Our Day At Octocon 2019

We went to Octocon last week and had a great time. This year it was only a one day con instead of the full weekend as we had WorldCon and it absolutely flew by! Still it was better than no days lol. It was jam packed and we had a great time but I’m already counting down the days til next year when we will stay for the full weekend.. already have our memberships!

The theme this year was all about the Fae and so we had the fabulous Ruth Frances Long and Peadar O’Guilin who have fantastic knowledge of Irish folklore and scary fairies basically lol. Once we arrived we met the ConFam Kayleigh and Paul straight away then got checked in. Myself and the girls went to a wing making workshop and the girls had great fun making some wings.

Ella made some dragon wings with Jack Skellington faces.. of course 😆 and Abigail made some goblin wings.

After that we met up with the rest of the confam (Carolyn and Aunty Gwen) and went for lunch. I quite like the venue it’s same as last year, The Crowne Plaza In Blanchardstown, the food is good and they had a really good kids menu. Ella got a big bowl of pasta and Abigail had fish goujons and chips, really good value! We had some time to chill out then after which was good as Ella was tired and myself and Kayleigh (Hedwig) needed a proper catch up (Carolyn captured us in a snap again 😆) This was followed by hot chocolates and tea.. again the kids hot chocolate and cookie deal was very good!

Once we were all rested myself and the girls went to a Lego Dalek Workshop and this was fantastic fun. Abigail in particular was really into this, we got instructions and set about making our Daleks. There were two different ways to make them so we did both and then Abigail made an extra one for Ella, she was busy making friends with some other kids and playing with a huge pile of Lego that was provided.

By the end of it a whole army of Lego Daleks was created (scary!!) and everyone was allowed to take their Daleks home.. delighted! It was a really fun workshop and one we would like to do again.

To end the day we all went to a panel on children’s fairytales and how they have changed over the years becoming less Grimm and more Disney. It was interesting and made me want to find more of the original tales and read them and not shy back from sharing some of the more scary tales with the girls.. did me no harm I love scary stuff!! Of course we were the messers at the back and used the time waiting for the closing ceremony, which followed after, to get in some selfies and Ella did some colouring 😆

And then it was all over!! It was so quick but so great to see everyone, I missed them all so much after WorldCon but it just means we’ll have to go to more cons soon! Next year will be the 30th anniversary for Octocon and memberships are available on the site already so if it’s something you’re thinking about you should go check it out. There will be a price increase in the new year but just remember it’s a membership and not a ticket because by becoming a member you are a part of the community and any money goes straight back into the con and everyone working at it is a volunteer so it’s totally worth it. A Con for the fans by the fans and its where I met my Confamily!