Irelands Pregnancy and Baby Fair

Butterflylove

http://www.pregnancyandbabyfair.ie/

Just incase any of you haven't heard

Moonbeam

Just waiting for somewhere to give out free tickets:)

xzanti

I'm there

elius

Moonbeam wrote: »

Just waiting for somewhere to give out free tickets:)

My partner one two free tickets the other day...

Gumbo

elius wrote: »

My partner one two free tickets the other day...

where/how did he win them?

havent even seen this show being advertised yet.

Wreck

Did anyone go to this? Was it any good?

lovelymama

I went and thought it was really disappointing. If I had paid for my tickets, I would have asked for my money back!

xzanti

We went along, wasn't that bad tbh.. It was basically what we expected, a showcase for businesses to plug their companies.. Lots of stalls offering discounts on photography, 3D scans etc..

We got a goody bag each, had some useful stuff in it, books, baby wipes, disinfectant, a baby towel, etc.. We didn't stay long, did one lap of the place and then headed off..

Didn't buy anything but I did sign up to have my bump photographed in a few weeks, the photoshoot is free and then if we like the pics we have the option to purchase..

It got us out of the house for the afternoon so I can't complain

Single1

I went and it was ok. Thought it would be bigger. Didn't buy much really. We drove quite a distance to it and we left after about 2 hours and went shopping. There was nothing else to do there once you had gone around to the stalls which did not take very long.

lynski

We went en famille and it was ok. Would never have paid for something like that, as I hate paying when it is all about being sold to. the tickets for shows like this should all be free, sign-up or walk-up on the day but no way should people have paid a tenner a head. I had seven tickets so i made sure i gave away the spare 5.
There was a good few stands, but it was a little cramped as was very busy on sunday afternoon. Given the pregnancy bit of the target audience there was nowhere near enough seats. Decent changing area.
Would not have liked to be trying to hear some of the speakers or watch the fashion shows as it seemed really cramped around those areas.
We had some lunch, tasty enough and generous enough that 2 mains did the 2 adults and 2 toddlers.
The children played quite happily at a toy stand for over 1/2 hr, much annoyed the stall holder, but he kept his mouth shut.
There was nothing to 'do' there tho, promised mother pampering area did not materialise from what i could see, also i had read there would be some amusements for the children and there was nothing at all for children to do. a soft play area with seats for daddies would have gone a long way.
Came home with lots of mini johnson and johnson stuff - which i dont use, but will pass on, lots of mini sudocreams, some baby wipes, some nipple pad thingys samples, a few cans of appletiser, a few other freebies.
Bought 2 boxes of lillipops - such a find, no acid or nausea is 2 weeks, a birthday pressie for the little lad - something we had not seen before.
Would go again, but would not pay and would probably try to leave the little ones at home.

xzanti

lynski wrote: »

There was a good few stands, but it was a little cramped as was very busy on sunday afternoon. Given the pregnancy bit of the target audience there was nowhere near enough seats. Decent changing area.
.

Yes good point, there was nowhere really to sit down for a bit.. I saw a lot of people standing in corners feeding small babies.. Something for them to think about if they're going to do it again me thinks..

Squiggler

In addition to the lack of seating there were also far too many buggies around. Mostly empty with the child carried or walking. The few times I stopped to talk to stall holders or buy something I pretty much had to climb over buggies to get back out while their oblivious owners (mostly men) looked at me but did nothing to attempt to move the blockage. Not fun at 16 weeks pregnant.

There should be somewhere for people to check in their buggies. I saw one couple using a baby carrier and my husband must have read my mind as he commented to me "you'd feel like running over and congratulating them".

lynski

Squiggler wrote: »

In addition to the lack of seating there were also far too many buggies around. Mostly empty with the child carried or walking. The few times I stopped to talk to stall holders or buy something I pretty much had to climb over buggies to get back out while their oblivious owners (mostly men) looked at me but did nothing to attempt to move the blockage. Not fun at 16 weeks pregnant.

There should be somewhere for people to check in their buggies. I saw one couple using a baby carrier and my husband must have read my mind as he commented to me "you'd feel like running over and congratulating them".

More space in the aisles between stands would have helped, but the central 'sponsors' stands were too big and took up too much room.

xzanti

Yep, most of the stalls, we had to view from a distance as we couldn't get near them with buggies and kids in the way.. We probably would have bought stuff otherwise..

lynski

Just curious - who here paid to go in?

xzanti

I didn't, I got free tickets.. I agree that they shouldn't been charging in for it.

