Last weekend we had a taster of the festival vibe as we attended a family rave in Sheffield! This event was organised by Big Fish Little Fish who run raves all around the country. They will be at Camp Bestival this year with their offering and it is basically a safe place where families with young children can come together and enjoy good music, dance and take part in kid friendly activities like arts and crafts.
I took my teenager and tween along to check it out. For us, it was a little ‘young’, however grooving mothers and dads with babies and toddlers are the target market and from what we could see – they loved it! I also enjoyed hearing the indie classics played by DJ Dave Booth, alongside some club bangers to get you dancing!
The theme of the rave was neon / smiley. If you remember the acid house days in the late 80s / early 90s, you’ll get an idea of what it was about. The rooms were decorated with smiley faces and even had cupcakes on sale featuring the yellow sunny smile! I personally would have liked to have seen more of the adults dress up to suit the theme, I know that festival goers aren’t shy about dress up and costume, however it’s possible that this event was many families’ first adventures into family raving, so they didn’t think to! Once you have attended a few festivals, you become used to it all and feel under-dressed in ‘normal’ clothes!
Big Fish Little Fish organizes events across the UK, and you can see their next sessions at their website. We will experience them next at Camp Bestival—if last week’s event was a taster for us, Camp Bestival is the main event! Three days of musical acts, including old favourites and new artists. You can see the festival line-up here. To buy your tickets for Camp Bestival 2027.
The Big Fish Little Fish event I attended was at Plug, 24-26 Matilda Street, Sheffield, S2 4QD. The event is conducted indoors with club lighting (no strobes) and is ‘baby’s first rave’! If you have babies or toddlers and miss your clubbing days, check out the Big Fish Little Fish events to get back into the swing! More information at https://www.bigfishlittlefishevents.co.uk
