Play Time at Le Petit Palais

I’m sure some of you have already been to this little slice of France hidden in the midst of stylish Galeries Lafayette. But for those of you who haven’t, this p(a)lace will definitely bring a smile to your little prince or princess’s face. Recently I managed to summon no less than 5 little people to go check out the play palace and here is how it went down:

Just as expected it is probably the most elegant playroom I have ever been to and although it is rather small (they do call it petit after all) there certainly is no lack of things to keep your little ones busy.  I only assume they’ve got a system in place for making sure the place doesn’t get too crowded but when we went, all was well in the Kingdom.

The set up is very sweet, resembling a little French village with a bakery, an art studio, a shop, a little house and a small road to ride on. Speaking of rides, oh yeah they’ve got the really fancy ones here. You know the electrical kind that you always walk past at Toys R Us thinking they are too expensive? Yep, those… So the boys in the group were happily occupied riding motorcycles and cars up and down the little road with the occasional stop at the little gas station.

But there is more than enough fun for little girls too (although the girl in our group was determined to write the motorcycle too). Should you in fact want to play beauty salon doing petit pedis and a mini manis there is also a lovely little beauty salon which does face painting (and where mamas can hide from the traffic jam on the “road” outside). Once the vehicles were out of battery our little group divided themselves up between the little house, complete with kitchen, living area, bedroom and dress up gear while the younger ones decided to hit up the soft play area. And although small, the soft play area manages to tick all the boxes for what is needed without taking up a ton of space. Slide, climbing frames, ball pit and little padded areas for general head banging activities.

Just as we were getting ready to leave, the karaoke room opened up. Seriously- bring on the mic mamas! They turned up the music and our little party animals decided to go clubbing for about 5 minutes. Dancing like crazy in the dark, with a disco bowl- sounds familiar mamas? All partied out, we were ready to hit the food court that is just outside for a snack.

But do you want to know what I think is the secret to the royal success of Le Petit Palais? The staff. They have tons of staff who are actually really engaged, happily playing with the kids and seem to be enjoying themselves. This makes a huge difference! In fact from what I understand you can drop over 3-year olds off for an hour and I’d safely say I think they would be in good hands. Mais oui- go check it out chere mamans!

Psst… I wish they’d just demolish the whole candy section that is right outside by the reception. Like we aren’t in enough trouble just trying to get our kids out of there..?

Prices:
First hour: AED80
Additional hour: AED20
Daily rate: AED140
There are memberships available that offer better rates

Le Petit Palais, 2^nd Level, Galeries Lafayette, Dubai Mall
Tel: (+971) (0)4 382 7333 (ext. 2754), www.lepetitpalaisdubai.com