With my biggest baby turning 10 in sweltering June and during Ramadan I was initially stumped about what to do for his party. Lucas told me he wanted to invite 9 friends and when I asked what they all enjoy doing he shrugged and said ‘gaming’. That, my friends, is when I remembered GameVan!

I booked a 90 minute party during which the van would be parked on my drive, power cables run in to the house and the boys would be able to play on the van’s two PlayStation 4s, an Xbox One S and a Wii U, each connected to 4 flat screens. Lucas was beside himself with excitement and I was delighted that we’d have the ease of a party at home without a pack of 10 year old boys charging around my house!

On the day of the party GameVan’s lovely owners, Adeel and Carolina, arrived half an hour early to set up. When everything was ready they showed Lucas in to the van and his face literally lit up. His friends started arriving and the van was greeted shouts of ‘cool’, ‘epic’ and ‘awesome’! The van can seat up to 12 with everyone playing at the same time if they’re playing multi-player games.

They have loads of regular as well as online games and are supervised throughout the party to ensure that only age appropriate games are played. There were 2 portable ACs inside which did a good job of keeping the temperature comfortable despite it being 40 degrees outside. No food or drinks are allowed inside the van so we enforced short breaks every so often so they could come inside, hydrate and fuel themselves with handfuls of crisps.

I was genuinely surprised by how much interaction there was between the boys while they were playing. We could literally hear the roars of victory when someone won inside the house! At one point I popped my head in and noticed that a few of the boys didn’t have controllers. Carolina explained that it was because they wanted to take turns playing Fortnite (a single-player online game which they all seem to be obsessed with) on both of the PlayStations. There was a bit of resistance when I insisted that they put a different, multi-player game on one of the PlayStations but I was happy seeing more of them playing and I think they were too once the Fortnite mourning period had ended (about 30 seconds later)!

At the end of the gaming time they came inside for pizza and cake. Conscious of growing boys’ need for their 5 a day I had offered to prepare some raw vegetable sticks and perhaps a fruit salad but it was a hard no from Lucas who insisted that only food of little to no nutritional value should be served at his party – so pizza and cake it was! I might not have won any awards from the other Mums for returning their sons hyped up on video games and junk food but I got maximum Mummy points from the birthday boy who said it was the best party ever!

GameVan info:

www.gamevandubai.ae

Tel: 0504967885

Prices from 1700 AED

The post A Game Van Party For Kids appeared first on Sassy Mama.

Planning a birthday party is never easy –  add it to the stress of organising something when summer’s in full swing and things can get tricky! With most outdoor spaces not possible and your child not wanting an indoor party, what to do?! Well we’ve taken the trouble to find you the PERFECT venue (an outdoor one) which is going to keep your child and their guests cool and happy – so all that’s left to do is enjoy – yay! Splash ‘N’ Party is the ideal party venue for kids between 1-12 years this summer. With a fun-filled array of water – based play activities, family friendly activities, top quality food and bespoke cakes from their in-house bakery Sprinkles and loads of all-inclusive packages to suit everyone, this place gets a massive Sassy thumbs up.

From water based activities (including bouncy castle hire with customised themed canopies and inflated water slides) to full-fledged entertainment (stilt walkers, jugglers, dancers and swimming with a live mermaid), this happening venue comes with a sizeable vibrant outdoor splash pad area (think mermaid lagoon, pirate zone and under the sea) with water slides and water guns galore. Yup, everything here is designed to give your little one a birthday of his/her dreams.

And here’s something seriously cool – we’ve heard that Splash ‘N’ Party will be opening up a brand new pool with swim-up juice bar so you’ll soon be able to book a pool party complete with inflatables – AND that there’s a new zip line coming too (a-ma-zing!)

So how much does all this cost? A Basic Birthday Party Package during the weekdays (Sunday to Wednesday) runs for 2 hours, and costs from AED 99 per child and weekends (Friday & Saturday) cost from AED 120 per child (parents get free entry). 

And how about Ramadan? Well, not only will the park be open as usual but on Weekends (Thursday – Saturday) the kids will also get to eat for free at anytime they like as there’ll be food on offer all day (9am – 9pm) plus live entertainment to enjoy too. Perfect.

