Swag!
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending the 2018 New York Baby Show – unfortunately, this year I was only able to attend the first day as we had to head to a baby shower the next day. But we still managed to come home with our stroller loaded with goodies that are super useful (and a lot we’ve already used), as you can see in the pic.
Here are my top 3 picks from the show – stuff I learned, stuff I wish I knew before I had a baby, stuff that was super helpful!
My absolute #1 pick is a bit of a surprise – actually, they all are surprising to me. As we were walking around the show, I saw a booth to one side that had no one visiting it. Thankfully I walked over and discovered TOT SQUAD – baby gear cleaning & repairs! I was JUST recently lamenting how much the snow/salt was griming up my stroller wheels and how I needed to find a service to clean it (let’s face it, when I’m home and have a few minutes without the baby clinging to me, I do not feel like cleaning my stroller – facts are facts). I was super pleased to find out they were doing free “The Basics” cleanings at the show ($40 value!) and quickly dropped off our stroller while I went to grab lunch. They did such an amazing job with it that they now have a customer for life in me! I was super surprised to find out they’re located at the Buy Buy Baby in Chelsea, where we spent hours upon hours registering and where I’ve shopped multiple times in the past few months — they’re sort of tucked away downstairs so I guess I kept missing them. In any case, I highly recommend it if you’re not really interested in cleaning your stroller yourself, the way I’m not — they have more extensive cleaning packages as well but mine really just needed to have the chassis wiped down and the basket vacuumed because we had a picnic under a tree a few weeks ago and the tree basically dumped all these little buds into the basket and all over us.
Seriously, check them out – they clean car seats, single and double strollers, all of your baby gear. They also install car seats and do basic repairs on most of your gear. I cannot recommend them enough and will definitely be returning.
My next pick is a surprise because if you recall from last year’s recap, I was gung-ho about making my own baby food and all that jazz. Well, after I actually had the baby, I discovered that I don’t need to make baby food because I chose to go the Baby Led Weaning route (which will be getting its own post soon).
While we were at the show, we walked by the Plum Organics booth. They were giving out little sample cups of Dino cookies and of strawberry beet puffs. Well, baby needs to practice certain skills – such as the ‘pincer grip’ – and when we’re out and about, it’s great to have dry snacks for her to practice with. She took a little cup of the strawberry beet puffs and went to town chowing down on them, and I was thrilled to see that they have a healthy dose of iron in them (it’s my current obsession – making sure baby has enough iron in her diet). She really enjoyed them and I immediately went to Target and bought the last container in their stock. Yay for healthy snacks for baby!
They also gave me a few containers of their new stackable baby bowls (in the picture) to try. Since I’m doing BLW, the woman manning the booth suggested tossing them with pasta, mixing into baby oatmeal, or even baking with them instead of spoon feeding to baby, which I really appreciated. Their website even has recipes for us to try. And here’s a coupon if you want to try the baby bowls!
Last but not least – and perhaps most surprising – I got to witness firsthand the amazing BabyZen YoYo stroller fold up. Caveat: I absolutely adore my UppaBaby stroller. It’s a powerhouse, my workhorse stroller – I use it every day for walks, shopping trips to my local warehouse store (the storage basket fits plenty), and baby A still naps in it like a champ while I rack up FitBit steps walking the boardwalk. The ride is smooth, the wheels are great at going over the rocky potholes and bumpy boardwalk that Jersey City offers – I ADORE OUR STROLLER.
It’s a beast. Part of how it can offer all those features is by weighing in empty around 22 lbs. That’s without a baby in it, and yes most adults can lift 30-40 lbs of weight without an issue but the balance and strollers themselves are just unwieldy and not the easiest thing to lift, especially with a baby in them – or with a sleeping baby that you want to stay sleeping, forget it. I would never give up my UppaBaby – it’s amazing for my daily walks and needs.
HOWEVER. I go into Manhattan quite frequently, and the UppaBaby makes me feel strongly that I’m in the way of everyone. It’s a tank, and my walking-road-rage flares up with this desire to run people over when they’re in my way (I’m pushing 40+ lbs and you’re still walking slower than I am! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? STEP ASIDE!)- plus realistically there are far too many times when the elevators in the subways or PATH aren’t working, or of course there simply isn’t an elevator at all in the subway (this is a FREQUENT COMPLAINT about the MTA). I struggle to get my 40+ lbs up the stairs alone, and far too often I’m left walking to a PATH station instead of just taking the subway 30 blocks like a normal person. (I love walking as much as the next NYer, but 30 blocks with the stroller can be excessive sometimes, especially in the heat.)
Add in how much we travel overseas and domestically, and a second stroller starts to make a lot of sense.
Enter the BabyZen YoYo, which is super lightweight, folds up super compact in a square pocketbook shape, and honestly is small enough that I could probably lift it with the baby in it up and down subway stairs (with a bit of pausing in between steps because it’s still a stroller and still a touch unwieldy for my Hulk lifting). It has an almost full recline, a huge canopy, and tons of other features that I’m probably forgetting.
It’s going on my wishlist for her birthday, just to make travel a bit easier with her.
My top three picks, again:
- Tot Squad for stroller and baby gear cleaning!
- Plum Organics Super Puffs and Baby Bowls, super easy feeding baby
- BabyZen YoYo, a lightweight full stroller that you can use every day but also great for traveling
The New York Baby Show was super fun — unfortunately I’m too busy with baby to round up all the discounts offered, but you should take a peek at my good friend FairyDealMother on Instagram because she posted a couple of the best discounts available from the show! I have a couple of codes for Baby Letto and Da Vinci cribs as well but I’m currently rocking a napping baby in her stroller so I can’t go look for them right now, haha.
Hope you all had fun if you attended the show and if not, you’re missing out! I highly recommend the show for anyone who’s expecting, it is super fun, informative (I didn’t even mention all the sessions and panels they offer), and well worth the $20 ticket price.
Thanks for reading!
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