How fast can you assemble a Mr Potato Head? And what about if you were blindfolded? How long would it take you then?
Unless you've got some very strange hobbies I'm guessing that the above questions have probably never troubled you before. I certainly hadn't given them a second thought before a box arrived in the post a couple of weeks ago. In it was a Mr Potato Head, a water pistol, a colouring book, stickers, coloured pencils and some sweets. Also included were some details of the Thomson Family Holidays Guinness World Records Event that I'd been invited to a Whipsnade Zoo. It seems that there are Guinness World Records for putting together Mr Potato Head (both blindfolded and not) and also for stacking lilos, putting on caps and putting coins into a piggy bank!
By now you're probably wondering what Thomson Family Resorts has to do with these slightly crazy world records – I know I was. What they are doing is giving families that visit their resorts the opportunity to take part with different record breaking attempts every week during the summer season. Imagine your kids being able to go back to school after the holidays and to say that they are a world record holder. And even if they don't manage that there's a huge amount of fun to be had in the attempt. Heats take place during the day time and official adjudicated record breaking attempts (complete with someone from Guinness World Records making sure you do it right) happening in the evening.
Until we had a go at Whipsnade I had no idea just how much fun you could have doing silly things like this and all the kids there completely loved it. It was also great to see so many mums and dads also getting involved and for them to cheer on their kids and the kids to also cheer them on. A great opportunity for some family bonding whilst all working together. I wasn't worthy of any world records with my Mr Potato Head efforts, but I was delighted to be able to see two world records broken during the day. Top Ender from A Mothers Ramblings now holds the world record for the fastest time to put Mr Potato Head together blindfolded and Clare from The Veggie Experience holds the record for the most caps to be put on in one minute.
So, if you want to make sure you have a family experience to remember during your summer holidays get yourself booked into a Thomson Family Resort and get practicing some strange things. With kids clubs, parent & toddler sessions, baby facilities, children's buffets, playgrounds and supervised evening parties in addition to the world record attempts you really can't go wrong!
And, if you're wondering the current world record for assembling a Mr Potato Head blindfolded is 38.3 seconds whilst if you forget the blindfold you need to be sub-seven seconds to get a record. It makes my effort of 52.19 seconds (blindfolded) look quite pathetic!
Disclaimer: Thomson Family Resorts invited Little Miss C and I to Whipsnade Zoo for the day and provided lunch, zoo entry and a box of toys to practice with before the event.
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