FAMILY WEEKLY UPDATE: 1st – 7th June | HOME Manchester, Malory Towers, Balloonatic & We Invented The Weekend

Jun 16
6 min read

Family Weekly Update

This week was a little different as we spent the first part of the week enjoying our annual family holiday at Ribby Hall Village.

We've been visiting Ribby Hall for the past six years and it has become one of our favourite family traditions. This year we went with my parents, my two brothers, my sister, her husband and their little boy, staying in two cottages next to each other.

We spent the week making the most of everything Ribby Hall has to offer. The children enjoyed swimming, soft play, feeding the ducks and spending time on the playground, while Lawrence and I even had a go at archery. It was lovely seeing the children spending some time with their cousin, grandparents, auntie and uncles throughout the week.

I'll be sharing all the details in a dedicated holiday blog post and holiday vlogs very soon, but after arriving home on Friday we had a very busy weekend ahead of us.

This family weekly update picks up on Saturday after we returned home from our holiday, and what a busy weekend it turned out to be!

Boy holds a red HOME FAMILY balloon and a blue paper jellyfish craft in front of a green HOME FAMILY backdrop.

🎨 Family Creator Day at HOME Manchester

Saturday started with a trip into Manchester for HOME's Family Creator Day.

We caught the 255 bus into the city and after a short walk arrived at HOME, where the children were immediately welcomed with balloons and stickers.

As soon as we arrived, Alice and Leo headed straight into Creativity Corner. If you've followed my blog for a while you'll know how much we love this space whenever we visit HOME.

Alice spent ages colouring, dressing up and playing with the toys, while Leo happily got stuck into the craft activities. By the end of the morning he had made a jellyfish, a fish and a starfish, while Alice proudly showed off the octopus she had created.

One of the things I enjoyed most was simply sitting back and watching them enjoy themselves. There was no pressure, no strict timetable and no expectation to create anything specific. The children were free to explore and be creative in their own way.

Children kneel on the floor coloring rainbow drawings with crayons during an art activity in a bright classroom.

Around midday we headed upstairs to HOME Bar & Kitchen for lunch. We were treated to pizza and chips which everyone thoroughly enjoyed.

Despite visiting HOME countless times over the years, this was actually the first time we'd eaten there and we'll definitely consider doing it again in future.

Unfortunately we couldn't stay for the afternoon screening of Monsters, Inc. because we already had plans elsewhere, but before leaving the children were given a small party bag which was a lovely finishing touch.

👉 You can read more about the Family Creator Day HERE.

Little did we know that HOME would only be the first stop of a very busy Saturday. After lunch we said goodbye to everyone at the Family Creator Day and headed straight across Manchester for our next family adventure.

Child in pink hoodie serves pizza at an indoor buffet table by windows, with red balloons and trays of assorted pizzas.

🎈 Balloonatic, Adventures in Wonderland & A Very Busy Afternoon

Rather than heading home after HOME, we caught the 256 bus over to Z-arts.

Because we arrived quite early, Alice and Leo spent some time playing on the giant red bus downstairs before we headed upstairs for Balloonatic.

The children were laughing almost from the moment the show started and there were lots of moments where I found myself laughing too.

What I enjoyed most was seeing how differently Alice and Leo reacted to different parts of the performance. Alice couldn't stop talking about the giant balloon moment afterwards, while Leo spent most of the journey home trying to work out how some of the tricks had been done.

Performer on blue stage reaching toward an orange balloon, with a small prop table and hula hoops beside him

After the show we stayed for the Z-arts Access Day.

The original plan had been to try lots of different activities, but Alice and Leo had other ideas.

The moment they stepped into Adventures in Wonderland they were completely absorbed and honestly, I struggled to persuade them to leave and explore anything else.

Sometimes when you're planning a family day out you imagine moving neatly from one activity to another. The reality is that children often find one thing they love and want to stay there all afternoon. That was definitely the case here.

Before we knew it, it was time to head home so Alice and I could get ready for our evening theatre trip.

👉 You can read more about Balloonatic and shorter review HERE

👉 Read my Balloonatic review on All About Theatre HERE.

👉 Read my Adventures in Wonderland review HERE.

