A lovely day out just before Christmas when we were invited by Kinder to a screening of Happy Feet 2 just off Bond Street in the West End. As you can imagine, the whole area was seething with panicked shoppers looking for that last-minute pair of socks for Uncle Tony, but we swanned past them all and ended up at a converted church.
I’ve probably walked past the spot loads of times, but had no idea that this once-grand church is now a rather amazing party venue. For our delectation, the place was decked out with lifesize cuddly penguins, a clever mat like a piano keyboard that you could play tunes on (a lot of the other families there were winners of this contest) and, in pride of place in the centre, a fantastic ice rink. The ice was made of some newfangled artificial stuff, I’ve no idea quite what, but all the kids seemed to have a great time zooming up and down on it. And some of the parents too, though I did manage to resist the temptation *cough*.
An extra-special added attraction was a vast tub full of Kinder eggs – those highly covetable little capsules that contain cunningly constructed little toys. This time, there were quite a few mini penguins around, tying in with the film.
After everyone had skated to their hearts’ content, and plundered the Kinder tub a lot more than once, it was time for the film screening. Happy Feet 2 is as full of thrills and spills as the first film – in fact, it was knuckle-whiteningly dramatic at times. But, without giving away too much, I can say that all the penguins were happy bunnies by the end, and our feet were tapping all the way home. We wended our way back by way of the Selfridges Christmas windows, looking suitably icy and mysterious in white, and all in all the day was much enjoyed by the whole gang.