Ready to enjoy a hassle-free birthday celebration with crazy slides, bucket dunking and massive amounts of water fun for our littles? We are, mamas (hooray)! To book visit Splash ‘N’ Party at Al Safa 2, Street 8a, Villa no.1, Jumeira or call 04 3883008 or visit website www.splashnparty.ae

You can also reach out them via Facebook here, Instagram here and Twitter here.

General Admission Rates:
AED100 (weekday) – all day access – with 1 adult free
AED140 (weekend) – all day access – with 1 adult free

The post Plan Your Next Party at Splash N Party: Amazing All-inclusive Packages appeared first on Sassy Mama.

Got a birthday party coming up, mama? Whether it’s for you or the kiddos, there are stacks of birthday cake bakers and bakeries in Dubai to choose from. We’ve separated the wheat from the chaff (or the eggs from the flour, as the case may be) to highlight some of our absolute faves, all guaranteed to add that extra sweet touch to your celebration! From vegan to gluten free, drip cakes to celebration cakes, custom made or off the shelf plus loads more too, we’ve got one (or three) for all occasions. Life is too short to say no to cake, mamas!

Check out our gallery for our top picks that really are the icing on the cake!

Let us help you plan a birthday party with these articles below – from venues to trends to ideas, we have got it all covered!
Cool New Kids Birthday Party Options in Dubai
Cool Indoor Places To Host Your Kids Birthday Party
Kids Birthday Party Themes and Trends for 2018
A Birthday Party Like No Other
A Birthday Bash At Bounce

The post The Best Places To Buy Gorgeous Cakes For Every Celebration appeared first on Sassy Mama.

Doesn’t time fly, mamas?! Another year and another kids birthday party to plan for your precious little one (can’t they just stop growing up so fast?!). Celebrate everything that makes them awesome and unique with a birthday bash to match – from the sweetest icecream parlour party to something a little more adventurous, these are some of our favourite new party options in Dubai (and don’t forget to look at some of our previous party features too for even more ideas!).

Read more: Seriously Cool Birthday Party Ideas For Kids

Read more: Cool Indoor Places To Host Your Kids Birthday Party 

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Alserkal Avenue has been around a while now but it’s only in the last few years that this fabulous cultural destination and arts hub in Al Quoz has started offering a great selection of places to take the kids. Here’s a wrap up of our favourite kid-friendly spots to visit and explore.

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This time of year is all about creating magic. I love the excitement, the fact that my kids are attempting to be on their best behaviour so as not to jeopardise their place on Santa’s ‘nice’ list (although their idea of best behaviour and mine is very different), lots of family time, lots of food and the countdown to the BIG DAY! With kids who very much believe in Father Christmas I want to maximize on the magic for as long as possible! In addition to putting out the mince pies and treats on Christmas Eve, there are 2 amazing apps that can help put even more sparkle into the festive season.

Read more: Dining In At Christmas: Where To Get Your Takeaway Turkey

Portable North Pole

This awesome website/app allows you to create video messages from Santa to your kids, using information that you ‘plug’ in (their name, photo, details of the ‘thing’ they’ve been working on this year – i.e being kind to their brother/sister plus a hint at what might be in their stocking if they’re good!). There are various video options so if you have more than 1 kiddo you can choose different ones for each – and you can also decide if the children are currently on Santa’s ‘naughty, ‘nice’ or ‘not sure yet’ list. But be warned, I put my little boy Arthur on the ‘undecided’ list last year after a bout of bad behaviour and the look on his face plus seeing his bottom lip tremble and big tears in his eyes will stay with me forever – massive mama fail! You can also get personalised phone calls from Santa plus games, ornaments and books.

www.portablenorthpole.com

Capture The Magic

How about showing a very realistic picture of Santa delivering his gifts in your home to the kids? This amazing app allows you to do just that, merging a sticker of the big man himself with your pictures to create magic – my 3 were absolutely convinced that I had caught him in the act! Simply take a photo of the area as it will look on Christmas Eve for Santa then follow the prompts to upload to their website for editing – so easy. This year I’m going for reindeer outside the house – can’t wait to see their little faces.

www.capturethemagic.com

Read more: 5 Places For Your Kids to Meet Santa in The Desert

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