Wecasa – the brand new family community center in L’Eliana is about to open its doors officially at the beginning of March and we could not be more excited about it. Wecasa is not another ludoteca with a soft play area and some snacks and coffee. Wecasa is sooooo much more. It is a place for the whole family to enjoy a morning, an afternoon or evening without stress, with creative and relaxing activities and delicious and healthy food. A place to connect with other families, make friends, forget about the laundry at home and eat a homemade healthy meal. Wecasa offers indoor and outdoor areas, a trampoline and a pool (which is securely fenced) so that you can enjoy your time no matter what the weather is like.
Now, please read on to learn how the founder of Wecasa, the fabulous Emily, had the idea of setting up a community center for families and what workshops and activities will be offered.
“I love being a mom, I just don’t like the cooking, cleaning and logistics!
It was a normal Tuesday evening. While I was stirring and warming up dinner my youngest pulls my trousers and begs to be picked up. My daughter just peed in the corridor and runs through the house while she stepped on her own pee. The doorbell rings because the groceries ordered last night online arrived, while looking for my bag to give the delivery guy a tip, picking up Manu so he stops screaming, stepping over the pee in the corridor and yelling at Evia that she most certainly cannot go into our bed with her pee-feet, our dinner just burned. Could I serve the vegetable soup of 5 days ago? no i really shouldn’t. Kids, we are eating bread with humus tonight! AGAIN!
On this particular Tuesday the idea of WECASA was born. Why do i have to do the ritual of cooking, cleaning and logistics e-v-e-r-y single day? What if I create a place where parents and kids come together after school to enjoy workshops, play areas, healthy food and just be together? After dinner, bath, brushing teeth, story time, cuddles, and more cuddles and one last cuddle i jumped in front of my laptop to see if i can rent a really big place. It should have outdoor and indoor space to play, areas to do workshops such as yoga, drama, singing, dancing, growing food and a kitchen and of course it should have a bathroom. What started with confidence and excitement, my journey to find a place took 30 minutes. I needed at least thousands of euros per month, just to rent a place that fulfilled all my humble requirements.
The next days the idea of WECASA did not leave my mind nor my heart. I was so in need of a place to be together with other parents. To spend quality time with my kids but also to interact with others. Looking back I think this is where the idea became more than an idea. Because I could think of 3 options of how to react to my need of WECASA and the wish to create it.
1. This is a crazy idea, I can never do this!
2. This would be so difficult, but what if I could do this?
3. I don’t know how yet, but I can do this!
I chose to have the 3rd mindset. My first step of my journey in my mind was to find the right place and I started with the question: where in Europe with a warm climate next to the sea (because we can) could I find an affordable place? A short research showed that house prices in Spain and Portugal are low compared to other countries in Europe. And then, on a normal Wednesday night, we just chose Spain as our next possible destination to live because Yuri and I both speak some Spanish and isn’t it great if our kids could learn Spanish too? Excited again I booked a trip to Spain and left Yuri home with the kids for a week. I still love him for this week and he still hates me for it. We had 3 months to prepare for this trip. We chose 4 big enough cities as a possible destination to live and these cities had to tick the following:
– big english speaking community
– affordable to rent a big house not more than 30 minutes from the city centre and 30 min from the airport (Yuri travels a lot)
– several international schools at 15 minutes drive
The four cities we found were Madrid, Malaga, Murcia and Valencia. In each city we contacted real estate agents and planned viewings for houses that are big enough to be a place for WECASA and to live in. I rented a car, a big white one, one that i had to climb into. I drove 2000 kilometres in 6 days, saw at least 30 houses, spoke to community members which i contacted before, went to an Irish pub and got really drunk. It was great!
Back home i thanked Yuri a million times and we chose Valencia as our next home so that I can create the dream i had on that particular Tuesday.
WECASA was not there yet but it was born and already alive. 9 months after this Tuesday we are living in l’Eliana Valencia. Renting a big house where we live on the first floor and the ground floor is WECASA area. 100 m2 garden, a swimming pool, 4 rooms, a 90 m2 garage, a kitchen and a bathroom.
And here I am. One year later WECASA is about to open its doors for parents living in the Valencia area. I could not be more excited! I have created a place where parents and kids can come together after school. While following workshops, brothers and sisters can enjoy different play areas and have a healthy meal. All to accommodate the parent who loves to be a parent but just doesn’t like cooking, cleaning and logistics! Looking forward to welcome you soon!”
Wecasa offers a huge variety of fun and creative activities for the whole family:
Every Monday and Thursday Fun Day from 17:30h till 21:00h
- free play plus meal included for parents and kids
- prices: 7,50 EUR/kid with wecard (a bonus card with 10 stripes that you can buy for 75 EUR), 10 EUR/kid without wecard
- different art projects for different ages.
- prices: 15 EUR/kid with wecard and 17,50 EUR/kid without wecard including materials, dinner and play areas
Every Wednesday: Various Classes such as
- sing and swing with Stephanie (music workshop)
- cooking with kids
- yoga
- drama
- theater
- prices: 15 EUR/kid with wecard and 17,50 EUR/kid without wecard including dinner and play areas
- every 3 months: a stuff swapping party: next one is on the 2nd of March
- a full morning day from 11:00h till 15:00h: activities for the whole family; the next one is a drama workshop day on 9th March for 3 to 6 yo and 7 to 10 yo (incl. lunch for the whole family)
- prices: 22,50 EUR per family with wecard and 30 EUR without wecard including workshop and lunch for the whole family as well as the use of the play areas and the pool (if the weather allows it)
- every 2 weeks a different workshop day including lunch will be offered
Mommy/Daddy & Baby Workshops- Wecasa also plans to offer mommy/daddy and baby workshops during the day for parents staying at home with their children.
- Boxes, Balls and Babies. A two-hour sensory play workshop in which we’ll explore a magical illuminated cardboard world created especially for little children, and designed to give mums creative ideas to take home.
- Price: 7,50 EUR per family with wecard and 10 EUR per family without wecard (includes healthy snacks)
- Wecasa will be open from 09:30h till 14:00h during the day for mommies/daddies and babies.
- The babies can crawl around and play with toys while parents enjoy snacks, beverages and conversations.
- Price: 7,50 EUR per family including healthy snacks with wecard and 10 EUR per family without wecard.
All meals at Wecasa, such as soups, rice dishes and pasta will be homemade with love using lots of vegetables. The wecard with 10 stripes can be bought for 75 Euro. The benefits of the wecard are: 3rd kid enters and eats for free, 2,50 Euro discount on every visit, possibility to invite a friend to come along for one day for the reduced price without having to buy a wecard.
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