Taking kids to a major festival - it's something that strikes fear into some parents. Large crowds, people drinking, a lack of facilities, not much phone signal - all anxiety-inducing factors.
We took two kids to Victorious Festival to see if there was anything there for them - and were delightfully surprised by the wonderful day we all had.
Victorious Festival in Southsea has grown to be a major player on the festival scene. More than 180,000 people turned up over three days last year.
Its venue, spread out on Southsea Common next to the beach, makes a great setting for various stages - with great views across the Solent.
READ MORE: 55 amazing photos from Victorious Festival with Fatboy Slim and Russell Howard
The festival started in 2012 as a relatively small affair at the Dockyard, with a few bands playing to crowds of people swigging pints.
Every year it's grown and got better, adding in more attractions, and today, it takes over most of Southsea's front, gobbling up places such as the skate park, the bandstand, tennis courts, D-Day Museum and its car park, and Henry VIII's Southsea Castle.
Its kids section, which started as a few bouncy castles, now has its own stage with its line up of top kids acts, a rotation of character meet and greets, stalls from a wealth of businesses, charities and organisations, a free smaller kids fairground, next to a full-blown fairground, and plenty of arts and crafts to keep everyone occupied.
We started our day with a visit to the Nivea stall, picking up some free suntan lotion (which turned out to be very much needed, despite the weather forecast!) and free ice lollies. There was colouring, games and a roulette wheel, in which we won a beach ball - a nice way to start a hot day.
We went past the other stalls, completing an assault course put on by Lidl, and also winning some strawberries and a £5 voucher. So far, so good.
READ MORE: Thousands enjoy first day of Victorious as Fat Boy Slim and Snow Patrol entertain
Free fruit was in abundance, another stall was giving away pears, bananas, apples and oranges, which given festival food prices and the fact you can't take any of your own food in, was a very welcome addition.
A point to note for families, you can only take in sealed bottles of water, however, there are places to refill them. A half-eaten small tube of Pringles was confiscated from our bag on entry, proving not even a few manky old crisps were getting in past this security.
Previous smaller bouncy castles have been replaced by the World's largest bouncy castle, which seems to have eradicated the large queues of past years as it can fit so many kids on at any one time, separated by height difference into young and older.
For lunch, the choice was vast, however, the kids took the opportunity for chips (£5 a tray) and a can of coke (£3). Probably one of the cheapest - and unhealthiest lunches going.
I ate a packed tray of seafood paella (£10) from a neighbouring stall. We sat and watched Do Nothing perform on the Castle Stage while eating - at least we managed to get some music into our day before we headed back to the stalls in the kids' arena.
We met SpongeBob, a dragon and a huge Baby JJ from Cocomelon, and watched the wonderful Victorious Princess - who seemed to be one of the biggest attractions. They had a different storyline from last year, and have recruited Prince Eric, and changed a couple of princesses, all excellent news for my daughter, a big fan.
The Piano Tree caught my son's attention, and so did the George's Rockstars stall, which was packed with instruments, all promoting their charity set up in memory of a six-year-old called Gorgeous George. My son also loved trying a virtual reality headset on for the first time at the City of Portsmouth College stall, and also taking part in a Nerf war.
My daughter loved the craft stalls - and we made a T-shirt for free, designing our own Victorious T-shirt. There were stalls making masks, decorating cupcakes, colouring, and much more.
A minor blip saw my young daughter (she's five) pull her wristband too tight and nearly cut the circulation off her hand. This is the second year this has happened, and while fabric wristbands are much more comfortable than plastic for adults, the temptation to pull the string too tight is clearly too much for the little ones. After unsuccessfully asking several stalls for scissors and confusing the security guards by our request for emergency scissors, we flagged down a passing police officer who obliged us with the use of his Swiss Army Knife and snipped her free. Wristband design for young kids is probably my only criticism of the whole day. Does a five-year-old really need a wristband at all?
Anyway, that upset did not last long, and we set about enjoying the rest of our day. We went on all the smaller kids' funfair rides, which are free, before heading to the larger, music-pumping funfair and parting with £10.50 for three of us to ride the traditional carousel.
A small but important point - the loos were in relatively good condition for portaloos, but then we were on day one, and we didn't have to queue for any.
One of the hidden gems of Victorious, for families, is the splash park, which is open its usual hours, and was deserted, but proved a nice break from the crowds, enabling us to cool off and recharge, before heading to see Louis Tomlinson's set on the main stage. He drew one of the biggest crowds of the day, and the kids loved his rendition of 1D’s Drag Me Down.
After Louis had rocked Southsea on his first UK appearance this year, it was time to go for dinner - and we headed to Clarence Pier for a Wimpy before heading home. Cheaper than festival prices, and we also supported some of the local businesses outside, picking up some ice cream after.
As we left at 6pm, which is the time the kids arena closes, the demographic of the crowd had noticeably begun to change - and families were being replaced by revellers.
A decade ago, that would've been me, arriving for a night on the shant, however scooting past the rowdy crowds and heading home to bed with two very tired, slightly sun kissed little ones, was just as good, plus we didn't have to contend with the mass exodus and breezed our way out of the city through freeflowing roads.
Can you do a festival with kids? The answer is most definitely yes - but it's just not the festival you'd have attended 20 years ago. Victorious is a fab festival for kids, with plenty to do for all, it's a great way to introduce younger ones to the fun of a festival - and hopefully, ignite a spark of interest in love music at the same time.
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