their creativity and appreciate child-friendly activities
 • A great opportunity to spend some quality time with the children this summer

 Cons
 • Inevitable responsibility – you won’t be able to be crazy like you may have done a decade ago!
 • They may mean you miss music you were hoping to see because they clash with the activities your children would like to participate in
 • Early nights to coincide with sleepy ones

Luckily nowadays, it’s not all about taking children to adult-orientated festivals and hoping that they enjoy it. There’s a whole host of child-friendly festivals all over the country which provide a schedule of entertainment that cater for the youngsters too.

Family-friendly festivals offer a great chance for everyone to enjoy some quality time together this summer and a reason to spend a little time away from the creature comforts together. While many may choose to throw themselves into the deep end and camp for the duration of the festival, if you’re a complete festival newbie, it would be more advisable to click here for budget accommodation in London so that you have a fresh pillow to retire too once the festivities are over.

The LolliBop Festival (August 17th – 19th, Regent’s Park) is the ultimate festival for kids. Radiating good vibes, while catering on the most part, towards little ones, it returns for its third year in 2013 and includes the Gruffalo Live, Waybuloo, Mister Maker and Little Angel Theatre. There’s plenty of activities throughout the weekend to keep them busy and provides a superb day out that’s based around them. Take the plunge this summer and start a family tradition of heading to an annual festival. You’ll wonder why it’s taken you this long to realise just how fun-filled and enjoyable they are with the brood in tow.

Toyota and Teen Vogue want you to take a pledge "Arrive in Style" #spon [Giveaway]

**CONTEST CLOSED** 

Winner is Stacie Sayz So. Congratulations! 

*This post was written as part of my association with Toyota for Arrive in Style

With one teenage driver under my roof and one getting ready to get her license and hit the road this summer, it is a stressful time in a mom's life. I still haven't gotten over the fear of something happening when I am not in the car. It is so important to always talk to them about driving safety and be a good example to them. When I am driving the kids, I avoid talking on the cell phone unless it is very important. If I do take the occasional call, it goes something like this, "Hey, I'm driving, I'll call you back". I have been doing that for years and for good reason... safety!

To help educate teen girls about safe driving, Toyota and Teen Vogue are partnering on the “Arrive in Style” initiative.

Through research—Toyota found that 62% of teenage girls report using a cell phone while driving.* And since parents are such a major influence on their teen’s driving habits—they are asking mothers and daughters to sign and share a pledge to drive safely and “Arrive in Style”.

After you sign the Toyota Mutual Driving Agreement pledge at www.teenvogue.com/arriveinstyle, pledgers are then entered for a chance to win a Teen Vogue Beauty Box. You can also submit an “air-driving” photo with your daughter for the opportunity to win an all-expense paid trip to NYC to be featured in the February 2014 issue of Teen Vogue. How amazing is that?! To help raise awareness, you can also share your "air driving" photos on Instagram using the hashtag #arriveinstyle

Be sure to share your pledge on Facebook. This will allow each of you to win additional entries in the monthly beauty box giveaway. An easy Facebook “share” feature will pop up on the “Arrive in Style” site after you sign the pledge.

Why Teen Vogue?
Teen Vogue really shares in Toyota’s commitment to empower girls to be safe on the road, so they couldn’t have picked a better partner to create such a unique, fun and informative program with. With a readership of nearly 3.5 million and an additional 3 million plus social followers, Teen Vogue was the ideal partner to get this message out to teen girls. 

Toyota’s Commitment to Safe Driving:
Toyota offers a variety of resources to help all teens become safer drivers – from behind the wheel safe driving clinics, to online games and resources – and this initiative with Teen Vogue is a wonderful way to not only bring awareness to important teen driving issues, but also let teens and parents know that Toyota is here with resources to help them.

Do you have a teen daughter who's driving or learning to? You can enter to win a fabulous beauty box to help reward your teen for safe driving. Enter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway
This giveaway is open to US Residents only and will end on May 25, 2013. One winner will be chosen at random and will be contacted via email. Momfiles is not responsible for any lost or stolen prizes. Prize may vary from what it pictured above. Good luck!