I would have felt a bit scalded had I paid €20 to get us both in tbh.. It is a trade fair at the end of the day.. I don't get what the cover charge was for..

How Strange

I thought it was very commercial and the holistic and health side of pregnancy seemed to be under represented. On the other hand there was no shortage of photographer and private clinics selling 3 and 4 D scans. Also lots of expensive nursery furniture.

I was disapponted and just very glad I didn't pay to get in. I think we left in less than an hour.

liamo

I agree with the previous comments. I don't understand how these events think that it's reasonable to charge people for turning up as potential customers to give traders the opportunity to sell to them.

If I hadn't been given tickets I wouldn't have gone. As it was, we only spent an hour there and if I had paid 26 Euro (including parking) for the privilege I would have been pretty upset.

On the positive side, I thought it was well laid out and spacious. We were there early on Sunday before the main crowds arrived and the hour strolling around wasn't at all unpleasant.

However, the only thing we took away from there was an introduction to Water Wipes which we hadn't heard of before and which we will probably buy. Nothing else tempted us at all.

Overall, a bit of a thumbs down I'm afraid.

LordSutch

We went looking for a book on baby names for a friends birthday, three bookstalls, but no baby name books at the pregnancy & baby fair

We even asked at the organisers office, they were also amazed, each of the three bookstalls thought the other might have one, but they didn't, apart from that we enjoyed the show, coffee & tea was a bit pricey though.

xzanti

Yeah we went looking for some Prenatal classes and couldn't see any stalls for that.. Unless we missed it?

Single1

We paid to go. I had been looking forward to it for ages. There was 4 of us, 2 pregnant women and our partners. We paid 40 euro and another 6 for parking. Fair play to the organizers, I'm sure it took alot of work and I didn't mind paying but i think in future they should make it bigger if they are going to charge.

menorcababy

We paid also there was2 pregnant ladies and 3 nannys to be and one partner and we all walked out thinking we couldn't afford to have a baby. I got to speak to an osteopath and she was very friendly and informative. I liked the little acorns stand they were a great help about the slings, I will be looking them up in future.
The freebies were nice to get, some will be used some wont be but nice enough all the same.
The advent stand was a big let down, the girl I spoke to at the demonstarytion stand hadn't a clue and walked off mid-speech. I didn't intend to buy anything on the day but I went to see whats out there and was very dissapointed!
Where was the mothercare stands, affordable shops???

I wouldn't go again but I hope the organizers read these threads and take on board the comments here and improve the show for future mother to be.

I agree with comments regarding lack of seating and too cramped to walk around with all the buggies. I don't think the target audience was thought of when choosing the venue!

Kent Brockman

There is another one of these on in April but it seems to have gotten a bit of bad press here.
I was thinking of getting a stand at the next one but the price is astronomical (well for a small business like mine in its infancy:rolleyes: )

Did any posters on here have a stand? how did it work out for you? and will you be going back?

lovelymama

lynski wrote: »

Just curious - who here paid to go in?

I didn't - although I did feel robbed of my was it 6 euro parking fee when there was actually no where to park

SanFran07

Kent Brockman wrote: »

There is another one of these on in April but it seems to have gotten a bit of bad press here.
I was thinking of getting a stand at the next one but the price is astronomical (well for a small business like mine in its infancy:rolleyes: )

Did any posters on here have a stand? how did it work out for you? and will you be going back?

It's definitely cost prohibitive for small businesses. I'm running the Bump, Baby and Beyond Expo in March at the City North Hotel on the M1. Admission & parking is free and exhibiting is a lot more affordable.

www.TheBumpBabyandBeyondShow.com

lovelymama

Kent Brockman wrote: »

There is another one of these on in April but it seems to have gotten a bit of bad press here.
I was thinking of getting a stand at the next one but the price is astronomical (well for a small business like mine in its infancy:rolleyes: )

Did any posters on here have a stand? how did it work out for you? and will you be going back?

I didn't have a stand but when I was following the floor plan around the event there were a number of discrepancies on it and when I asked how come x business was there in place of the advertised stand, they said they got it at the last minute for free. So might be worth holding out until the end - they also need stands to make the event appealing to consumers so if you were willing to make an effort to make your stand look good that might be a good negotiation point aswell. The UK baby show (which has nothing to do with the Dublin one) deffo takes account of your stand appeal in price negotiations.