Celebrating Bellies, Birth & Babies
Several years ago a group of us came together to form The Birth Lounge, seeking to share the strong community of care that is available to support new families in our region.
The fabulous women of the Birth Lounge: Karen, Jennifer-Lee, Sarah, Stephanie, Erin, Callie, Kat, Lehe, & Raeghan
As we talked, we found a shared frustration with the corporate trade-shows that have become commonplace. First comes love (the sex show), then comes marriage (the bridal show), then comes baby (the baby show), and over and over again the masses fill the convention centre. High vendor prices are out of reach for the small businesses (many of them mompreneurs) that are the heart of our community.
We began to dream of creating a truly family-centred event with a festive vibe celebrating all that our community has to offer. And so Birth Fest was born. Last weekend we celebrated our 3rd annual Birth Fest, magically transforming a community centre gym into a luscious Birth Lounge. Banners from Thailand graced the stage, red velvet curtains framed the entrance, a nurture nook tent with couches and magical lanterns offered rest and nourishment for little ones and their parents, and the live music ranged from festive to groovy to funky.
Thank you to the almost 1000 of you who joined us for this year’s Birth Fest. We had a grand time, and given the response, we suspect we’re on to something… To keep the spirit of Birth Fest going year round, we are adding a new mompreneur profile feature to our blog. Watch for our first profile next month!
***************
How did you enjoy Birth Fest?
Birthfest was great…again! A fantastic place to see what’s out there for families, for families to meet and learn from each other. I loved being able to put faces to names of customers I’ve gotten to know only over email and phone and especially loved to meet all the babies wearing diapers from New & Green! Can’t wait for next year.
[Reply]
How did I enjoy birthfest?? Where to begin?! The incredible selection of vendors; the well equipped nursing section (almost made me want to sit and feed my 18 month old, not because he neeeded it, but because it looked so inviting!); the super friendly and welcoming greeters that even gave me a daisy on the way out; the incredible sense of knowing that I was surrounded by SO MANY like-minded families!! I could go on, but I won’t. Well done ladies. You are an inspiration to all. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
[Reply]
i really loved the breastfeeding tent. it was a great calming environment which i could feed my babe & chat with other mums. it would only be made better if there was a babbling brook running through it that i could drink from! ;o) but i’m sure there would be zoning restrictions on that one.
it was a great turn out, i met many groovy folks and i very much look forward to birthfest next year!
[Reply]
Birthfest was great. A wonderful group of vendors and heaps of great mamas and mamas to be. The nurture nook tent was great for the mamas, their babes and the vendors who needed to take a load off too. We even saw diapers being changed there. It’s one of my favourite events.
[Reply]
Nice photo of the birth lounge. I miss you guys. Wish I could have been at Birth Fest this year.
[Reply]