Pregnancy and baby fair-are there much bargains?

Midnight Sundance

Hey all. Myself and the oh are heading to the pregnancy and baby fair in the rds in April. We’ve heard that you can get a good discount on items such as buggies etc however I want to know if you have to pay for these upfront or is it possible to pay a deposit on the day and pay the items off a little bit at a time after? I don’t know if I want to be taking a full buggy etc home when I’ll only be 20weeks.
Any advice appreciated x

Cakerbaker

We went to one to do some research rather than buying. As far as I can remember there were some discounts but there weren’t any on the 2 travel systems we were looking at. If you are planning on buying I’d recommend having done your research beforehand and have an idea of what you want. It was incredibly busy, there’s a huge amount of things on sale (most of which you will probably never need) and some pushy sales people. If you know what you want and can get it at a discount there, great, but I wouldn’t see it as a great place to look and buy if you don’t have an idea of what you want. Now, that’s just based on my experience, others may have better experiences.

California Dreamer

I always feel those shows bring out the worst in humanity with the world and the mother willing to kill to save the 5 euro and god help you if you get to it before they do!!!

kastasia

I've never been to a fair like this, but I thought I'd get a free ticket. Is it worth going if you don't have anything particular in mind?

scarepanda

I went a couple of years ago and found it fairly useless tbh. I was about 22/24 weeks at the time and had hoped to get a deal on the buggy I was looking at, but there wasn't anything else really. I was too far away from due date at the time to want to buy all the other little bits an pieces that were there. For some reason I remember there being a **** ton of bibs on sale......

Cakerbaker

I wouldn’t be going out of my way to go there but if you’ve a free ticket and live nearby it may be worth a wander. There’s nothing really there that you won’t get on a trip to places like mothercare and tony kealys. And you’ll get better attention from staff in the shops as the fair is just a bit crazy.

Beanybabog

I actually found the bibs great value!! I didn’t know it at the time but I got something like 12 for €20 and when I looked up that brand later online they’re 3 or 4 for €16.

Toots

I found there were savings to be made on some smaller items, but very little discounts on the big ticket items like travel systems etc. It was good to be able to see some things in person, but for the likes of the buggy etc we kept an eye for sales in the shops and made better savings that way.

colm_c

They won't have buggies there, typically you can put a deposit and then arrange balance/payment closer to your due date.

It's worth a gander/nose if you have a free ticket and some time to kill.

xDisneyDivax

Was thinking on going to this but not sure now- I got free tickets but I will be travelling down from Donegal! :P My family said they would get us travel system and I decided it would be Uberchild/Infababy & one of my aunts warned me not to buy a cot until after the baby comes so basically we won't have many big things to get. Maybe it won't be worth me going to the fair then.

colm_c

xDisneyDivax wrote: »

Was thinking on going to this but not sure now- I got free tickets but I will be travelling down from Donegal! :P My family said they would get us travel system and I decided it would be Uberchild/Infababy & one of my aunts warned me not to buy a cot until after the baby comes so basically we won't have many big things to get. Maybe it won't be worth me going to the fair then.

Last thing you want to be doing when you have a small baby is out looking at cots and then assembling the cot!

Don't think it's worth coming all the way from Donegal, unless you just fancied a trip to Dublin.

xDisneyDivax

colm_c wrote: »

Last thing you want to be doing when you have a small baby is out looking at cots and then assembling the cot!

Don't think it's worth coming all the way from Donegal, unless you just fancied a trip to Dublin.

Well I never thought on that although we know what cot we're getting- we're not sure if we will set it up before the baby comes as we might be moving then :eek:

mirrorwall14

We used a next to me (bedside cot) for six months, he wasn’t in the main cot much at all during that period so I wouldn’t worry too much

bee06

I have a three month old and haven’t got a cot yet. I have a Snuzpod crib attached to the bed so no getting up when he wakes at night!

scarepanda

Just for a bit of variation, we had our girl in a cot at 7 weeks. I'd her room set up and ready to go with the cot up before she was born because we wanted to get the dogs used to all the baby stuff. I certainly wouldn't have been in the humour to start cot shopping after she arrived.

bee06

xDisneyDivax wrote: »

Well I never thought on that although we know what cot we're getting- we're not sure if we will set it up before the baby comes as we might be moving then :eek:

One other thing to keep in mind is that it’s recommended that the baby sleeps in the same room as you for the first 6 months to reduce SIDS risk so you might not have room for a cot in your bedroom.

kastasia

Anybody know if there's still places free tickets can be found? Have one myself, but for a friend.

morrga

kastasia wrote: »

Anybody know if there's still places free tickets can be found? Have one myself, but for a friend.

Am looking for a couple of free tickets as well if anyone has a link handy!

Serafijn

What are the talks there like? The schedule looks pretty interesting - breastfeeding, sleep, first aid etc. Or is it all stuff you can find online/elsewhere easily enough? http://www.pregnancyandbabyfair.ie/whats-on/

dreamstar

Awww I really love the baby fair and I go every time it's on. Now it is easy to get sucked into things but I also just love browsing around and entering the competitions and seeing what's going on.
You get a tonne of freebies. Things like sudocream, multi mams, food sachets for older children, nappies etc.

There are amazing deals on bottles and breastfeeding pumps, steralisers etc. BUT it's good to know what you want. I bought a whole tommee tippee bottle set before little one arrived and he never liked those bottles but he loved the MAM ones. So I'm going to get a few of them. They also give out free bottle sample and that's how I found out little one loved them. And the sample bottles are just there so you help yourself. Think I got 5 of them and they are a tenner each in boots. And the big bottles - I got a 3 pack for €9 and they are usually €20.
You'll find great deals on the little things like breast pads and bibs etc. But the big things there isn't usually a big discount on.

The talks are also quite interesting too. I go with my Mam every time and we love it and make a day of it. But it can be busy and I can see how some people wouldn't like it.

xpletiv

Anyone go today?

Midnight Sundance

I went. We were there early and glad as it began to get quite busy. We bought ( put deposit) on our travel system . We got a bit of a discount buying from the show. Also got a number of free mam bottles and sudocrem etc. Was a nice day even just to browse.

xpletiv

Found it pretty poor overall. I was there later sunday though, not a lot of freebies, definitely not great deals. All the normal 'deals' were still cheaper to get on Amazon! Ireland being taken for a ride again...