Play dates and two year olds are a volatile combination.
I have this rose tinted idea of what I want a play date to be; sipping coffee and catching up with friend while our little darlings play nicely nearby. Being able to hold an adult conversation and hear all about your friends new job, or new house, or even just chat about last nights gripping BBC drama (The Replacement, anyone watch it?)
However, this is rarely the reality, you inevitably end up chasing your child around some warehouse style play place, which has a ridiculous number of possible escape routes or dangers. Or your child insists that you go down the slide with them every single time, or wants you to hang out in the ball pool and watch them jump in and out 24,000 times - "look mummy, I'm jumping".
Don't get me wrong I adore playing with my child, we often go to these places just the two of us, or to the park, but sometimes you really just want to catch up with friends and drink coffee that is still warm.
So, when the lovely Nyomi from Nomipalony organised a playdate for local bloggers with pre-school aged children, I was a bit skeptical. I mean, yeah, it would be lovely to get to know other local bloggers better, but is that even possible while chasing down a toddler? However, I was pleasantly surprised by Role Play in Hebburn, which was the venue chosen. I'd heard about a few different role play style places around the local area but never explored them.
Roleplay is total play date heaven. There is a cluster of cafe tables running down the middle of the room, with a series of stations around the outside, from a construction site, to a police station - a supermarket to a hairdressers. Each play session is 90 minutes long, and during that time I got to sit and drink a hot coffee, eat a sausage sandwich and chat to lots of lovely bloggers - all whilst Zoe played happily with other children, staying completely in view the entire time! She would pop up every few minutes for juice, or to show me something, or to have a dance to the disney hit playing in the background.
My only minor negative would be the quality of the coffee, you guys know me and my coffee snobbery though. The sausage sandwich however, was top notch.
We had a lovely time and Zoe slept most of the way home in the sling. We will be back soon for a visit.
It is £4 for a 90 minute session during term time, or £5 on weekends or holidays. The spaces are limited so its never super crowded, which is a bonus if you've ever been to a soft play during a rainy school holiday.
Check out their website for more info.
I visited Role Play back in March 2017, just was slightly delayed in posting this. I was given free entry but was not asked to do a review and all views are my own, obvs.
