The school holidays can be an expensive time for us all. Especially when the weather is not so good and you can't spend the day at the park or beach. There are LOTS of fantastic events going on across Dorset for the October half term holidays, and I expect you have already booked some Halloween events into your calendars. However, I am sure that you still have days  you need to fill, so I have compiled this awesome list of completely FREE things you can do in Dorset during this October half term holidays, enjoy!

On 25th October between 1-4pm, Scaplen's Court have their annual free Halloween event on for children. Meet their resident witch and explore some spooky museum objects. They usually have crafts and other activities for the children to take part in during this event too. It's worth popping next door to the Poole Museum too as they usually have a spider trail on during half term too. 

Hobbycraft have FREE slime making workshops on again during the school holidays. We did this in the summer and the slime has kept really well all this time so its really worth going if you children are into messy play. We have kept ours in a pot in the fridge and its still as good as the day we made it.

There are lots of free events at your local library over the half term holidays. You can find out what is going on on different dates by visiting their website. 

Other FREE things to do:Some of the best things to do for free when you are stuck for ideas

1. Go for a lovely Autumn walk and collect some leaves and conkers. You could extend this activity by bringing leaves home to make some arty pictures.
2. GeoCaching
3. Paint some rocks and hide them for others to find. There are lots of local facebook groups for this, some local ones are "Poole Rocks" and "BH Rocks"
4. Get baking! Its the perfect time of the year to stay indoors and do some baking together. Why not try some Halloween themed cookies or cakes?
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If you have heard about any other FREE events in Dorset over the October holidays please do let me know I would love to add them to my list. 
I hope you all have a fantastic half term with your little ones.

If you follow me or any other newborn photographers on social media, you will notice we are often going about "booking" in whilst you are pregnant, not waiting until your baby arrives to get in touch. But how do we "book" you in when we don't know when your baby is going to arrive? Unlike some other photographers, I do not give you provisional dates  (which will undoubtedly need to be re arranged) I simply make sure I have some times around your due date kept available for you, then once you get in touch to let me know your baby has arrived, we arrange a mutually convenient time for your newborn photography session. As you can understand I need to be quite flexible with my time, hence I can only book in a certain amount of babies per month. Babies are often early or late, which sometimes leads to me having a few last minute spaces available, so I sometimes can accommodate clients who get in touch after their baby arrives. But I can not guarantee space, and I often have to say that I am unfortunately fulled booked.  If this does happen, I will never turn you away but simply say we might need to wait a few weeks. I photograph all ages up to 5 months in a "newborn style" but as you can imagine they grow really quickly and a 4/5 week old baby will not be as curled up as a 7 day old. You can read more about my "older newborn" photography sessions in another blog post that I have written.

There are other reasons and benefits to booking in before your due month. It is easier for you to find and book a photographer when you are expecting as you will have more time, and once you have "booked in" you don't need to do anything else until your session apart from a simple message to let me know your little one has arrived. We can spend time talking about your session and what you would like, and it gives me chance to post out your lovely booking form and if you are local get a Little Pack of Love goody bag over to you, which contains lots of fantastic freebies and vouchers. 

Also by booking  in early you get the chance to get a free beautiful wooden photo block as a thank you from me for being super organised (as it helps me to be more organised too!) and if you are booking a maternity photography session too, you can get a £25 discount (terms and condition apply, please message me for more information) and a further £25 discount off any future family photography sessions.

 

You can find out lots more information on newborn photography sessions in Poole with me under my newborn photography section or read more newborn photography articles on my blog. If you would like any further information or would like to book in, please contact me.