90s pop weekend: East 17 at Parkdean Resorts

If you spent your teenage years with a bedroom wall plastered in boyband posters, there is a weekend coming up that is hard to ignore. The Celebrity Weekender is a themed getaway at Parkdean Resorts that turns a holiday park into a full-blown 90s pop party, and the Christmas edition lands at the end of November with East 17 headlining.

For anyone who needs a refresher on the bill, East 17 are the Walthamstow boys who took their name from their E17 postcode. They formed in 1991 around Tony Mortimer, Brian Harvey, John Hendy and Terry Coldwell, and their 1994 single Stay Another Day spent five weeks at number one at Christmas. Their debut album, Walthamstow, also hit the top spot, and the group has since moved 1.8 million albums and 3.4 million singles in the UK. Joining them for the Christmas run is Kerry Katona, who was an original member of Atomic Kitten from 1998 to 2001 before leaving just before Whole Again was released. Other names that have rotated through the Weekender lineup include 911, the Glasgow-formed trio who took A Little Bit More to number one in 1999, and Liberty X, the Popstars finalists who scored eight top-ten singles and a Brit Award for Just a Little.

The format is what sets this apart from a usual gig. It is a three-day, three-night break rather than a one-off night out, and it bundles accommodation, entertainment and access to the park's swimming facilities into one price. The breaks start from £164, which covers your room, the shows and the facilities, so you are not paying separately for a hotel and a ticket. Beyond the main stage, the weekend is built around the theme: silent discos, fancy dress, Bingo GA-GA and a range of other themed events run alongside the music, with food and drink options and the usual holiday park facilities on hand.

It is worth knowing that the Weekender is not a single event but a series of themed breaks across selected holiday parks, with the artists and themes changing depending on the date and location. The Christmas edition, with East 17 at the top of the bill, is the one to look out for at the end of November, so if you want to trade a quiet weekend for a full-on pop throwback, that is the one to book.

Whether you are going for the nostalgia or just a cheap weekend away with a bit of music thrown in, it is a straightforward package: a room, a pool, and a lineup of names that will be instantly recognisable to anyone who lived through the era. If you have been wanting to get the gang back together for a weekend that does not involve a lot of planning, this is a pretty easy way to do it.