Say hello to the two lovely ladies in pink, they’re Mei Mei nannies from the Outrigger Fiji, and if you have babies or toddlers from 6 months to 3 years, they might soon be your best friends.
The Outrigger has an award-winning kids club and nanny service. When we stayed at the Outrigger my kids enjoyed their time at kids club enormously.
All the info is laid out simply for you here, and below that are photos of the facilities and activities. More of my thoughts are at the bottom of the post.
But in a nutshell, babies from 6 months to teenagers aged 13 + can be kept busy and happy whilst parents relax. Hooray!
NB Read our Beginners Guide to Fiji Family Holidays here.
Mei Mei trained nannies
Age group: 6 months – 12 years
Hours: 9am – 10pm daily
Costs: Nannies must be booked for 4 consecutive days for up to 8 hours a day
Fee is 340 FJD (approximately 206 AUD)
Kids Club
Age group: 3 years – 12 years. The kids are divided into two groups by age: Little Riggers is for kids aged three- seven years and Beach Riggers is for kids aged eight – 12 years.
Hours:
Registration 9am – 10am
Activities 10am – noon
Kids lunch until 12.30pm.
Kids club is closed 12.30pm – 2pm
Activities 2pm – 4pm
Kids club is closed 4pm – 5.30pm
Kids dinner 5.30pm – then activities 6pm – 9pm.
Registration and dropoff is done before 10am, we’d usually take the kids over around 9.30am after breakfast.
The kids can be given lunch or dinner until 12.30pm and from 5.30pm respectively.
Costs: free
Location: The Kids Club home base is large traditional bure, set in a lovely garden which is securely fenced. I do love a secure fence to keep my kids in, don’t you?
Activities: There are lots of outdoor activities, with arts and crafts and plenty of traditional Fijian cultural activities: treasure hunts, coconut throwing, spear throwing, fish feeding, crab hunting, egg throwing, sand castle building.
Outrigger Fiji – Teenagers’ Activity Program
Teens activities can include: Sigatoka Sand Dunes adventure, Tavuni Hill Fort tour, Bebe Hill hike, and Enchanted Pool hike. Also a student exchange trip to a local Fijian high school.
The program is designed to introduce teens to Fiji’s culture, history and present day life. And it’s fun too.
My kids tend to say initially that they don’t want to go to kids clubs. I ask them just to come for a look, then introduce them to other kids and show them the activities.
This gets them over the hump and once they’d been once to the Kids Club at the Outrigger, they were keen to go at least once most days.
They made friends and would often spend lots of time in the afternoons playing in the pool with the friends from Kids Club.
And I lay by the pool and read my book, oh yes I did!
But not every holiday can be a Fiji holiday, so check out this list of NSW resorts and hotel with kids clubs for something closer to home.
Here are some more photos and more info about a great family holiday we had at the Outrigger.
We did enjoy our time at the Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort on the Coral Coast.
It was quite the perfect location for our family of teens and twins. If we were a perfect family, it’d have been the perfect holiday!
But all the members of our family are deeply imperfect and so we had a fair amount of arguing, diva behaviour (not from me) and general naughtiness.
But in a gorgeous tropical setting!
Here are some photos of the Outrigger and a few thoughts on what worked for us. I hope other families will find this useful.
The top photo is the lagoon itself at low tide. The resort is right on this lagoon, which has been created by a fringing coral reef.
Can you recommend any other great kids clubs?
Always keen to hear readers’ own recommendations.
Happy holidays.
PS We’ve had a family holiday ourselves at the Outrigger, and I’ve visited as a guest on a press trip too.
I like the Little Riggers’ itinerary – disco and talent quest after dinner ..sounds fun!!
I’ve never tried a kids club though I do love the idea of being able to have some time to myself when on holidays – sounds like bliss to me!
Thanks for joining in #wednesdaywanderlust this week.
Hello, just wondering if parents were allowed to stay at kids club if their child was anxious to stay alone? Kids club activities sound great!
Hello, I imagine you could do this but I think you’d need to get in touch direct with Outrigger to check this. I am sure you can send them an email via their website to ask. It is fun there!