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2018 Brooklyn Baby and Family Expo Highlights

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We had an amazing time at the 2018 Baby and Family Expo that took place on Sunday, April 22nd. It was the 6th annual expo, but there were a lot of great changes to the event this year. Everyone loved the beautiful new venue, 501 Union in Gowanus, and other great new additions like the Children’s Marketplace, where local vendors sold unique, handmade children’s clothing, accessories, and toys.

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It was great to see all the local and national exhibitors who came to showcase their great baby and family-oriented products and services. We loved seeing buy buy Baby, Babyganics, Prospect Park YMCA, Happy Family, lil mixins, Brooklyn Cyclones, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Kabrita, The New York Milk Bank and so many more.  It’s always helpful to speak to representatives in person before signing up, and the exhibitors did a great job coming up with fun ways to introduce their products and services to parents — and even entertain the kids! The Brooklyn Cyclones mascot Sandy the Seagull and the KidGooRoo kangaroo got lots of hugs. PJ Library brought many great books, and the Brooklyn Public Library was signing up people with library cards for the little ones.

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Mom-in-Balance showed us a way to get our bodies to bounce back after birth and the New York Doula and Community Midwifery Care are ready to help you through the birth itself. Parent Craft and The Nurtured Child will help you prepare andhandle those first precious years. Moms Clean Air Force and Green Mountain Energy provided some needed Earth Day ideas for contributing to the future of the planet and PM Pediatrics gave us a plan for what to do for those emergencies we can’t plan for.

 

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First-time exhibitor Lightbridge Academy of Prospect Heights gave away cute children’s paper crowns and talked to parents about their child care center, whose philosophy is to cater to the “whole child’s social, emotional and developmental needs.” Representative Fred Tudda later said he was impressed by how much the Baby and Family Expo also catered to “the whole child.” Fred added, “I felt as though your expo was one stop shopping for the new mom!  You eased her burden by assembling everyone under one roof. Talk about catering to your clientele.”  It was amazing to see all the happy faces of children and parents at the expo, and we certainly hope that parents walked away feeling a little more equipped to handle the challenges of parenthood.

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We learned a lot from the exhibitors as well as the great presenters, parenting experts, and authors who came to the expo to share parenting advice. There were readings and talks by authors Jancee Dunn (How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids), Francie Webb (Go Milk Yourself), Paige Wolf (Spit that Out), and Anya Kamenetz (The Art of Digital Screen Time). The panel of sleep experts spoke to a packed audience of parents eager for solutions to their sleep problems, and later Vered of Baby in Tune showed us how to connect with babies through music.  There were even experts there to teach parents everything they needed to know about NY Paid Family Leave and child-proofing their homes.

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The kids who attended the Expo were not left out of the fun. The Brooklyn Public Library hosted a great story time and Yellow Sneaker Puppets played their cheerful tunes with a puppet show for everyone in the Children’s Lounge. Kids even left as jeweled goddesses after face painting by the Mischievous Goddess. Whole Foods provided delicious snacks and the grilled cheese food truck parked outside provided attendees with much-needed fuel for a day of parenting fun and education.

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We hope everyone else enjoyed the event as much as we did and learned something from the exhibitors, experts and authors who shared their parenting knowledge and helpful family-oriented products and services. As parents we should always be helping each other and sharing our hard-earned knowledge with each other, and we certainly felt the camaraderie between parents on this beautiful day in Brooklyn. We can’t wait until next year!

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Remember, expo sponsor 3 Months to Sleep offers night nurse services to compliment everything attendees learned from our on-site sleep experts and JDZ Photography and The Joyful Lens are still ready to book families for some great photos. Schools and children’s programs present will be enrolling whenever your kids are ready (its never too early to plan this) including AltSchool, Lightbridge Academy in Prospect Heights, International School of Brooklyn, The Learning Experience in Clinton Hill, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and Dancewave. The Nurtured Child has some great before baby classes as well.
And, definitely go and see Tully starring Charlize Theron while it comes out May 4th.

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”3.0.72″ divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on” /][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.72″ background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” text_font_size=”10″ border_style=”solid”] These were all participants in our Expo — hence they are sponsored — but opinions expressed in this piece are our own. [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]