PIRATE & MERMAID EVENT AND DINNER AT CABANA

Filling up the days during the Summer holidays are hard so when we were told about the event in West Quay we knew it would be great for the littles and also a great day filler too. It is running every Friday until the 31st August and every week theres a new pirate and mermaid themed day.

The event is completely free to everyone and situation on "lower shopping" I cannot remember the level now they're in numbers but it is outside build a bear behind the lifts and easy to spot.
It's a smallish area but a lot of areas with stuff going on. Yesterday was around story telling and decorating sea themed crafts perfect for putting on your window.

The areas yesterday included craft tables in the middle, a slime station in a shell shaped sandpit, DIY face-painting, a make your own treasure map area, a story telling area and a fancy dress area!
I believe this was all supplied by Flying Tiger and the kids did have a lot fun moving around these areas.
The slime took a while for the littles to get used to and i'm still not sure whether Iris enjoyed touching it but she did give it a good go.

Iris gave it a really good go painting her own face and hands which was really cute to watch, not so cute when she tried to paint someone else's child (haha!) Lucas wanted his face painted like a pirate so I painted him an eye patch and a beard and moustache, which was terribly done but he liked it. He stepped right into character yelling "arghhhhh" Which was quite sweet really.
Face painting was a success and for once I stepped back and didn't stress about the mess on their clothes. It was only really Iris who had it on her clothing but it didn't matter when they were having fun.

The event was lovely and we spent about 3 and a half hours there. We had a slight break in between where we popped off for a coffee and to let the littles run around in the puddles outside but other than that there was loads to do.

Lucas loved trying on all the wigs and doing the crafting in the middle. He has come home with a pirate map he decorated himself, which ended up with very strange black scribbles on, which resembled Will from Stranger things' art work. He coloured in a cute window decor which is like a mini stained glass window (which is obviously not glass) and he also had a hanging fish decor that you had to scratch to reveal beautiful rainbow colours, he loved that and surprised me how well he did at scratching it off too.

Iris liked reading the books and her favourite part (except helping Brad complete his daily steps target by running off) was the face paints, it's given me a great idea for when the weather brightens up a bit again and we'll take the paints in the garden, strip them down to pants or nappies, in Iris' case and let them paint themselves. I have face paints somewhere too, I think. Iris came home with paint on her legs, bum (where she'd sat in it), on her hands, face, in her hair, on her clothes and well basically everywhere, it was lovely and so worth it.

Once we were done at the event and the kids had exhausted everything we headed to Cabana for dinner and OH MY GOSH, it was incredible, I can't believe i'd never been before. The restaurant itself is super cute and quirky and the food was of course the best part.

I ordered the butterfly chicken and Churrasco fries side which I was expecting to resemble a rivalry restaurant chains but it was so much better and now if I had a craving for that kind of chicken and seasoned chips I'd go to cabana over the other place for sure. The price for my meal was £11.95
Brad ordered the Guava-cue Bacon Cheese burger with the coconut slaw and the Churrasco fries too and he said that the coleslaw was better than normal coleslaw! Brad's meal cost £11.95 too.
We both ordered refillable drinks which were £2.95 each but I so wish i'd looked at the drinks menu as the Cool colada looks amazing for this pregnant woman who usually loves a pina colada!

The kids meals cost £5.25 each and come with the meal and a drink. Lucas chose the burger and fries like Daddy and he had an Orange juice and Iris had fried chicken with BBQ sauce and fries like Mummy and had an apple juice. Lucas emptied his plate and Iris ate loads but didn't finish her plate because the portion sizes are so generous and for a nearly 2 year old they are huge. This is a total positive as sometimes the kids portion sizes aren't enough for Lucas.

We all had dessert's and WOW! Honestly, I think I may have given myself a craving, I ordered the Banoffee cheesecake with roasted almonds and I can't stop thinking about it, it was just so delicious.
Brad ordered the Caramel churros which also looked amazing and there were none left to steal so that says a lot too, both desserts were £5.95 each. We were debating whether to get the chocolate raindrop donuts though which were filled with nutella!
The littles had the upside down vanilla ice cream with sprinkles which were £1.50 each.

We were honestly so impressed by Cabana and will definitely have to go back because I need to try this colada drink and those donuts. The service was spot on and everyone was so friendly. Everywhere was clean and tidy and I have no faults... Well, except the fact I can't not sing "Havana" but with the words being Cabana whenever I think or type about Cabana! But, thats my issue so i'll let them off... this time.

Even through toddler tantrums and an exhausted Mummy and Daddy the whole day was lovely and we had a lot of fun, especially as after weeks of praying for rain we finally got it all in one day and the heavens truly opened and Southampton was washed out and indoor activities were a must!

Don't forget to check out our vlog and there's a few more pictures below too! 

*We were invited along to the event which is free for everyone, so the review for the event is not sponsored or paid in anyway, all words and opinions are my own. The dinner in Cabana was complimentary for us in return for an honest review and once again all words and opinions are my own and not influenced by anyone other than myself and my family*