Big Music for Minis 2017

This is our third time attending this amazing festival of music for under 7s (and we have a three year old!). Young families take over the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall one weekend every October and the organisers drip information out over a long period of time.  I think concert tickets went on sale in March this year but the details of the whole programme came much later.

I plan meticulously, you can get the programme leaflet ahead of time at libraries or Glasgow Life venues.  We only had the Saturday free this year, so we arrived for 12pm for Toddler Tales (well, earlier to queue, you need to queue for the free events), then had lunch.  After that we went to our ticketed concert, which was Melody Quest - a trip around the world with Owen and Olly from Children's Classic Concerts and the NYOS Camerata.  All of whom played a great variety of short pieces magnificently.  Tickets were £5 each, an absolute bargain (Fun Box the next day were also a steal).  After that we stopped for another free event, Creative Martyrs' Kids Cabaret.  Angus laughed and laughed.

I think you could spend the day just at the free events but the tickets are subsidised, so why not?

This year for lunch we went to the Encore Cafe in the Concert Hall and it was £21 for three sandwiches, two drinks and two cakes.  They were okay.  Last year we went to the John Lewis Cafe, which was a bit nicer.  Lots of people take a picnic though and I think I might next year.

Overall, the atmosphere is great.  Loads of music of all different genres, all of which Angus has really enjoyed.  It's a great introduction to concert-going.  I can see us going for many years to come.  Bravo Glasgow Life.

There is a buggy park and the changing facilities are okay.  Entering the venue is difficult with a buggy as the front has lots of steps and there are two lifts at the back, which get queued up.  Go buggy-free if you can.  On the Sunday you can park for free north of the city centre, where the meters are off.  Or you can park for £3 all day in Buchanan Galleries or Cambridge Street car park.  Parking on the Saturday is much more expensive.  You can pay a lot to park in a car park. The meters aren't really an option as you will probably stay for more than three hours.  We park and ride on the Subway.