By Kate Hodges
28th August 2019
EVENT Re-use, Recycle, Respond!
Every week 11 million items of clothing end up in landfill. Throwaway fashion is putting increasing pressure on our planet and its people - it’s unsustainable. Now there’s something you can do to help. Join Second Hand September and pledge to say no to new clothes for 30 days (and perhaps beyond that!) Take the pledge and find shopping tips, styling tips and inspiration here
RECIPE Packing A Lunch Punch
Some will cheer, some will groan, for school educated kids, it’s back to the grindstone time! This year, we are more determined than ever to put a grin on our kids faces at lunch break. Invest in a food flask and you can include hot dinners in your repertoire (there are some great ideas here and some zingy veggie and vegan ideas here. Buddha bowls make great lunches – try these ideas or these colourful recipes. Share the love and add a little note every day – there are some cute and creative ideas here, download a bunch of free printable inspirational quotes here, or be inspired by super illustrator dad Rob Biddulph, and make mini artworks to sit alongside your sandwiches!
EVENT Hull Lotta Love
Hull’s extraordinary annual Freedom Festival is a great time to visit the artistically throbbing city. The five-day festival features spectacular outdoor arts shows, carnivals and interactive installations to explore. This year’s event is packed with events for all ages – teens will love the dance and live music social Session and the series of radical interventions, Ask for the Moons, while smaller children will enjoy the interactive Remix, Hurray. And there’s plenty more for the entire family to take in; the vibrant carnival parade, the loud and smoky Bivouac event, and the apocalyptic, punk rock Band at the End of the World show. It’s worth making the journey up the road to Hull, wherever you live in the country. Mostly free, some ticketed events.
DO Grains of Truth
Sometimes it’s the simplest things that work best. We are a little in love with this easy-to-set-up sand play – just a black bowl filled with fine, white sand and a few natural materials. Calming, quiet, and with longevity – the perfect activity for children to return to over and over again.
EVENT Go with the Flow
Snaking through London bringing trade, travel and people, the Thames is one of the most important waterways in the UK. For the whole of September, the waterway is celebrated; the Totally Thames festival sees the river come alive with performance, incredible art installations, sound walks, projections and sculptures that emerge at low tide. This year, head to the stretch of the river next to Tate Modern to see The Ship of Tolerance – a peace-promoting installation created by thousands of young Londoners, or venture deep under Tower Bridge to take in chamber music concerts in the subterranean space under the construction. Later in the month, the mudlarking and scented heritage exhibitions are unmissable! All September. Free and ticketed.
