Guest Blog by Alexandra Atkinson

I am Alex, wife, mother of a 1yr old little girl called Elkie (and I can’t forget our furry family member – Frankel the dog!) I have over 8 years experience in the events industry and have worked for myself since University. I have run a corporate events company, a vintage events company and now (my fave) The Parent and Baby Show – which was launched whilst I was on maternity leave last year. (I’m one of those people who just can’t seem to relax – I’m even writing this on holiday)

My experience (especially in large vintage events around the Country, for which we’ve won various awards for and featured in top magazines including Cosmopolitan, RED, LOOK, Home and Antiques and Prima) has enabled me to create a fabulous baby event which I feel East Anglia, especially Norfolk, has been lacking – until last November that is, when we had our first show over at Carrow Road. (A venue which didn’t quite work for the show in the end – but you live and you learn eh!)

The show was created in response to the demand for a top quality, highly interactive, aesthetically vibrant, large show – similar to what you see down at Olympia, Excel, NEC etc. There are other events in the area which can be described as a baby/toddler event – however where The Parent and Baby Show really shines is in our huge variety of talks, workshops and activities. In fact we have 16 talks and workshops lined up on the 14th April. (And that’s not even covering all our fab features such as our photo-studio by the one and only Shellie). If I spoke about EVERYTHING we had going on this would be a VERY long blog, so instead please head over to our website which has the full list of what you can get involved in – baby sensory, treatments galore, women’s health checks, maternity styling, nail bar – the variety is huge!

Which leads me on to tell you that our next show is at our brand new venue, UEA Sportspark on Saturday 14th April 10:30-3pm. The show will showcase over 75 different businesses, all specifically targeted to pregnancy, babies and toddlers (as well as parents – who we also put a huge emphasis on). Many of these businesses are local to the region and are truly inspiring, fantastic businesses, run by equally fantastic men and women! It’s such a privilege to be able to promote and help these businesses get in front of their target audience – YOU!

Supporting, empowering and encouraging parents and children is what we’re all about and we hope that there is something for everyone in our talks and workshops and activities programme. Furthermore though, we provide a dedicated breastfeeding area which is perfect for mums who aren’t quite au fait with feeding in public, or who are new to breastfeeding – but equally we are hugely breastfeeding friendly across the whole of the event – we have provided a comfy seating area for parents to relax in whilst watching their little ones play in the soft play area or to simply feed and chat and we have a large, vintage style pop up tearoom with hay bales and rustic seating! We have also got a dedicated changing area!

 

   

Do you love competitions and giveaways? Then make sure you’re following our facebook page and group – Norfolk’s Parent and Baby Show Customers … here you can win, grab a freebie and find out more about the show as we draw near to the big day!

My hope and aim for this business is to be able to bring together industry businesses so customers can find out about what’s available in the area, much more easily. You see, when you become pregnant you suddenly dive head first into this World of birth, newborns, nappies, feeding – it’s all rather daunting at first as you’ve never really had a reason to research and find out about this whole new life (being a parent). Therefore, it can be really difficult to find out what’s out there and how to get involved … so hopefully with our events and plans for the future we can really help YOU!

We hope to see you at the event!

Love, Alex