Why You Should Attend A Baby Show
Baby shows are immensely popular. They’re kind of like an expectant parents’ rite of passage – a key milestone in the pregnancy journey and part of the romanticism of becoming a parent.
Make no mistake; the notion that you might need to attend something like a baby show is mind-blowing. If you’re a mum-to-be, you have a human being growing inside of you who shares your DNA – that’s beyond frigging awesome!
Perhaps you’re not a mum-to-be. Maybe you’re a partner, husband, wife or grandparent. Or perhaps you’re a friend looking for that perfect baby shower gift. Regardless, here are some thoughts on why you should consider attending a baby show.
Everything Under One Roof
The sheer scale of baby-related products can be overwhelming. But at least at a baby show, everything is under one roof. You don’t have to travel to and walk around multiple shops or open more Google tabs.
You can take your time and have as many breaks as you need. Once you’ve done a lap of the circuit, you can find somewhere to sit down, grab a drink and consider everything you’ve seen. Then you can decide what to purchase.
You Can Test Drive Products
The one product I was invested in as a soon-to-be dad was the buggy. Going for long walks in the park with my son appealed to me, and I wanted a buggy that could handle going off-road. My partner suggested a Mountain Buggy. Because we went to a baby show, we could take one for a test drive before we decided to buy it (which we did).
We tested others. And we learnt that many of the popular ‘must-have’ ones were clunky and difficult to manoeuvre. Had we not attended a baby show, we wouldn’t have discovered that, and we might have selected the wrong one, and I would have fired off a long list of expletives because buggies aren’t the cheapest baby product on the market!
Support Local Business
It’s not just the big brands at these events. Often, you’ll find local businesses. I remember once being opposite a woman selling the most amazing baby clothes. I asked her where she bought her stock, and she said, ‘Oh, I make all these myself. I have a little set-up in our spare bedroom at home.’ Incredible!
What I love about local businesses is that they’ve often created the product or service they are selling because it wasn’t available to them when they needed it. Take me, for instance. I’m an author who writes books on parenthood from a dad’s perspective. I wrote my first book on pregnancy because the book I wanted to read didn’t exist. So, I had to write it myself, and now it’s out there to help other parents.
You Don’t Have To Spend Money
If funds are tight, these events can be used for market research. Other than the cost of entry (though many are free), you don’t have to spend a penny! Instead, you might prefer to look around, ask questions, take products for a test drive and then go home and digest all the information. You might then reach out to your parent-friends and ask for their opinions on products you like the look of.
Most exhibitors you meet should have business cards. If you’re reluctant to purchase anything on the day but you might do in future, grab a card and mull it over. When you’re ready, I’m sure they’d love to hear from you.
Baby Shower Ideas
Sticking with the theme of ‘not spending money’, you could use a baby show as an opportunity to get ideas for potential baby show gifts. That’s what my partner and I did – it’s how we acquired our white-noise machine. Again, you can pass on any business cards you collect to whoever is organising your baby shower (if you’re having one).
Baby Products I Swear By
Aside from our Mountain Buggy, other products helped make raising my newborn son easier. I can’t guarantee they’ll work for you, because babies are people, and people are different. Plus, everyone’s circumstances differ. Nevertheless, here’s a short list:
- White-noise machine. My son, now four, still requests his Ewan (the dream sheep) to send him to sleep before bed. He calls it his ‘baa-baa’. This was a hit from day one.
- Steriliser machine. This helped considerably reduce bottle-prep time and is helpful if your baby is breast- or bottle-fed.
- Bottle-prep machine. My son was bottle-fed (long story), so we had a lot of bottles to make. But a friend lent us their Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep machine, and our lives became soooooooo much easier.
I know this is an article about baby show events, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t bang the drum about this important safety warning: regardless of how you’re planning to feed your baby, try and avoid putting plastic in the microwave at all costs! The process causes microplastics to leech into whatever you’re warming up.
Come And Say Hi
As someone who writes books on parenthood and exhibits at baby shows, I meet many fascinating characters. I’ve yet to encounter someone who didn’t have an interesting story tied to their pregnancy journey. It’s one of the reasons I look forward to attending these events. Yes, many of the folks I meet are anxious about impending parenthood. That’s completely natural. But when I’m there, chatting with expectant parents or grandparents, there is nothing but positive energy in the room.
So, if you see me at a baby show hawking books, come and say hi. I’d love to meet you.
Finally,
I wish you the very best of luck in your parenthood journey (or grandparent journey). Congratulations.
Tom Kreffer is a dad who writes about dadding. He is the auhor of the books, Dear Dory: Journal of a Soon-to-be First-time Dad, Dear Arlo: Adventures in Dadding and Toddler Inc. He is also the creator of the Adventures in Dadding Newsletter.
You can find a list of all of Toddle About's upcoming shows here: www.toddleabout.co.uk/baby-show/