MommyCon Memphis: Best. Day. Ever.
Y’all, I have SO enjoyed my parenting journey. My husband will be the FIRST to tell you that I have changed SO much over the past 3 years that its laughable. When we first had our baby, I was just focusing on making sure that she was taken care of and had the best products, but the older she got, the more I noticed that my “mainstream” products just weren’t doing the job for her. I never planned it, but I’ve been transitioning to the natural parenting life basically since I became a parent!
So in short, MommyCon is a natural parenting convention that’s held several times a year in various places across the US (and one in Canada). After quickly becoming addicted to my now favorite natural parenting store, Bohemian Baby, the next step was branching out and becoming a member of the natural parenting community and when I tell you that all the cloth diapering mamas were RAVING about MommyCon..like, no joke! Everybody LOVES MommyCon! So naturally, I wanted to check it out! I ended up getting lucky and winning a couple of tickets to the MommyCon of my choice. I originally chose Atlanta, but once I realized that my favorite cloth diapering company, Grovia, wasn’t going to be there, I switched my tickets to Memphis!
I know the reminder is unnecessary, but I’m in veterinary school and I planned a last minute trip back to my hometown the weekend before finals to go to MommyCon and it was a GREAT decision! Yes, packing up my 18 month old and driving 6 hours wasn’t fun, but the weekend away from my school and being surrounded by happy, crunchy mamas like myself was so surreal!
When you check in, you got a badge and a gift bag with a bunch of nice freebies and coupons; most of these were geared toward younger babies, but it was nice either way! There were a bunch of tables set up for different companies, most of which were giving out freebies or having giveaways of some sorts, and all the people were super friendly. You literally just walk up and down rows and rows of awesome companies and stores and just want to scream, “TAKE MY MONEY!!!” at all of them! Well, at least that’s how I felt. Haha
My first stop was at the Grovia booth of course so that I could get my Grovia MommyCon Memphis Exclusive AIO Organic Cloth Diaper Splashy for my daughter! SO STINKING CUTE!
Of course, I had to buy Squally Muffin a toy from Bohemian Baby Boutique because they’re awesome, they’re our local store here in Knoxville, and we love them! Some other companies that I recall seeing were: Replay, Sincere Elephants, SmartBottoms, AppleCheeks, Tula, ErgoBaby, Babies R Us, BSTARS, etc. There’s always a full list of companies in attendance on MommyCon’s website.
In addition to the awesome company/group/store setup, there were informational sessions going on all day too! Everything from cloth diapering, breastfeeding, car seats safety, and beyond. There was even a meet up group for Black Breastfeeding Mamas and it was so much fun! EVERYTHING WAS SO MUCH FUN! All of the sessions being offered are also listed on MommyCon’s website before hand! Each MommyCon event also has a facebook group that you can join so that you can ask questions before, during, and after the events! Very convenient!
There were mamas of all different colors, ethnicities shapes, sizes, and beliefs wearing their babies, breastfeeding opening with and without covers, chasing their toddlers or coddling their infants, and just an overall feeling of welcoming acceptance that I find very hard to come by.
There was this one kid who was being WAY too rough on the babies, my baby included, and I didn’t like that.. I’m pretty sure he was an exhibitor’s son, but I kindly told him not to beat my baby in the head with a balloon, or knock her off of her Rody, or push her down and pretend punch her…NOT COOL! But not even he could ruin this experience for me! (By the way, the Rody is this super cool bouncer toy that we also got from MommyCon. Muffin absolutely loves it!)
I won a super cute #momlife t-shirt from Sincere Elephant that I can’t WAIT to wear this weekend! I got to talk to a lot of different companies about their products and what they had to offer. I got to catch up with BSTARS- Breastfeeding Sisters That Are Receiving Support. I used to be a member of their group and attend all their meetings, but then I moved across the state; the love was still there though! The day ended with a session about car seat safety and a bunch of giveaways, none of which I won, but both of my friends that I brought won prizes and I feel like we were all chilling and bonding at that point. It was great!
I cannot rave enough about the positive experience that I had at MommyCon! I now understand why so many moms got excited about walking around a convention center with their children for a million hours on end: it sounds terrible, but it was freaking awesome! I’m seriously contemplating buying tickets and traveling to another MommyCon, but we will have to check in with Regions and Sally Mae to see what they say I can afford right now. Haha.
If you haven’t heard of MommyCon or were on the fence about paying for a ticket and attending, let this blog post symbolize me pushing you off that fence and telling you to run in full speed ahead! You will NOT regret it! Unless you’re my friend, Morgan, who was not mentally prepared for the level of activity her 17 month old was going to exert at this event. Hahaha. Even the babies get excited about it!
If you didn’t know, NOW YOU KNOW!
GO TO MOMMYCON!
Say hi to Squally Muffin