There’s always so much to be said about BlogHer- the brands, the swag, the roommates that make you laugh til you cry-
click for full clip on mommyfriend.com
But, I thought in lieu of a traditional obligatory BlogHer recap- I would give you a sneak peek at what went on behind The Big Toy Book’s 2nd annual Sweet Suite.
I was really excited about the expanded space, having some truly amazing toy brands on board, and teaming up with the 2 brilliant bloggers who created KidzVuz.com,a site that tweens are falling in love with!
All of that didn’t come together over night, planning began months (dare I say a full year) before the actual event – and that is a post all of its own. In fact, it might be an ebook. So, I’m just going to fast forward my story to the execution of the event.
The Sweet Suite Toy Blogger Event
GETTING THERE.
I was expected to land in sunny San Diego around 10:30am Wednesday- except, when I missed the window for over-sized luggage by 5 minutes- I was bumped to the next flight… … 6 hours later!
{INSERT ANXIETY ATTACK HERE}
What about the walk through? What about all of those boxes? What if there’s a problem with the layout? Thankfully, The Toy Insider Mom, Laurie and Toy Trend Expert, Reyne arrived earlier and took control of all that needed to be done in San Diego.
And after 3 long hours, Melysa (of Kiss My Sass) who was on my flight as well, came to keep me company – we hunted down some CRUMBS cupcakes- and all was good in the world again.
SEA-O-SWAG.
Since this was my second year coordinating the event, I had a good idea of what to expect when I walked into the room- but let me tell you about prepping swag- No matter how many times you do it, I’m not sure you are ever not shocked when you walk into a room that is wall to wall of this:
Over 250 boxes of amazing toys that needed to be split up into 300+ bags!
When Nancy, Rebecca and I arrived together in San Diego- we joined the assembly line Laurie and Reyne had began to put in place and got to work!
We took a brief brake only around 9pm to grab a bite to eat (and have a margarita) and then back to swag assembly-
1am. That is when we finally finished up… and that is PST, Which also translates to me being awake for 24 hours straight.
{{yaaawnn…}}
‘GLMPSES’ INTO THE BIG DAY.
To keep things running smoothly, we had guests arriving on a flow by time slot and my dear friend, Elise (who I am forever indebted to) did a stellar job at managing it.
Our talented photographer, Mae Hacking took some amazing pictures throughout the event and GLMPS was also there as our exclusive media sponsor- taking sharable photos with short 45 second video clips, like this:
You see ^that^ moment right there? In that moment, I felt like I had given birth.
As guests arrived, immediately all of the the sleepless nights, paper cuts, and months of late night conference calls & emails was beyond worth it. I was proud, and excited to have everyone mixing and mingling together.
Inside the room, the toy sponsors were set up with their mini lounge areas with toys and games displayed, powered on, ready to play! It was a toy-wonderland kids would have drooled over…
…only it with Champagne and wine ;)
When each guest left, Nancy and Rebecca of KidzVuz.com handed them each a swag bag (valued over $250!!) I love all of the photos Mae captured that night, but the “Show me your swag” series of pics are some of my favorites.
Seeing smiling face like this?
Hands down one one of my favorite moments of BlogHer 2011.
I admit that I feel like I missed so many faces. If you have planned as much as a child’s birthday party, I am sure you can relate to this, as it is the double edge sword of hosting. Try as hard as you can to say hi and spend time chatting with as many people as you can, you inevitably end up feeling like you missed a few more moments with people than you would have liked.
For now, I have these pictures to remind me of all of the fabulous people who were there & hope I will see them all again next year in NYC!
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
