My Bountiful Days at BlogHer 2011 Day One

I typically attend trade shows like the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Toy Fair, E3 (gaming), ASTRA Showcase (toys), and the upcoming D23 Expo (Disney’s Ultimate Fan convention).  I’ve been fortunate to meet some great bloggers at these shows.   However, going to BlogHer was like having good friends around every corner.  Bloggers are natural social networkers and making friends has never been so easy…or fun.

In fact, I had so much fun that I actually forgot to take many pictures!  I don’t know what I was thinking, but it apparently wasn’t about my Bountiful BlogHer articles!  Nonetheless, I have some fun pics to share.

 

I am fortunate to live only 1 1/2 hours away from San Diego.  One short drive in my soon-to-be-filled swag mobile got me to the hotel in no time.  My friend, Marisa Martin of SoCalMarisa, also drove down her swag mobile to join me.  The view from our hotel room was a delight to see.  We knew right then and there that the stage was set for an awesome first BlogHer experience.

 

 

 

 

 

One of the parties I was most looking forward to was the Sweet Suite Event, hosted by  thebigtoybook.com and Kidzvuz.com (love this site!)  I looked forward to this party because of the great sponsors who would be showcasing there.  The Sweet Suite had a lot of tech companies present with products geared towards kids.  I spent a great deal at the Microsoft Kinect section.  I enjoyed playing the new Disneyland Adventures and Sesame Street’s Once Upon A Monster games I first saw at E3.  Both of these games are sure to strike a chord with kids and their parents.

LeapFrog was there also with their new kids’ LeapPad, and one interesting toy, Lite Sprites, I would have missed had my friend Christy from Quirky Fusion not mentioned it.  Lite Sprites are little fairies who live in a magical world that sparkles with color and light.  Taking the wand with a big bulb on top, you can touch it to over 100 colors and the wand matches the color you touched it to.  Then touch each Lite Sprite and the elements of their world and it all turns the same color as the wand.  Very magical. I can see little girls having a blast with Lite Sprites.

The next party I hit on Thursday night was The Frugalista’s Social Soiree event at the New Childrens’ Museum across from the Marriott Marina hotel.  These girls did a nice job setting up the party with customized Mabel’s Labels for us, hor duerves, a wine bar, and the coolest looking swag bag yet.  Take a look at these cute Scout pink & white plaid sturdy bags!  Very chic for carrying around beach stuff, pool gear, even groceries.  I love it.  Thanks, girls!

The next stop was my most awaited party, the one I was invited to way back in March and once the invitations were sent, it filled up within minutes!  The Clever Girls Collective, “I’m with the Brand” party had been built up for months and I’m here to tell you, those Clever Girls delivered.  The party was set on the rooftop of the Solamar hotel, poolside.  The ambience was great, they had fun Smurf dance party games set up for the Wii to play, demos of the latest UbiSoft titles, Pop Cap (can you say Bejeweled???) had a booth to talk about their fun games, Juice in the City gave away great Juice in the City over-sized pink watches with included grey trade-out wristbands, Fresh & Easy gave away fun

snacks, including a one lb “hunk” Belgian chocolate bar (Yum!), temporary tattoo artists air brushed tattoos,  and a caricature artist cartoonized bloggers into fashionable socialites (my likeness at the beginning of this article!).

UbiSoft gave away nearly 10 Nintendo DS & the new 3DS game sets, each with 4-5 new games.  I was fortunate enough to win a brand spanking new and sparkling Turquoise 3DS.  The 3D graphics are quite remarkable and it includes a dual left/right camera so you can take pictures of your friends in 3D.  Pretty amazing.  Can’t wait to play with it more.

While at the party, I ran into my fave party peeps, Christen of DivasandDorks.com, Veronica of TxFashionista.com, and Jessica from ThatTechChick.com.  Not wanting to miss any photo action, we posed for pictures with our newly found Smurf friends.

The “I’m with the Brand” party was fun, chic, and an all around good time.  ShePosts.com posted their thoughts on the party which includes some more great pics.  The Collective Girls are already plotting their NYC BlogHer 2012 party and promise that it will be even bigger and better.  Can’t wait!

 

A ten minute walk back to our hotel, heavy laden with swag bags from all the parties, I plopped on my bed for a respite and catch up time with my roomie.  Two hours later, we found ourselves at BlogHer’s Sparklecorn.  We caught the tail end of the party.  Glow necklaces and sparkles were everywhere.  I loved the cool two unicorn cake but what I found the most amusing was the huge pile of uncomfortable high-heeled shoes next to the dance floor as fun-loving bloggers danced the night away.  After a hot dog and some much-needed water, we headed back to room to gab until 3am . It was time for bed as we had our 7am yoga class, presented by Pfizer, to get ready for in the morning.

Want to see more?  Check out my article on Day 2 at BlogHer.

 

Did you go to BlogHer this year or in the past?  What was your favorite activity/party?