Child in red gingham costume plays at a toy kitchen with pans and snacks in a whimsical storybook room, with hedgehog seat nearby.

🎭 An Evening at Malory Towers with Alice

After getting home from Z-arts, Alice and I quickly got changed, had some dinner and headed straight back into Manchester.

This time it was just the two of us.

I always enjoy having one-to-one time with the children and it felt particularly special after spending the day together already.

When we arrived at HOME we collected our tickets, took a few photos and spent some time in Creativity Corner before heading into the theatre.

Neither of us knew much about Malory Towers beforehand, so it was nice experiencing the story together for the first time.

During the interval we treated ourselves to ice cream and chatted about our favourite characters and moments from the first half.

By the end of the evening Alice was completely invested in the story and was chatting about it all the way home.

It was quite a late night by the time we finally got back, but it was one of those lovely mother-and-daughter evenings that I'll remember for a long time.

👉 You can read more about my Malory Towers visit and shorter review HERE

👉 Read my All About Theatre review HERE.

Smiling woman and child pose before a Malory Towers backdrop; the child raises an arm and both wear colorful clothes.

🎪 We Invented The Weekend Festival with Leo

After Alice and I had enjoyed some one-to-one time together on Saturday evening, Sunday was Leo's turn.

Alice was still feeling quite tired after our late night at the theatre and decided she wanted a quieter day at home, so Leo and I headed off to MediaCity together.

We first discovered We Invented The Weekend last year by accident when we stumbled across it after a Father's Day meal. We only managed to catch the end of it, so I was excited to return properly this year.

As soon as we arrived, it was obvious there was a lot going on.

I think Leo found it a little overwhelming at first, so we headed towards The Lowry where things felt a little more familiar.

That turned out to be exactly the right decision.

Leo loved the U-Build construction area and spent ages crawling through tunnels, building structures and hammering pegs into place.

While he played, I managed to watch some of the performances taking place on the outdoor stage which was a nice bonus.

Eventually we both got hungry and headed inside The Lowry for lunch.

I'd spotted online that children's meals had been £1 on Saturday and hoped the offer might still be running, but unfortunately they were back to their usual £5 price.

The £5 children's meal still felt like good value though, and both Leo and I really enjoyed our hotdog and chips.

Smiling woman and boy take a selfie in a purple-seated theater with balcony lights and empty rows behind them

One of the highlights of the day was the backstage tour of The Lowry.

I learned things about the building that I never knew before despite visiting regularly for years, and Leo absolutely loved seeing behind the scenes.

He was especially excited when he got the chance to stand on stage and sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star into a microphone.

Later we watched Pirate Taxi, explored more of the festival and spent time doing crafts in The Lookout.

The only disappointment came when we missed the final CBeebies Bedtime Story session after it started earlier than advertised.

Thankfully things worked out in the end because instead we got to meet Bluey.

Leo had been a little upset about missing the story session, but the moment he met Bluey everything changed.

On the tram home I asked him what his favourite part of the day had been and without hesitation he replied:

"Meeting Bluey."

👉 Read more about our visit on HERE.

👉 Read my All About Theatre feature HERE.

Boy stands beside Bluey mascot giving a thumbs-up outside a BBC CBeebies backdrop, smiling at a venue entrance.

💜 Final Thoughts

After spending most of the week away on holiday, this ended up being one of our busiest and most memorable weekends of the year so far.

Between family time at Ribby Hall Village, HOME Manchester's Family Creator Day, Balloonatic at Z-arts, Malory Towers and We Invented The Weekend Festival, we packed a huge amount into just a few days.

What made the week particularly special though was the opportunity to spend some one-to-one time with both children. Alice and I loved our evening together at the theatre, while Leo and I had a fantastic day exploring MediaCity, learning about theatre backstage and meeting Bluey.

Looking back, it felt like the perfect balance of family time, theatre trips, creative activities and days out, and it's definitely a week we'll remember for a long time.

Now, after a holiday and such a packed weekend, I think we're all ready for a slightly quieter week!

🎥 Watch Our Weekly Vlog

If you'd like to see everything we got up to this week, including HOME's Family Creator Day, Balloonatic, Malory Towers and We Invented The Weekend Festival, make sure you check out this week's vlog over on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/eqGUmYpRIPk