The Baby Show

Last week I was lucky enough to attend the Baby Show at ExCel in London, on their opening day.  I was invited as a VIP blogger - not really having a clue what that might entail!

I have to say, I wasn't disappointed.  I've been to the Baby Show a couple of times before and it's always a great event.  So well laid out; everything on hand for mums and mums-to-be; experts on hand to speak to; the chance to shop for everything under one roof and get some great discounts too.

We met Melanie Hall, the show manager who told us all about the facilities on hand and explained how the Baby show has grown.  This year there will be 4 shows, so plenty of chance to catch one - the next are at Birmingham NEC (20-22 May) then back in London at Earls court (28-30 Oct), and for the first time the Baby Show will be heading to Manchester (2-4 Sep).

Melanie Hall, Show Manager - up to her knees in VIP goody bags!

We were entertained in the VIP suite upstairs where you get a great view of the scale of the show.  Of course, there was also the opportunity to see a few celebs!

Cafe Central is a perfect place to re-charge your batteries and get your bearings.  As you'd expect they cater for babies and offer food and bottle warming, as well as a selection of baby foods and drinks and snacks for parents.

I can recommend the Superdrug stand where we were treated to a manicure and eyebrow threading before lunch.

After lunch we went around the stands and chatted with some of the experts, who were so knowledgeable about their products.  There was not enough time to get to see everyone I wanted to, and I'm quite gutted I missed out so many.

The Mamas and Papas display was fabulous.  It drew a great crowd and not just because they were giving away a Mylo pushchair!  I was treated to a demo, and was staggered at how easily it folded down.  How nice to have a parent-facing option too, something I'm a big fan of.

I'm out of practice!

Such a lovely buggy, I may be converted if and when!

Next, we visited Britax.  Nice to see them, we've always used their car seats and we had a Britax Vigour pushchair when Ruby was older - one of the few for that age range that can parent face.

We had an amazing demonstration of the new Trifix car seat, a revolution in car safety.  I was hugely impressed, not only with the safety features, but the thoughtful added extras like clips to hold the shoulder straps back out of the way when you are seating your child.

That was pretty much all I had time for.  Such a shame because there were so many companies I wanted to meet - maybe next time.

Special thanks to all the team at Azaria and The Baby Show for looking after us, and if was fabulous to meet the other bloggers Making it up; Edspire; Blog by Baby; Mummy is a Gadget Geek; New Mummy's Tips and Spend Less Mummy