Birmingham Baby Show Bargains

This morning as usual, Bubby D greeted me at 6am with a smile and a gurgle or two, and insinuated through her frantic arm waving that she thought it was about time we were up and out of bed.

Normally, this would have me groaning into the duvet. But not this morning!

This morning, after picking up a friend and her 2 week old baby, we headed off up the M1  for a day of bargain hunting at the Birmingham Baby Show.

Having parked up (and after paying my £8 fee – not cheap, but worth it for having the car there to transport us and all our goodies home afterwards) we headed on into the NEC to find all the latest baby brands and products awaiting us.

First to catch my eye was Melobaby, whose all-in-one nappy wallet and changing mat I bought at the last Baby Show at Excel. Since then it’s barely left my side – I’ve found it perfect for days out with the Wee Man and Bubby D as the mat adjusts to fit even a large toddler, with the added bonus of easily allowing me to transport nappies, spare pants and wipes too.

Then I whipped out my list of wants and must-see’s, settled Bubby D into the free Fisher Price creche, and headed off to see what I could find…

…and here is what I found!

Cuddledry – we picked up a lovely dinosaur toddler towel for Bubby D (who, although she isn’t a toddler yet is sure to love snuggling up in it after her weekly swimming lesson). With £5 off it was our first bargain of the day.

And talking of swimming lessons, we paid a visit to Bambino Mio, where we got one of their new resusable swim nappies – Bubby D has recently outgrown her previous one and I liked it so much I wanted to get her the next size up.

Trunki had a great range of products on show as always (with some great discounts on offer too), and Bubby D now has her very own Ladybird Trunki, all ready for visiting relatives in New Zealand and our trip to the Isle of Wight later this year.

Baby Mum Mum kindly gave us a few more of their great Baby Rice Crackers – the Wee Man loved the samples we got from Excel and has been after some more (I think I’m going to have to hide them as he’d happily polish an entire box in one sitting given the chance).

Snoozeshade – I’m already a huge fan of the original Snoozeshade, but with the Wee Man usually sitting in the front seat of our Phil and Teds whilst Bubby D is happily shaded in the back, I decided to pick him up a Snoozeshade plus – now fingers crossed for two sleeping children AT THE SAME TIME!

Following in this vein, we also got a lovely Gro Anywhere Blind from the Gro Company, to try and remedy the ridiculously early waking that Bubby D has been doing in the last few weeks of lighter mornings. Unlike our previous version, this one has the suckers already attached to the blind and it stays up well – so early indications look good!

Funky Giraffe Bibs – I got a couple of these at the last Baby Show and with Bubby D in full on teething mode, getting some more was high on my list. With great show offers of 5 for £10 or 12 for £20, we went for the 12 option and picked up some lovely bright designs.

Peter Rabbit Organics – the Wee Man and Bubby D both love their pasta sauces, so we picked up a new one to try.

Brush Baby – a new tube of their marvellous applemint toothpaste was high up on the list. (And I got the Wee Man a new toothbrush while I was at it, too).

Vital Baby – Bubby D really likes her Vital Baby sippy cup, so we picked up a couple more for her upcoming nursery adventures. I was also really interested to see their new ranges of health and safety products (nasal aspirator, bath/room thermometer, and flexi-safe thermometer), teethers and Nurture breast-like bottles. In fact, if you fancy trying out a Nurture bottle then go along and see them yourself – you can pick one up for free!

Poco Nido are a great new brand that I haven’t seen before – they do lovely baby clothes for 0-18 months, as well as some brightly coloured little shoes with interesting designs. Along with some of those, and her Jubilee tee-shirt from the Marks and Spencers stand (20% off!) Bubby D is going to be one of the best dressed babies around…

As you can see, we were getting pretty laden down, so I picked up Bubby D from the creche and made good use of the Emma’s Diary collect by car service, before collapsing in an Emma’s Diary Cafe chair.

Deciding that I was too tired to relocate to the wonderfully comfortable breastfeeding chairs in the feeding area, I fed Bubby D where I was, before stuffing my own face with a ciabatta from the cafe – during which I got to watch the Stokke people doing an entertaining dance up on the Baby Show stage (which had a range of different interesting talks and shows throughout the day).

Feeling refreshed, and after a nappy change for Bubby D (in the free baby changing area), we headed off to see what else we could find. I loved looking at the photographs from the day that the Wee Man and Bubby D were born, courtesy of The Day That – I’ll definitely be putting a copy of each on my Christmas list this year.

Many stalls later – Mammae, EasiYo, Close, MAM and BabyDam to name just a few of our favourites – and after taking a peek at the lovely new colours of Mamas and Papas Mylo pushchairs, we finally had our fill.

Along the way we spotted some great campaigns and related services too – Breastfeeding Heaven’s ‘Donate to the Breast Cancer Campaign‘, which takes preloved maternity and breastfeeding products and sells them on with all profits going to the Breast Cancer Campaign; Friends of Glass, who are working to promote the use of glass packaging (its 100% recyclable!), and Nappies2Go, a service which will take your used disposable nappies, deliver you new ones, and turn the old ones into reusable materials.

There are many, many more companies and products I could mention, but following manouvring two small babies, two pushchairs, and a whole lot of bargains into the car, I’m absolutely exhausted!

So all I can say is, why not go along and see for yourself some of the great bargains on offer? You’re sure to have a wonderful day!