AD/disclaimer: UKGE gave us press passes that covered entry for UKGE 2025. This has not affected our opinion.

I can’t believe UK Games Expo 2025 was a whole month ago! 

Before the expo, I posted about our experience attending UKGE 2024 with a baby. And in that post, I predicted that this year with a ~19 month old toddler was going to be a more challenging experience. Turns out I was right, but we were still unprepared for quite how different it would be.

We did have some issues that didn’t help. Firstly, I was stressed and burnt out in the run up, so I was going into the weekend already frazzled (and felt permanently frazzled throughout). Secondly, the toddler was teething and woke up on the Friday night distraught with a temperature – Matt had to go for a 3am Calpol run because we stupidly forgot to pack any. This obviously had a knock on effect on all of us going into the weekend.

That said, we still had an amazing time! Our toddler did really well, I was so proud of him. He came with us to the Thursday press event, and to the main UKGE show on Friday and Sunday. Grandma kindly looked after him on Saturday so we could have some toddler-free time.

Here’s some of our main take-aways from the weekend.

Exploring the halls

In previous years, we’d spend Friday at UKGE mosying up and down the halls, in a relatively systematic manner, scoping everything out and planning what we want to explore more over the rest of the weekend.

But our fully walking toddler is no longer content to chill in a pram while we perused the stalls – he wanted to do his own perusing! So this year, we had a mix of having him in the pram (for as long as he would put up with it) and letting him explore on kiddie reins.

With an active toddler it was harder for us to have a proper look around the stalls, so we had to accept that we weren’t going to see as much this year. I’ve seen so many photos on social media of games and sellers that we were completely unaware of, which gave me a bit of FOMO. Matt said that in some ways, it felt like the Expo was happening around us but not to us.

BUT it was so lovely seeing our toddler have more interest in everything going on this year, interacting with games, attendees and exhibitors. Particular shout out to DJECO and Singa Games, which were his favourite stalls! He even sat down and ‘demoed’ a kids game (well, he played with the animals). 

One of his favourite activities at the moment are stickers, so he also loved when exhibitors gave them out. 

Navigating through the halls with a pushchair was still no problem – and the wider aisles were a welcome change this year. But navigating a toddler on reins is a whole other kettle of fish! Sometimes he was mostly content to hold my hand, sometimes he’d want to plonk himself on the floor in the middle of the aisle, sometimes he would sprint off like a whippet to grab a stranger’s leg. It took a lot more mental & physical energy to make sure he didn’t get up to too much mischief.

The only time I truly struggled was when he would have a squealing sesh in the pram. Because I could do little about it (giving him attention for it makes him do it more!), and we did get some looks. I don’t often feel self-conscious as a parent, even when he’s being cheeky out and about, but in those moments I found it very hard. So, if you heard an ear piercing squeal echoing throughout the halls that weekend, I can only apologise. 

Hanging out in the Family Zone

This year we spent time in the Family Zone in the middle Hall 2, specifically the Children Zone. This is a dedicated space with spacious empty tables, and a central table full of games to play with younger players. Our toddler is still a bit young to play the games, but this area was a great central area to pause, catch a breath, and maybe even play a game. He could also wander around a bit (read: run off with a maniacal laugh) without getting in the way of foot traffic.

We managed some games of Tsuro on the Friday (the toddler played with the spare player pieces), and on the Sunday I taught my brother and niece Spots while Matt and our toddler played with a big blocky puzzle game, Katamino.

What was amazing about the Family Zone was that it was an eye in the storm of the halls – there was always a table, even on the busiest days. Whilst we didn’t need it there are also a lot of friendly volunteers in the family zone to help get you set up on a game. I loved it and would spend more time there next year.

Playing and demoing games

Playing games with a toddler was tricky, but not impossible! In some cases, we managed to play a couple of games with the toddler sitting next to one of us with something to occupy him (like the aforementioned Tsuro). The best example of this was our demo of the up and coming game Ink (review to come!). The toddler was quite happy sitting next to me and playing with meow meow cat dice we’d brought with us. Although the demo did have to be abruptly ended when he had a nappy disaster! Classic timing haha.

