Thank you to King Richard's Faire for providing press passes to our family for opening weekend of King Richard's Faire 2015 and for providing a 4-pack of tickets for our giveaway prize. Also featured are Goody Hair accessories we received for a sponsored back-to-school campaign. All opinions expressed are our own.
This Labor Day weekend, we made our 5th visit to
King Richard's Faire in Carver, Massachusetts. This was our 4th consecutive year attending on opening weekend. Visiting our local
Renaissance faire is an annual tradition that every member of our family looks forward to. Having visited the faire several times, my husband and I have some tips to share with other families who may be visiting for the first time.
10 Tips for Visiting King Richard's Faire with Children . . .
1. Be festive! - Depending on the weather, you may or may not choose to dress in costume. In past years, our children have worn costumes and it was a lot of fun. That being said, it's important that whatever you wear on your body and feet are comfortable. Be sure to dress for the weather. Even if you don't choose to wear a costume, your children will have more fun attending if you add something festive to their wardrobe, such as a garland of flowers on the head, fairy ears, a fox tail, or a
Renaissance themed t-shirt. This year we opted for
knight body armor t-shirts for the boys and a pretty
unicorn t-shirt for our daughter. All 3 brought along the
wooden swords we had purchased as souvenirs on previous visits.
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| Two knights-in-training and one sword-wielding unicorn princess at King Richard's Faire |
For an extra special touch, we created a pretty
fairy dusted hairstyle for our daughter using
Goody Girls Ouchless Elastics,
Mini Elastics, and a sparkly
ponytailer with a bow. All I did was make two thin braids on each side, one small ponytail at the center of her head, and then one low ponytail gather all the hair, braids included, together. Since I used Goodie Mini Elastics to secure the ends of the braids, they were easy to hide inside the ponytail. Then I sprayed my daughter's hair all over with
B-wild Hair and Body Glitter Spray for an even dusting of gold and silver glitter. Our daughter just loved it. She felt so pretty and didn't see anyone else at the faire with fairy dust in their hair.
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| Fairy Dusted Hair for King Richard's Faire |
2. Bring a backpack! - Even though our darling children swore they would each carry their own wooden swords, they lasted about 20 minutes before they asked us to carry them. Luckily, we were prepared. Bringing a backpack will come in handy for storing everything from souvenirs to bottled water. Surprise! The children didn't want to carry the spring water we purchased for them either. If you remember, pack a Sharpie, so you can write each person's initials on the caps before they all go into the backpack. My husband and I both wore a backpack. I prefer it over other types of bags for attending family events like these because it keeps my hands free. What else was in our backpacks? . . . a camera, phones, sunscreen, a small first aid kit, tissues, moist wipes, and more!
3. Don't over-schedule yourselves! - If you've checked out the
King Richard's Faire entertainment schedule, then you'll see that many times one show begins on one stage right when another one ends on another. It's not possible to make two shows back-to-back unless they are taking place on the same stage or at a stage very close by. Our advice is to choose 2 or 3 shows and a few other activities you just do not want to miss and then have a relaxing time in between those. For example, we knew we wanted to see
Jacques Ze Whipper's show,
The Great Cats World show, and at least one
joust. The children also knew they wanted to go through
M'Lady's Shady Maze, go on a couple of fun
rides, and our daughter always wants to go on a
pony ride. Well we ended up seeing
Jacques Ze Whipper twice, but missed the joust because the children were too tired to make it to the last one of the day.
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| Jacques Ze Whippeur's Whippie Show |
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| The Great Cats World Show (First year at King Richard's Faire) |
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| One of the familiar faces we love seeing each year at M'Lady's Shady Maze |
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| Our daughter's annual pony ride at King Richard's Faire |
4. Bring extra cash! - Although there are ATMs located conveniently inside the faire, we recommend that you bring more cash than you think you'll need. We thought we brought enough cash, but ended up going to the ATM twice. You can save yourself the trouble of interrupting your family's fun at the faire to head to the ATM, not to mention the ATM fees, if you just bring some extra cash. Food tickets can be purchased with cash only, while most of the artisan shops and carts take credit or debit cards.
