Club Momme & Mom.me Fall Fest Fun

Beautiful sunny day – check. Lots of great moms, dads and kiddos – check.  Live music – check.  Cool new gear – check.  Great local services – check.  Good food – check.  Today’s 3rd annual Club Momme and mom.me Fall Fest was a blast as usual.  We headed down to the South Coast Botanic Garden – which is BEAUTIFUL btw – bright and early and stayed well into the afternoon.  We would have probably stayed longer but the little one was partied out!  You know your two-year old is tired when they are chowing down on a sugar filled cupcake, get two bites in and look at you and say “I’m tired, want to go home?”.  The highlight of this years’ Fall Fest was by far the entertainment for the little ones.  Not only did they have UrbanSitter available to watch your kids while you mingled, but they also had an insane array of entertainment.

Avery had the time of his life at the “big party” playing his heart out and listening to great entertainment like the ever-popular Beat Buds.  Seriously if you are looking for entertainment for a party these guys are adorable, super fun and not at all creepy or annoying (as many child performers can be).  Baby Bjorn had fun art tables set up with their AWESOME machine-washable Eat and Play Smocks. He decorated a mask with the cool chicks at The Nanny League.  Played with trucks and cement mixers by Green Toys.  Listened to some stories at Books and Cookies.  And had the most incredible balloon fish made by The Amazing Josh.  His favorites from the event were the extremely messy (but incredibly simple and fun) water tables by Pump and Splash.  These super cool, simple are kid-powered, so your little ones (or big ones – my husband was a huge fan) can pump handles, crank wheels and turn levers to make water flow around, up in geysers and every which way.  On a hot day it was perfection.  P.S. shout out to Babyganics for having a GIANT sample bottle of sunscreen for all the unprepared mamas like me that came without sunscreen on a super hot sunny day (whoops!).

Avery also loved working up a sweat at The Mobile Play Patch LA. These guys come to homes and parks to basically set up a toddler gym on the spot complete with ball pits.  Other fun favorites were rocking out with Jelly Bean Jamz (who we can’t wait to check out a class from) and decorating a cupcake with Baby Bea’s Bakeshop.

While Micah and Avery ran around playing, I got to check out the rest of the event.  There were a ton of great vendors at Fall Fest this year, but these were the ones that really stood out.

Three Mommy Doctors:  These ladies are awesome!  Three ER doctors and mamas came together to create a much-needed overhaul of the at-home first aid kit.  They have two kits the babySTAT and kidSTAT.  Both kits contain hospital-grade products, some natural products like Arnica gel, easy-to-follow instructions and “red flags” printed right on the box so you know how to use the kit and when you should head to the ER.  The babySTAT is geared towards baby’s first year and kidSTAT is focused on active toddlers and kids.  These kits are AWESOME and an incredible improvement on other first aid kits that are full of mostly useless stuff and crappy band aids that fall off pretty much as soon as you put them on.  If you are in the market for a new first aid kit (which you should have in your home and car BTW)…this is definitely the way to go.

Monkey Mat:  I love Monkey Mat.  I’ve loved them since I saw them on Shark Tank, and I continue to love them every time I want to go to the park without bringing a GIANT blanket with me.  Basically it’s a clean surface anywhere you want to go that folds up into a tiny zipper pouch that fits in a purse.  We love it for in the airport, beach, park, concerts and yucky hotel floors.  For germaphobe new moms it’s a great option that you can easily carry around without loading up your diaper bag or purse too much.

Chicco:  Ok, so I knew they made awesome car seats…but I didn’t know they made some pretty great other products as well.  We used the Chicco Keyfit Infant Car Seat as our infant car seat and loved it.  P.S. the new version of the Keyfit has zip on/off fabric so that you can easily pop it in the washing machine which is AMAZING.  Trust me if you have ever had a blow out or sick baby in the car, you will know that this feature is priceless.  I got to check out everything from their ‘new to the US’ bottle line to play yards, car seats, strollers, you name it – they make it! I liked the new Stack Multi-Chair that goes from a traditional high chair to a booster seat to a stool.  I was a little skeptical on the stool height so I brought one home in the Oyster color to try out on my table.  I’ll be reviewing it later this week.  My favorite products were the Urban Stroller which is basically an affordable stroller system with customizable color kits, reversible seat, toddler seat/baby bassinet in one, all with the ability to stand when folded and the adorable polka dot Bravo Trio Stroller System – Lilla which is a frame stroller, Keyfit infant car seat and stand alone stroller all for under $400.

Kinsa:  This thermometer is super cool.  It plugs into your phone like a set of headphones and links to an app that allows you to track everything from temperature to symptoms, medicine and photos.  The thermometer itself is super bendy and reads temps in 10 seconds.  It even alerts you if your squirmy little worm has wiggled the thermometer out of place.  While I don’t hope I have to use this any time soon, I’m excited to check it out…mostly because anything that makes my life feel a little more like an episode of the Jetsons makes me feel cool.  Come on guys, it’s a thermometer that PLUGS INTO YOUR PHONE.  Seriously, there’s an app for that.

CommuniGIFT:  These guys are great, and I can’t wait to do a spotlight on CommuniGIFT during our holiday “Giving Back” series.  I got to chat with the founders and was a fan right away.  Basically it is helping families make birthday parties a more charitable event.  Did you ever go shopping for an angel gift at Christmas time when you were a kid?  I did.  I remember picking a name off a tree, finding out their wish list and then getting to go shopping for them.  I remember feeling like I was making a difference for another kid.  These guys have taken that idea and made it digital, and I hope it catches on like wildfire because it’s an incredible idea. Your child gets to pick a “birthday buddy” to share their birthday with and then you can donate a gift you and your child shop for based on their wish list.  You can also invite party guests to donate gifts to this child as well.  They have partnered with non profits all over the country to find kids in need. I love that this allows kids to really learn about giving back.  Instead of just dropping old toys in a donation box, kids can actively participate in the charity process.  They are focused on the birthday buddy sharing, but will also be doing communiGifting for the holiday season.

These are just a couple of the great vendors at this year’s Fall Fest.  I met so many great mamas, sampled some great food and healthy juices (I love that all the food/drink options at Fall Fest were focused on being healthy, organic, and good-for-you options.)  Unfortunately I didn’t have time to get pampered up in the beauty tent (next time)…I hate waiting in line I’m so impatient haha!  But I did I love chatting with the folks at Healthy Child Healthy World and I already signed up for a swim lesson for Avery and a surf lesson for myself with KostaLA.  I may or may not have agreed to film my surf lesson for a webisode…stay tuned for that (unless I chicken out) cause it is guaranteed to be HILARIOUS!

All in all, it was a beautiful day with tons of fun for the whole family.  We can’t wait for “the big party” (as Avery calls it) in the spring!