We’ve been married for 14 years, together for 18 years, and my husband quite often feels like he’s the bottom of the pile (he comes somewhere way down the line after our two kids, work, the pet rabbits and the goldfish). My wedding anniversary is always a difficult time for me as my dad passed away the day before it, this year was set to be especially tough as it was going to be 10 years since we lost my dad. So, I had an idea to surprise my husband, and the kids, and actually do something, something they weren’t expecting at all. I decided to go ‘out’ for our anniversary without needing a babysitter or a taxi!
Dolly Daydreams Party Caravan is most well known for her fab pink caravan that you can hire for your drive or a venue for a kids party, hen do, or any occasion. The owner Jan now also has a garden igloo that she brings to your house and sets up in any theme you choose, then comes back and disassembles it. You can hire it just for a night or two like we did, or for a full week! It made a fantastic venue for us to sit in our garden for a date night and it made a great space for the kids to play in the next day.
You can sleep in them if you want to and they are great in all weather with a fully waterproof cover and zip. She also has extras including a home cinema set you can add to it with! It’s 4 metres in diameter so you just need a space that’s big enough to put it. It is pegged down around the base, or sandbags are used if not on grass, so it is safe in reasonably windy conditions and it can take up to 40kg of snow on the top (should you hire in winter and it actually snows!).
Jan brought a ‘date night’ theme for our igloo and dressed it with a table and chairs, table cloth, place mats and even plastic wine glasses on a big stand! She added flowers and fairy lights and large lanterns which were gorgeous as it went dark. Our wedding colour theme had been white and gold so she used those colours. She set it up while my husband was at work and my kids were at the neighbour’s so it was a total surprise when they came home and found it in the garden!
After letting the kids play for a while I shoo’ed them inside, made their tea and put a film on for them. I had made a curry for our anniversary date night tea (with the help of M&S!) so we sat in it to eat and actually chatted without being interrupted! We also had a toast to my dad and I had bought his favourite wine to have in the igloo.
I kept popping int the house to check the kids, and then went in to put them to bed, before returning to the igloo. It felt like we could have been in a trendy bar down Princes Ave, not in our back garden. The best bit was not having to wait for a taxi or pay a babysitter when we walked the few metres back to the house at the end of the night!
We hired it for a Tuesday night in the school holidays so my kids then took over the next day and made the most of it. In the morning my daughter commandeered it and took her barbies down to the igloo for a ‘holiday’. My son had a friend to play and they then went in it to have their tea together!
It was a really unique thing to do, very memorable and something none of us will forget. My husband feels slightly higher on the pecking order now and my kids have some great memories of the igloo. If you have an occasion coming up, or just want to surprise your family, this is a great idea.
You can find out more about the garden igloo on the Dolly Daydreams website here.
Or you can email Jan on info@dollydaydreamspartycaravan.co.uk or call her on 07581 256 607.
