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A few weeks ago, my family had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Houston Children’s Festival. The Houston Children’s Festival is the largest children’s festival in the United States and I was excited to check it out!

This year, the Houston Children’s Festival was held on Saturday, March 31st and Sunday, April 1st. We had planned to go on Sunday but when we woke up to a gorgeous Saturday, we changed our plans and got loaded up! As you know, even short trips downtown require a lot of preparation when you have a toddler in tow!

The drive down was smooth which was a blessing because Houston traffic can be crazy sometimes! Parking was also fairly easy because there were many parking garages open and offering parking at different rates. I saw parking for $5 – $15. We paid $10 to park in a covered garage right near an entrance to the children’s festival.

Then we had to wait in line to get into the children’s festival! I just had to take a picture of the line because it seemed like it would take forever to get inside but it really only took a few minutes. They were checking bags at the entrance so it took a bit longer than just taking tickets. The only food and drinks allowed in were for babies and other people were trying to bring in extra things which held the line up a bit.

We were able to entertain ourselves why we waited to get in. The festival guide was a fabulous resource full of information about the entire festival. There was a schedule of happenings for each day of the festival and I immediately looked for information on meeting Buddy from Dinosaur Train! Yes, that is the one thing I really wanted to do while we were there! I wasn’t sure if W was as excited as I was but I was hoping to get a cute picture!

We met Buddy from Dinosaur Train at the Houston Children’s Festival!

I was in luck! We didn’t have to walk too far into the Houston Children’s Festival to find Buddy from Dinosaur Train. The line was short so we hopped right in it and I was able to snap this photo of Grambo and W! Grambo was having fun but W wasn’t so sure about it. He didn’t cry but he made sure that Buddy didn’t get too close!

There were so many great booths representing a wide variety of services and products available for children in and around the Houston area. I even met a midwife who does home births and got some information about her! I was excited to see that aspect of pregnancy and childbirth represented at the children’s festival.

There were also games and rides for the kids although W was too little for any of them this year. Oh, and food! There were tons and tons of food booths! It was a matter of deciding what we wanted to eat when we got hungry!

I’m pretty sure that you only find a food booth featuring a variety of fried snack foods in Texas! I passed on the fried Swiss Cake Rolls and fried Twinkies but was excited to try Ribbon Fries! I hadn’t ever had them before and they looked delicious!

W loved the Ribbon Fries as much as I did! I am definitely going to try and recreate them at home with a healthier spin on them. I’ll keep you updated on how that challenge goes. It would definitely be a fun addition to dinner ever so often!

J was also excited to find the Great American Cookie Company at the Houston Children’s Festival. Grambo got some corn on the cob and a shaved ice. There was something for everyone to eat at the festival.

We stayed at the festival for a few hours before it started to get really warm outside. W also got his first wasp sting and I have to say that the help at the First Aid tent was spectacular! They got W all patched up and he didn’t even cry! He is such a brave boy!

The Houston Children’s Festival is a great for children and adults of all ages!

We had a great time at the Houston Children’s Festival. If you go next year, I would recommend taking cash. You have to purchase tickets to buy food and go on the rides. This year they were $10 for 9 tickets. We purchased 2 sheets of tickets and were able to feed all 3 adults and get one drink. The general admission festival tickets were $10 at the gate although there were many discounts available!

You can learn more about Houston Children’s Festival at houstonchildrensfestival.com. You can also stay updated on all of the latest happening by following the Houston Children’s Festival on Facebook.

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