The Baby Show - Is it worth a visit?

As soon as we had our 12 week scan and everything looked ok, I started to look into baby events in my area. I'll be honest I didn't find an awful lot but the one that I came across the most was The Baby Show so I looked into it further. They are held in 3 locations, annually with the closest to me being the ExCel in London.

I'll be honest, I was a bit put off to start with because of the ticket price and the distance. I had signed up for various baby sites and was sent a ticket discount code through Emma's Diary. Again it was a little while before we actually decided to book tickets to go.

And... I am so glad we did! We had such a good day. We set off early to get there soon after it opened on the Saturday morning. The drive was really straight forward and the parking was easy to find with loads of spaces to choose from. The cost to park was a flat rate of £20.00 for 24 hours. However we were more than happy to pay this, we had set of eary so managed to park right by the entrance which was very handy because it meant we didn't have to walk miles around a car park and also great for dropping bags back to the car.

I can't stress enough, get there early, it was so empty, it gave us a chance to walk round everything and get our bearings. We also signed up for one of the early Red Cross Free First Aid Courses which meant we could do that before we bought anything. I'd recommend doing this free course, although it was a taster it gave some really useful information and was a good insight into the full course which we were given discount codes for, should we want to book a full course.

After the course we then started on the shopping. I'm an overly organised person so before we went I had studied the brands from the website and wrote a list with stand numbers so we knew which ones we needed to go to. Babies cost a lot and for tiny people they need a hell of a lot of stuff; I didn't want to get caught up in things we didn't need or hadn't looked into. We had such a successful trip and came away with the changing bag I had been eyeing for such a long time, bottles, crib and the nursery furniture. I worked out when we got home that we saved approx £250.00!!

We had paid an extra £5.00 when we booked our tickets for a Made for Mums goodie back which had some amazing stuff inside including; packet of Aptamil cereal, soother and soother clip, weaning spoon, Tommee Tippee bottle, baby skin products and a New Born Mum; Your first days together which looks like such a lovely book. The ASDA stand were giving out goodie bags, 2 per person so we came away with 4 free nappies and 4 free full size packs of wipes. MAM were also giving away bottles with a soother inside so if you only go for a look the freebies are really good.

With the furniture and larger items you place your order then and there and a couple of days later you're contacted to arrange the delivery. When I was called I was asked when I would like my furniture delivered, I gave a date and two weeks later it arrived with no problems; now we've just got to build it lol.

The Chicco Next2Me crib we were told would be a few weeks before it would be delivered, 3 days after the baby show it was delivered! However the one we're sent was faulty, so I called Baby Security who were so helpful as these are the people you place the order through on the day. I'll be honest this sort of thing majorly stresses me out and I'm someone who gets overwhelmed easily. I sent Baby Security photos and videos of the problem with the crib to pass on to Chicco. I was in regular contact with them and they happily emailed me daily updates. A couple of weeks later a new frame was sent out to me and we have a perfect crib.

My only regret for the day was that we didn't look at the list of talks that happened on the main stage. These talks included talks on pushchairs, fashion, weaning, breastfeeding, birth, sleep and language skills. You also had the option to book free personal consultations one-to-one with an expert on a whole range of topics with Health Visitors, Breastfeeding Specialists, Antenatal Teachers and Nurses.

There are so many amazing products and so much information it is well worth the money, we had a great day out. Book tickets, make a list of brands you want to look at and get there early would be my advice. Don't forget to listen to some of the talks.

Thank you for reading

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