Baby Fairs every month?! My first bulk purchase for Baby

After attending my first baby fair last month at Mid Valley Exhibition Centre, I must say it was an exciting and eye-opening experience, yet a rather confusing and exhausting affair.

I had been present to attend the fair at 8.30am on Thursday, 28 July 2016, in hopes of avoiding the expected crowd on Fridays and weekends. In addition, early bird promotions were available for early shoppers who registered early starting at 9.00am each day, even though the event officially starts at 10.00am. Here were my coupons I managed to obtain for being an early shopper^^~

  

To my surprise, there were already at least 50 early shoppers present queueing up when I arrived, and as time went on, the shopper crowd swelled easily to at least 300 pax by 10.00am. This excluded the event staffs that were also present to set up their booths for this event.

Queue at 8.30am

Queue by 9.45 am

The organisers for the 12^th TCE Baby Expo managed to keep the crowd under better control than the previous years (as commented by other early mom shoppers present), but once the shutters were lifted, the shoving and pushing started, regardless whether you were a pregnant mom, or a mom with a baby/ toddler in a stroller. Thankfully, many other parents that were already in queue also voiced their discomfort and did their best to hold their ground and stay in queue, nudging off the other shoppers who were present to start their shopping early but were not queueing for the early redemption promotions.

During this uncomfortable turn of events, the staffs at the entrance themselves were not all well informed. One of them told us even after queueing outside, we would still need to continue queueing in another line again once inside. This was frustrating as 1 of the moms who had a queue ticket of being the 3^rd in line, now had at least 30 people in front of her in the inner line!

The few of us then decided to approach another staff for assistance, and he then advised us with the coupon in our hand, we just needed to head to the relevant merchant booth for redemption and payment, and not need to queue at the inner queue as earlier advised. Well that was much more of a relief!

Anyways, I spent the full day there with a trolley and had to drop my stuff into the car twice as some products I had purchased were rather bulky, especially if it includes disposable diapers. Here were some tips I concluded from my last visit which I hope would be helpful should any reader intend to attend their own baby fair:

1.      Research the vendors present and the goods that will be marketed at the fair, especially those that are on promotion. After all, that’s the whole purpose of us attending a fair is to check and get multiple choices of everything you need under one roof at a discounted price right?

2.      To arrive by a half hour earlier before the event starts if you want to attempt to park close to the event venue. Arriving any time later than an hour after the event started.... I'd advise you to consider trying your luck again another day, that is if u can get out of the already building stagnant traffic jam then. I know this to be very true for baby expos held in Mid Valley at least.

3.      Bring your trolley/suitcase and family/friends to queue for popular items such as diapers, or milk bottle set purchases. The extra pax will also come in handy when taking care of your purchases at a corner whilst you queue to shop. In addition, there may be merchant booths that may prohibit you from entering if you have a trolley as their space may be to restricted to allow you to navigate your trolley inside.

4.      Get the map and store guide book at the entrance before entering. Some brands are poorly marketed and hidden in difficult corners.

5.      If you have your eyes already on a promoted product, zoom in to that store first. Great deals tend to sell out within the first half hour, if not within the first half day of the Expo.

6.      Remember bulky purchases such as strollers, cots, mattresses and car seats will usually be delivered so you don't have to lug it out of the hall.

7.      Try to bring more cash, wear a good pair of walking shoes and stay hydrated, especially if you are a pregnant mommy. Some people can feel overwhelmed and light-headed from the heat and presence of a huge crowd.

8.      Lastly, if you are pregnant, don’t leave your shopping to the last minute/ 3^rd trimester. You’ll be more exhausted then and will have more difficulty moving around safely with that growing belly of yours. Try to do most of your shopping towards the end of your 2^nd trimester months. 

All the stuff we bought at this baby fair

Hauck Miami 3 Stroller, post assembly, and delivered to our house 3 working days after the fair

The next TCE Baby Expo will be held on 26^th – 28^th August 2016 at SACC, Shah Alam, whilst Today’s Baby Expo would be held on 15^th-18^th September 2016 at Mid Valley Exhibition Centre. This excludes the other baby fairs that would be held at KLCC, the Mines, and other locations.

Personally, I plan to attend the TCE Baby Expo next week to finish up any final research and shopping. Here’s to hoping that I’ll be able to wrap things up by early afternoon, and good luck to all other moms and moms-to-be who will be attending the event then too!