Let me start this off by saying that I hate shopping with my two. It’s not that they are terribly behaved in shops or anything (well not terribly, yeah, ok, they aren’t that great…). It’s just that I can’t concentrate and they ruin my shopping Zen. That said, we had a surprisingly fun visit to the York Designer Outlet. Every Thursday over the summer holidays they have FREE children’s activities organised. The day we visited they had a ‘tea party’ theme.
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Kids’ Activities
This meant cupcake decorating which went down well. They were provided with disposable aprons and a plain cupcake. Then they went to town with cream icing and sugar paste to create cupcake perfection (in their eyes at least!).
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They enjoyed it and loved the little plastic containers they got to take them home in (it’s the little things…!).
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The Playground at the York Designer Outlet
We then had a wander over to the playground area, which is worth a visit in it’s own right. There are two sections aimed at younger and older ones with lots of climbing equipment.
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Another bonus is that it is under canvas so rain does not stop play. There are benches alongside the playing area and picnic benches nearby so you can sit and watch.
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There is also a cute little retro style coffee shop next to the park to treat yourself to a drink while you have a blessed five minutes peace – until someone falls off the play equipment or won’t share on the slide.
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Where to Eat?
If you fancy treating them to lunch, there are lots of different restaurants – Wagamamas, Ed’s Diner, Pizza Express, etc. They also have a food court, with Macdonalds, fish and chips, baked potatoes and Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut had a kids’ special, margarita pizza plus drink for £3.50.
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We wandered past Pret a Manger and were invited in by a member of staff offering free smoothies for the children. Master T was very interested in this! They had set up a smoothie bar, and the children could choose what flavour they wanted (strawberry and banana or mango and pineapple) Master T chose the mango.
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They put the ingredients into a blender and attached the blender to a bike. He then had to pedal the bike to make the blender work. As you can imagine, this was another highlight of their day (they are easily pleased!).
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Before we left I treated them to a visit to the Cadbury’s shop.
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All in all a good day was had. It cost very little and was different to our other days out. You could even shop while you are there 🙂 (and don’t forget there is a Clarks Outlet there too for back to school shoes!)
To see the planned special events, see York Designer Outlet.