When bloggers meet – Midlands blog meet

Strictly speaking, I’m not really in the Midlands, but never one to miss out I decided a trip to Nottingham for the Midlands blog meet set up by Emma and Kelly was an event to check out.  Coming up for blog conference season, it was also a good opportunity to try and meet some people in a more cosy situation beforehand.

So Saturday came, and N and I duly travelled up to Nottingham to meet the others in the Malt Cross. I’ve not been to Nottingham for years, but it was lovely to be back and gaze longingly at some of my favourite shops as we wandered past.

The Malt Cross was a great venue for this type of meet – really informal and relaxed, with a cosy feel and some lovely bunting and architecture to look at.  You can’t beat an amazing hot chocolate, and along with a variety of coffees, they also had some delicious looking cakes.  Their ethos is all about being part of their community, with their profits going to charities which is a lovely touch.

It was great to get the chance to meet some new bloggers to me.  Prior to this meet, I’d only met and known one of the bloggers going, so it was a good opportunity to get up to speed on some other blogs, both parenting, and the mish mash lifestyle blogs that so many of those attending have grown their blogs to be.  Everyone got stuck in saying hi, and catching up with everyone’s interests before lunch was served.

The children were stars with them pottering around, playing or getting involved once the surprise arrived.  Emma and Kelly had arranged for Sophie and Autumn from the local Body Shop to talk to us about their new products, and let us loose on some of their best sellers.

I’m not usually a Body Shop customer (well, not since I was about 14), but I did like the serums and BB cream they brought along, and the hair chalks definitely went down well.  I went to meet friends after the meet with a streak of blue hair.  Very funky!

As we were rushing off, we didn’t get chance to visit the shop and spend using our exclusive discount voucher, but I’ll be checking out my local shop for the couple of products I really liked.  I’m thinking hair chalks instead of face paints at children’s birthday parties, means less artistic ability required.

There were also some prize draws with prizes donated by a variety of brands who’d sponsored the event.  Prizes included Poddle Pods, Tommee Tippee weaning kits, MamaBabyBliss products as well as a star prize pack which had goodies from Weleda, Baked by Me and The Body shop amongst others.

Although we didn’t win a prize, everyone went home with a goody bag.  As well as samples from Weleda, Swizzels Matlow and Baked by Me, we also had cupcakes from Emma and a Bake it Yourself cook book by Neff.  N wanted to get stuck in so the squashies sweets were demolished fairly quickly over the weekend.

Emma and Kelly did a great job organising the event, it was great to meet and mix with new bloggers.  If you want to check out who went, find the blogs below.  There’s some great reads so it’s worth taking the time to read.