I received compensation to help spread the word about this campaign. The prize was provided and may be shipped by Toyota. Toyota is not a sponsor, administrator or connected in any other way with this giveaway.. 

Yoplait Greek 100 & $25 Publix Gift Card Giveaway

The information in this post and gift pack were provided by General Mills and Publix® through MyBlogSpark. 

As we head into the swimsuit season, many of us are thinking about losing a few pounds so we can look our best this summer. A great way to start is by swapping out the sweet treats with something satisfying and low in calories. Yoplait Greek 100 calories yogurt is a great choice. There are so many flavors to choose from and they will satisfy your sweet tooth. You get all that you love in a Greek yogurt with only 100 calories.

You can go to Publix® May 11th - 31st to save on irresistible flavors like Black Cherry, Lemon, Mixed Berry, Peach, Tropical and more — 10 for just $10! At this price, you can sample all of the delicious flavors! So far the strawberry has my heart. I love it and the texture is perfect.

Would you like to try out the Yoplait Greek 100 calories yogurt for yourself? One lucky Momfiles reader will win a gift pack containing VIP coupons for 4 FREE 5.3 oz containers of Yoplait Greek 100, so you can try 4 flavors FREE and a $25 Publix® gift card.

Enter below: a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is open to US Residents only and will end on May 22, 2013. One winner will be chosen at random and will be contacted via email to claim prize. Please leave a valid email address in the event you are selected as a winner. Please follow giveaway rules or all entries will be disqualified. Momfiles is not responsible for any lost or stolen prizes. Good luck!

Vitamins make me tired

About three weeks ago I decided to take it upon myself to do something good for my health. I realized that I will turn 40 this year and my body might need a little extra calcium and iron. I started to take a supplement that contained calcium, magnesium and zinc all in one. I also took a slow-release iron pill.

What I did was take one of each, every other day for a total of 4 times. Why only 4 times? It turns out that the combination of vitamins were exhausting me to the point that I had to take multiple naps each day and didn't want to cook, bake or do anything I enjoy. I was tired beyond tired and that is unlike me. I am a very high-energy person and I knew something was wrong. I decided to stop taking the supplements and drink a ton of water. Wouldn't you know that within 4 days, my energy came back and I felt like myself again! From now on I will use the right food as my supplement. I have never been able to take vitamins in combination because they do wonky things to my body. If I take a multi-vitamin, I will end up with flu-like symptoms. Crazy, huh?

Have you ever experienced anything like this before?

You could win a trip to the 2013 Essence Festival with 3 of your friends! #spon {Giveaway}

The 2013 Essence Festival, brought to you by Coca-Cola, will be going on in New Orleans this summer. Coca-Cola is providing me with a fun gift pack to share some exciting news about a sweepstakes contest they are running. From now until May 31, 2013, you can enter for a chance to win a trip for you and 3 friends to move, groove, and enjoy at the 2013 ESSENCE Festival in New Orleans. Prize includes round trip air transportation, 3 nights' hotel accommodations, tickets to the Festival and $1,200 spending money. Plus, you could also snag cool instant prizes. Now that would be the ultimate girls' weekend getaway!

I took a look at the artist line-up for the EF and I screamed like a little girl! The names that stuck out to me the most were New Edition, LL Cool J, Beyonce,  Blackstreet, Mint Condition and many more! I have had friends attend the EF in the past and they all couldn't stop talking about how amazing it was.

You can see all of the details to enter the sweepstakes to win the trip for 4 on the Coca-Cola Essence Festival page. While you're there, you can see video from last year's EF as well as check out the artist line-up.

To get you excited about the Essence Festival or for getting together with your girlfriends for a fun weekend, Coca-Cola is providing a A Bliss Spa body bundle valued at $100 for one lucky Momfiles reader to win! Enter below
a Rafflecopter giveaway
This giveaway is open to US Residents only and will end on May 15, 2013.  One winner will be chosen at random and will be contacted via email. Momfiles is not responsible for any lost or stolen prizes and winner is responsible for applicable taxes. Good luck!

The prize was provided by Coca-Cola Company. The Coca-Cola Company is not a sponsor, administrator or connected in any other way with this giveaway.