I love going to the cinema (as long as the people in the cinema don’t talk or eat loudly all the way through – yes I’m old and yes the eating and talking thing reaaaaally bugs me) so I was delighted to find out about the newbie cinema sessions when I was pregnant.
Miss NHM first went to the cinema when she was 3 weeks old. I remember the film vividly, Chalet girl, I think because the whole experience reminded me that I could still retain a very small part of my pre-parent life. It hasn’t quite worked out that way once Miss NHM got to six months old and was too wriggly for the cinema but I was back to work by then so couldn’t have gone to the newbie session on a Tuesday anyway! Lol.
My Ante-natal friends and I used to try to go to the newbie session every Tuesday. It started at 11.15am which was just the right time to get up and get mobilised without feeling like you had to rush. Many, many times I had a breakfast of popcorn at the newbie session :-D.
I liked the sessions because the sound was quiet and nowhere near as loud as the cinema normally is and because the lights were dimmed so you could breastfeed without judgement and still see what you were doing.
Plus it felt good to be doing something adult and grown up and not something that was all about my baby, like everything seemed to be at the time.
My husband even managed to come along once or twice. He even took Miss NHM on his own, when I had to go back to work, for the two weeks when he was off work and she wasn’t too wriggly for the cinema.
Another benefit of newbie cinema was the cost. It’s much cheaper to go to the newbie cinema than the regular cinema, no one cares if your baby cries and you get free tea or coffee if you would like it. Generally none of the free biscuits though as you could guarantee that the gerriatrics for the senior session, which start 15 mins before, would have scoffed them all.
If you have a newborn or a baby and like going to the cinema, I really recommend going to the newbie session. If only to pretend you have a small semblance of your old life left 😉