Don't forget to stop by the OHbaby! stand when you're at the Show! We're looking forward to seeing you!

This is the first year I will not be going (have gone the past 4 years) as I am out of the area to go. But I have been tot he Welly one and I loved it. Got heaps of freebies and if you sign up to the mag subscriptions (Treasures and now OB) you get a freebie bag.

ACK! Don't say the T word! (Runs to get necklace made of garlic bulbs, wooden stakes, and silver bullets... Wait, is tomorrow Halloween?)

Will be going as I love the freebies

Went this morning with a friend and found the oh baby stand. Would have stayed longer but she had to rush off as she was going away for a scrapbook retreat.

Hi ladies, and how lovely it was to see so many of you at the P&C Show this weekend! I worked on the stand for almost every minute of the Show, so I got to meet all kinds of interesting people, some OHbaby! members, some new to us. It was very cool to hand out magazines and hear feedback and coo over all of the cute little ones getting their photos taken. Now, of course, I am totally wasted and have spent most of the day sleeping, and I piked on poor Bizzy, whom I was supposed to meet for afternoon tea today. It was a really full-on weekend! But a fun one.

I saw a lot of cool things at the Show, and stocked up on some stuff myself (cheap Ecostore washing powder, yay -- I made DH buy a case of it when he popped in yesterday -- and some new nappies). I also had a good nosy at the other stands to see what was new. Womama had all their beautiful lingerie there, and I probably scared one of their customers off by blindsiding her with my enthusiastic speech about how much I love Womama's leisure pants. She backed away quickly... Sorry, Womama girls! I'll keep my raving to the pages of the magazine and let you talk to your customers!

it was really cool to talk to some of the other small businesses we've made a point to introduce to our readers through the magazine -- Innature, Made4Baby, Twinkle-Star, and Brolly Sheets especially. It's so cool to see our homegrown Kiwi businesses succeeding with such innovative products.

Some of the big stands were also good to visit, like Huggies, because they usually had "experts" working so I could ask all of my nosy questions about nappies and their other products. They're so popular, they do get swamped, so I saved visiting them til the end of the day yesterday so I could have a good chat!

I also got some good leads on new and interesting products and services to feature in the magazine, so keep a look out for the next issue.

What about the rest of you? What did you most like about the Show? What were your best deals? What new stuff did you find out about? And what would you like to see done differently next year? We were at both the Wellington and Auckland P&C Shows, and they were very different experiences, so it's certainly something to think about. I'd love to hear what you all think.

Hi Katherine - sounds like you had a lot of fun, but you must be knackered now. A nice quiet week for you hopefully!

For what its worth, my thoughts on the show...

- Parents room was YICK. Smelly, really overcrowded, dark, no handwashing / sinks, not enough room to move buggies around. Thought they should have had more than one area like this to deal with the numbers (maybe they did and I just didnt find it!).

- Nappies, Nappies, Nappies....thought that the cloth nappy people were really helpful and forthcoming with information, but the staff working on the big brand disposable stalls were rude, unhelpful and just interested in getting through the queues. I was trying to ask the guy on the Huggies stand about Oli leaking at night, and he couldnt / wouldnt offer any advise and basically said "would you like a sample swim nappy"...stuck that in a bag, along with 2 samples of Poise pads (what are you trying to say Mister?!?!?) and sent me on my way!

- Stall staff.....quite often I found it quite hard to know who was working a stall vs who was looking at products. An example of this (sorry I LOVE their stuff too) was Womama....I really wanted to ask someone some questions about their lingerie (which is yummy), but couldnt figure out who worked there and couldnt see anyone obvious to ask.

- Baby Food / Nutrician....thought it was dissapointing not to have any representation from the baby food companies. Especially when the formula companies were heavily represented.

- Adult food / drinks....thought that it would have been nice to have more food and drink choices for grown ups. Very limited options.

- Sticker printing....thought this was a fantastic idea. Great way to save time, especially if like Oli, your little one gets grumpy if you stop in one place too long!

Overall, I guess I didnt think that it was that great. I think if you have a newborn or are expecting then its prob great, but for me personally, I didnt feel that there was a lot there for toddlers IYWKIM.

It was fantastic to see the OB ladies, and to see how busy their stand was too! Cant wait to see the cover photos, what a fantastic idea!!! Well Done!!!

Just on the topic of companies you wanted to see who *weren't* there, it would be worth your while to write to them to tell them you missed them. All of the exhibitors who choose to come to the Parent & Child Show have to pay for their stand and the hireage of the equipment on their stand, so it's a very expensive exercise for businesses, especially small businesses. But perhaps if they knew you were looking for them, they'd consider budgeting to come next year. Food for thought!