We also managed to demo a couple of quick card games while the toddler sat in the pram, but he was a bit restless so while it was possible, it wasn’t ideal. Otherwise, the games we managed to play were either when he was sleeping, or when one of us went to play a game while the other person looked after the toddler. 

After halls close at UKGE you can hang out in open gaming until around midnight. We did stay until ~9.30pm Friday and play a few games while the toddler slept in the pram. It worked well but it was disruptive to our toddler’s normal routine – he woke up when we were walking back to the car and took a while to go back to sleep in the hotel. He handled the disruption really well though (despite waking up with the temp/teething!).

On Saturday, after the late night Calpol fiasco of the night before, we decided to skip evening gaming. By the time we’d eaten and got back to the hotel it was still later than his normal bedtime, but it was the right thing to do because those extra hours in the hotel helped refresh all of us. And it meant we got more out of the final day on Sunday. 

Taking time out

One thing we were conscious of this year was the amount of stimulation the expo can bring, so we took regular breaks. In the halls, the aforementioned Family Zone is a great option, and you can still potentially play games. Open Gaming is also an option during the day, when it’s not as crammed (except Saturday!).

But we also took breaks outside the halls. Friday was particularly busy, so we decided to grab lunch and sit outside on the grass, which was a welcome break from the crowds and constant noise. By mid-afternoon on the friday, it was clear that the toddler was reaching his limit with the stimulation and lack of freedom, so we decided to miss the last couple of exhibition hours and headed to Nandos in Resorts World (just a few minutes walk from NEC). It was when the toddler would normally eat anyway, and there were plenty of tables at that time (there was a queue when we left, so I would say it got busier ~5.00-5.30pm).

Toddler gotta eat

Speaking of food, normal eating went right out the window for this weekend, but we accepted that would happen!

We stayed at a Travelodge with breakfast included, so the tot had some normal breakfasts (yoghurt, cereal, beans on toast, etc). Food during the day was a mix of things we packed with us (fruit, snacks, food pouches) and a meal from a vendor on site if needed (e.g. Nandos, sandwiches from the cafe). Not the most nutritionally balanced, but manageable for a weekend.

Attending as press

This is probably a bit more niche, but I’m sure there will be other people like us who plan to go as press, who also have young children and wonder whether it’s possible to do both. And it is, but we would say you do need both parents/a second carer to juggle looking after the toddler and getting press stuff done.

On Thursday evening, press were invited to a Judge’s award ceremony and a press preview with exhibitors. It wouldn’t have been appropriate to take a toddler to the awards ceremony, so Matt attended that while I looked after our toddler and fed him his tea. After, Matt took over toddler care and put him down to sleep in the pushchair while I went off to the press preview. Once he was asleep – the toddler, that is! – Matt was able to join me with the pushchair.

We tried to arrange most of our other planned press activities (like meeting up with an exhibitor) for Saturday while Grandma was babysitting. But there were a couple of times over the weekend we took it in turns going to meetings/demos versus looking after the tot. Divide and conquer!

Final thoughts – managing our expectations

Things rarely go to plan with a toddler, and we knew that going into the weekend. But on reflection, I think part of the reason we found this year particularly tough was because our expectations were still too high. We wanted to do everything we used to do as press AND be there as a young family – and there just weren’t enough hours in the day for both. 

Next year we plan to stay on site, which will make things easier if we bring our toddler again, and it’ll give us the option of alternating turns in open gaming in the evening. Or we may consider going without him for most of the weekend, and instead just bring him on the Sunday for a family day. But I really loved having him there, seeing him enjoy what we enjoy, and spending time together as a board gamer family, so I’m not sure I’d want to leave him behind either! I guess we’ll revisit it closer to the time when we have a better idea of what living with a 2 year old is like!

I’d love to know your experiences of attending as a young family! Please share in the comments below, or on our Instagram post.