This week we shine the spotlight on bubble babysitting app and the two brains behind it – Adrian and Ari. You will see bubble at a few of the upcoming Our Kids Social events as sponsors – check out the arts and crafts, giant dance-floor balloons, or chat to them about the app.
What’s your name and where do you come from?
ADRIAN: We are Adrian & Ari, two dads from London and co-founders of the bubble app – the first service in the UK to help parents find childcare on-demand, using the recommendations of their own trusted network of friends.
Tell us a bit about bubble!
ARI: bubble helps parents find, book and pay the best babysitters in their local community. The app makes it really easy and convenient for mums and dads to book recommended childcare when they want and need it.
We set the business up after having our own kids and realising that A: finding reliable sitters was so difficult and B: as parents, we always want to find the sitters that our friends use and trust.
We’ve now got over 50,000 people using the app and it’s just amazing to see how it’s helping so many people every day. Parents are using it to book sitters for their social lives, work lives and for the unexpected too…which thanks to our kids is commonplace!
How are you involved with OKS events?
We’re sponsoring a number of the events and getting involved with some arts and crafts at the britpop event. We love the idea behind OKS and can’t wait to come up for the right Royal knees up!
Have you been to any great festivals or are there any you want to get to?
ADRIAN: Haha – would love to get out there but can never get organised enough! I will definitely get to Camp Bestival one day but now there are so many that offer good value and a great experience that when the time comes I will choose wisely!
What is on the kitchen disco play-list in your house?
ARI:My son made us have Despacito playing on loop for several months last year. Not just in the Kitchen but on the way to school too. I’d heard that song was the most streamed of all time, we probably accounted for the majority of them. We’ve now got Ed Sheeran on loop instead…
Where are your favourite places for a knees up without the nippers?
ARI:We like some of the Gastro pubs around North London where we live. The York & Albany and Freemasons Arms are two good bets.
ADRIAN: And if you’re in South West London, The Ship in Battersea, sitting outside by the river in the summer months to relive those ‘pre-kids’ days.
What was the first album / single you bought and what format did you buy it on?
ADRIAN: This is dating me – it was on vinyl – and obviously not a classic as I can’t remember(!). I do remember my sister buying The Unforgettable Fire by U2 and we played that repeatedly – still great.
What would be your band T-shirt of choice?
ARI:Growing up my dad was big into Rock and loved Aerosmith which rubbed off on me. My wife (understandably) is having none of it these days though, so I’d suspect their T-Shirt might get binned pretty quickly.
What is a favourite family meal at your house and do you have a great recipe to share?
ARI:We love meatballs in tomato sauce. A friend of mine let us in on a great recipe where you add soaked bread and chopped raisins into the meatball mix. It makes them come out very soft and sweet and the kids absolutely love them.
ADRIAN: My wife’s vegetarian (I still love her though) and she makes this Thai-inspired dish with strips of raw courgette and carrots with noodles. Virtually no cooking and even our 5 year old will eat it.
What are you looking forward to most at an Our Kids Social event?
Definitely looking forward to having our big bubble style balloons at the Britpop event! They are always such fun on the dance floor.
If you were at our silent disco what would the kids’ number one choice for their channel be, and what would the adults’ number one choice for theirs be?
ADRIAN: I’m a bit of an indie kid so that’s where I’d be, slightly out of time with everyone else. For the kids, dance music – the Justin Timberlake song from Trolls, Can’t Stop The Feeling, is guaranteed to get everyone waving their arms around in our house (the adults for different reasons!).
What do you enjoy doing with your families when you have time away from work?
ARI: I’m a big football fan and recently started taking my five year old to some Arsenal and England games which is great fun. Other than that, my preference is always for the simple things that allow us to spend as much time with each other as possible. I absolutely love cooking with the kids, going fruit picking in the summer is also another favourite of ours.
ADRIAN: Scooters / bikes and a dog walk. I got an adult scooter when our 5 year old got his and, sadly, I ride it even when he’s not around.
Do you think your musical tastes influence your kids?
ARI: If I look back on what I listened to growing up it was heavily influenced by what my parents listened to but that was only until I was old enough to change the radio station in the car! Access to music and the range is so much wider now that it was, so I suspect our kids will develop their own tastes and preferences far quicker then we did growing up.
ADRIAN: Probably, but more in the way that it’s important to enjoy it and also anything goes. Think kids will always identify themselves by what they listen to, but it seems liking lots of different genres is more acceptable now. We went to see the the musical Matilda as a family a couple of weeks back and, no matter what you music you like, you’d have to be dead inside not to think that show kicks ass!
You can find out more about bubble here and catch up on all the latest Our Kids Social events here!
ourkidssocial.blog 