Persil 2in1 with Comfort pass on the love picnics

DJ and mum-of-four Jo Whiley hosts the first ‘Persil Pass on the Love Picnic’ at Camp Bestival this weekend. Mums and kids were encouraged to hold a picnic and bring newly washed soft toys for another child to love - for fun family picnic ideas and more visit Netmums

Hello, it's Alex here, hubby to the normal occupant of this fair blog. Wifey was offered a free ticket to Camp Bestival to meet up with Persil 2in1 with Comfort and find out about their Pass on the Love Picnics. The thought of dragging the protesting boy around was a bit much, so she sent me in her stead. Hurrah!

The summer holidays are already well under way, and there are plenty of things for kids to do but a lot of them cost money as well as time and over a period of weeks, this tends to add up. Persil 2in1 with Comfort have teamed up with Oxfam and well know celebrity mum, Jo Wiley, to launch the Persil 2in1 with Comfort Pass on the Love Picnics. The idea is simple really, you pick one of the remaining 8 days of sunny weather, gather your friends and your kids friends and go for a picnic. Take an old teddy bear and let the kids swap them amongst themselves because, lets face it, every single kids must have dozens of soft toys they played with for a couple of days and then lost interest in.

Of course if you collect a surfeit of teddies, you can drop any spares (clean and washed) off to Oxfam who will put them to good use.

Persil 2in1 with Comfort ran the first Pass on the Love Picnic at Camp Bestival, to show people how easy it was and how much kids would love the idea. Once I got the boy to understand we weren't about to give away his stinky but beloved bunny, he got into the spirit of the thing, and even disposed of a teddy bear and gained a snake, which was of great use during the stage version of the Gruaffalo. I got to have a chin wag with Jo Wiley too who took a good dollop of pity on a sleep deprived Dad who didn't really know what he was up to.

Here are a few bits from my chat that made the most sense...

Me: Er. Uummmmmmmmmmmm.
(long pause)
Me: So, being a well know public personality with a family, you must get asked to do loads of things for kids charities.
(Jo nods encouragingly, I haven't made too much of an idiot of myself so far)
Me: So what made you pick the Persil pass on the love picnics out of all the approaches you must get then?
Jo: As a busy mum of four, I know how much it can cost to keep kids entertained over the summer holidays. Picnics are great and every kid has loads of soft toys that don't get played with. My youngest isn't quite three and it's the sort of thing that she loves doing, making little cups of tea and having picnics! Being here today has shown just how good an idea it is. My daughters relished playing with all the teddy bears and chatting to the other children. I've got a lot of friends with kids the same sort of age, two and a half to three, and it's the sort of thing they love doing.
Me: Our youngest is about the same age. If yours is anything like Fifi, she's probably bossing the rest of them around...
Jo: Oh absolutely, she has the fieriest temper and she's always bossing the rest of them around. It's hilarious. She's so much smaller than the rest of them too.

Believe it or not, the remaining 5 minutes of interview were so awesome bad on my part, I couldn't gain much out of them of any vague use. I hang my head in shame but then lift it again and nod encouragingly to Persil 2in1 with Comfort for such a cracking idea!

Persil 2in1 with Comfort pass on the love picnics