By Clare BruceWednesday 16 Sep 2015Hope BreakfastStation NewsReading Time: 3 minutes
When Hope 103.2’s Dan & Laura offered free babysitting so that two lucky parents could go on a date, little did they know they’d have a tribe of eight kids on their hands.
The breakfast duo have embarked on a new venture called “Dan & Laura Meet Your Need”, plotting a host of intiatives to help people in need across Sydney.
With the ‘Great Aussie Date Night’ just around the corner, they decided to kick it off with a date — for one lucky Mum & Dad couple in need of some quality time out.
One Very Busy Mum & Dad
The grateful winners were Blacktown couple Peter & Laura Slade.
They’re the busy parents of 11 children, whose names all begin with the letter A. The 11 kids are affectionately known as “The A Team”.
Eight of the Slade children still live at home, including Angela (19), Austin (17), Adrian (15), Alexa (13), Arron (11), Allan (8), Audrey (6) and the littlest, three-year-old Addison.
Cheap And Cheerful Backyard ‘Date’
Dan and Laura arrived at the Slade’s place on Tuesday afternoon amid much fanfare, only to prepare a meagre picnic on a rug in the backyard for the winning couple, before disappearing into the house to look after the A Team.
An hour sitting on a blanket in the backyard is hardly a glamorous date, yet the happy and very gracious Slade couple took it in their stride. They embraced their quirky date, chatting while enjoying their strawberries and cuppas.
Dan More Of A Big Kid Than A Babysitter
Inside, Dan and Laura gave the kids name tags to help with remembering who was who.
Dan then proceeded to play FIFA with the boys on their Playstation, as the bigger kids did homework and Laura prepared a classic Aussie afternoon tea — eight glasses of Milo, Saos with Vegemite, bananas and a pack of Family Assorted biscuits.
Dan was defeated at FIFA and was forced by the boys to drink a concoction of milk and chilli powder.
Meanwhile, little Addison stared out the window into the back yard crying for his mum and dad, no doubt wondering why strangers were overtaking his house.
An Impromptu Serenade
The pinnacle of Mr & Mrs Slade’s date afternoon was when Austin got out his guitar and the whole A-Team serenaded their parents with a rendition of Bruno Mars’ Count On Me.
Dan then announced to the couple, “It’s only right that you should kiss, because it’s a date”. They didn’t argue.
“Oh, yuck,” was Angela’s response as she and her brother turned away in disgust.
The Real Date Night Revealed
The afternoon concluded on a high; Before leaving, Dan and Laura presented Mr & Mrs Slade with their real date night gift: vouchers for a Hoyts movie night and a dinner at Jazzveh Woodfired Pizza.