This was my first time at the Brooklyn Baby & Family Expo thanks to my friend and fellow GoGo squeeZ Squad member Denise, who blogs at FiDi Families. Honestly, I don't get out to Brooklyn, Mr. Lovebird's home borough often and it was a perfect weather day to go - Mr. Lovebird gave us a lift as he was on his way out of town for work which made the trek a bit easier!
When I arrived Honest Toddler was already speaking so Nia and I hurried into the auditorium to hear the last part of her talk - her discussion of needed-parent inventions left me laughing especially the suggested pill to give you a 20 or 30-minute grace period of compliance from your kid. Since then I can't stop thinking of instances when that would be most helpful! Oh and I got especially giddy when this happened later on Instagram - I was kinda cheesin'!:
I wasn't quite hungry yet, but later wish I had picked up something from Fresh Direct's delicious spread which I passed by on my way to check out the children's drop-off area. The food was cleared out pretty quickly!
Speaking of the kid's drop-off area, I was delighted to see that one existed, but the capacity was so low and you had to wait for kids to leave before another entering so it was easiest just to keep Nia with me. Instead she wanted to spend a lot of time at IKEA's play area - it was hard to pull her away to look at booths. We had just been at IKEA the day before to upgrade her room with a big girl bed so she kinda has an affinity for the place!
From Pottery Barn Kids to Babyganics, Fairway and Bundle (their organic, prenatal juice was delish!) there was a good mix of national and local vendors at the Expo.
I was most excited to visit with Joovy and learn about the VaryLight double stroller. We've since received for review (sneak peek here), and I can't wait to share with you! Joovy also makes the new Boob Baby Bottle compatible with my breast pump, and I recently received their gift set which I look forward to using this time around. I only manual pumped the first time around, which happened rarely, but this baby will definitely be more bottle-fed since I'm on the go more.
The Expo started to get pretty crowded, and there were so many strollers trying to go up and down the very narrow aisles. I kinda shut down after a while and gave up out of exhaustion. I just didn't feel like pushing through the aisles especially with my belly in the way. I definitely hope it's in a bigger venue or a different layout next year!
Regarding the giveaways, they required a bingo card and you could enter for specific ones which I liked, but between pushing through the aisles and then dropping off the card and waiting for your prize's selected time and straining to hear if you're name was called it was definitely hard to do with a little one in tow.
What I really appreciated were all the activities for kids at the Expo - with the play area I mentioned above, the face/body painting and musical performances I could see this as the type of event both parents come to while they trade off between vendors and kid's events.
Have you been to any family expos in your area? Which aspects do you like most?
