Mostly Jazz Festival - A mums review

As I mentioned, the main thing to expect is excellent music. Just to drop in a few more names who have appeared on the line up – it was awesome to see Earth, Wind and Fire and popular group ‘Oh my God it’s the Church’.

However, as Mostly Jazz Festival has grown and developed – a main take away point from my experience in 2022 is how much the focus on families has grown and the family-friendly nature of the festival as a whole has improved.

Firstly, as there are now more breakout areas, it is possible to take yourself away from the main crowd which I think is invaluable as a parent. It’s important to have a shaded, chill out space where you can sit and watch the children run and play. This was available on the tennis court space as you approach the main field. I spent a good amount of time here!

Also, in the past the heat has been difficult to manage with kids, but this time there were more marquees and tents where you could sit and find shade. The fact that there were more areas of the park accessible meant that there wasn’t such a large concentration of people in one space, so it was easier to move around the site, and to keep the children engaged. We also took advantage of the VIP upgrade, so we had some sofas to relax on with cold drinks.

Secondly, there were many activities laid on especially for children. In fact, a whole programme of events ran through each afternoon so there was always something to do. On Sunday these were:

19:00 21:00 120MINS DISCO PUSSY
18:00 18:30 30MINS DRUM N BOUNCE
16:00 17:30 90MINS BIG FISH LITTLE FISH
15:00 15:30 30MINS BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET
14:00 14:30 30MINS THE SWING ERA
13:00 13:30 30MINS SOFUNK
12:00 12:30 30MINS I AM YOGI

How nice for the children to try some gentle yoga to get ready for the day ahead! And what a privilege for the Birmingham Royal ballet to be putting on an interactive dance and music workshop for 7–11-year-olds. Kids could also party like it’s their birthday with balloons and bubbles at the Big Fish Rave and get ready for drumming, bouncing and disco fever later on!

Thirdly, it is fantastic that you can bring in picnics and snacks and whichever soft drinks you fancy; but if you prefer to buy on site, there is a juice bar serving a range of non-alcoholic cocktails, a slushie bar, numerous other soft drink options, icecreams, waffles and all the other treats kids love. Most of the Mostly Jazz Festival merchandising also caters for children with small sizes in T-shirts, hoodies and accessories.

Finally, there were facepaints, outdoor games, colouring and graffiti with the High Vis Festival guys, oh and don’t forget – kids love to boogie too so take them to the stage and make some fun family memories!