5. Don't go to the first food ticket booth you see! - There are actually several food ticket booths all around the faire. The first one you come to usually has the longest line. If you stop to take a look around or at your
map of the realm, you'll see there are other food ticket booths not too far away. It's also a good idea to look at what foods and beverages your family would like to buy in advance to give you an idea of how many tickets to buy. You can also take a look at the
Food & Drynk menu online, which tells you what items are gluten-free, vegan, and lactose-free.
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| The King Richard's Faire giant turkey leg! |
6. Bring drinking straws! - I don't recall if it was always this way, but the food establishments don't provide straws with their drinks. I imagine it's to cut down on waste. I remembered to bring my own this year because it's too challenging for children to drink a slushie or a root beer float without a straw.
7. Go on the man-powered rides! - All the rides at King Richard's Faire are man-powered. Our children think it's the coolest thing and marvel at how strong these men must be to power a carousel or swing a giant swan boat. It's a fun glimpse at how much the world relied on man-power and physics before there were other sources of power.
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| The Pirates Ships ride at King Richard's Faire |
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| The Flying Carousel ride at King Richard's Faire |
8. Visit the Kid's Cove! - Although we've attended special events scheduled at the
Kid's Cove in the past, such as the
Princess Academy and Knight School, we discovered some new things this year. Our children had their fortunes read for the first time in the Kid's Cove and they discovered there were building logs to play with and a sandbox with buried treasure in it. Our daughter was over the moon about a pretty bracelet she unearthed. Every child can keep one treasure they find.
The Kid's Cove has several picnic tables where you can sit to have something to eat or just to take a rest. You might find some familiar faces from around the faire taking a rest in there too, which is always fun.
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| The Foolish Fortunes fortune teller at the Kid's Cove |
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| Taking a rest and playing with building logs in the Kid's Cove |
9. Children can test their skills too! - Although there are some activities in
The Gaming Glen that are for adults only, such as axe throwing, there are many that also are open to children (under adult supervision of course). Last year, our children tried shooting crossbows, but this year they all tested their skill at shooting with a bow and arrows. Our oldest had actually tried his hand at shooting with a bow on a previous visit, so it was interesting to see how his skill has improved just by being a little bigger and stronger.
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| 11yr old shooting at the Archer's Field at King Richard's Faire |
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| 8yr old testing her archery skills at King Richard's Faire |
10. Bring home souvenirs! - There are so many cool artisan shops located all around Carvershire. Many of the items are crafted, built, carved, painted, or sewn by hand. It's a wonderful thing to support such artisans, many of whom are local, while bringing a piece of the faire home with you. Some years the children were overwhelmed about what to pick for their souvenirs because there were so many things to choose from. This year, they didn't seem to have trouble at all, which was a pleasant surprise. In addition to the souvenirs for our children, we also bought a pretty necklace and earrings for a birthday gift for my daughter's friend. Such a wonderful place to find unique handmade gifts! Take a look at the unique items our children found for their souvenirs this year . . .
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| A fairy in an ornate cage from Fairy Haven |
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| A chain mail bracelet from Mardigan's Maile |
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| An ocarina from Magical Ocarinas |
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| A glitter-dipped fresh rose from Faire Flowers |
Those are our top ten tips to share with other faire-goers. Do you have a tip to share with us for making our family's next visit to King Richard's Faire even better than the last?
Visit us on Facebook to see all our
2015 King Richard's Faire photos!
There is one other highlight of our day at
King Richard's Faire that I wanted to share. The new cat show, brought to us by
The Great Cats World Park in Oregon, was lots of fun. The show included big and small cats, all with such personality. The white tiger pictured below, who is not even 1 year old, was acting like such a playful kitten on stage. I'll never forget watching this enormous cat swat at the leafy plant like it was a feather cat toy. The whole audience was all smiles. Such a great addition to the King Richard's Faire long list of attractions!
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| White tiger with Cat Man |
To find out more about
King Richard's Faire, visit
kingrichardsfaire.net. This year's faire runs for 8 weekends through Sunday, October 25th. You can buy tickets online or at the gates, which open at 10:30am.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
This giveaway is open to U.S residents only. You must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. A random drawing will be held shortly after the contest closing. The winner will be announced here and will be contacted via email. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be drawn.
