If you’re part of the blogging community, it’s likely that you’ve heard of BlogOn. This conference is usually held twice a year in Manchester for bloggers to meet each other as well as brands, learn and have lots of fun! That said, there won’t be one next May and this September’s was held down south for the first time! I have to say, I enjoyed not having to haul myself up to Manchester, as Bracknell is only an hour and a half away from me. This was just as well, as I had to get ready for Autumn’s 3rd birthday the following day! This BlogOn was my 5th one. As usual, I had so much fun and the day went far too quickly!
Fortunately, the journey to Bracknell went fairly smoothly. There was some traffic that held us up, but when does the M25 ever behave itself completely? Upon arrival, I could see Christmas trees galore and an impressive backdrop of BlogOn balloons.
I’d be surprised if you haven’t heard of the goody bags before if you’re a blogger, because they are EPIC. There is a reason you’re encouraged to bring a suitcase to put it all in! Needless to say, I dropped mine back to the car as there was no way I was carrying all that around all day. As it was, I ended up struggling with all the bits and bobs I picked up as I wandered around the brand den!
Around September is the time when bloggers need to really start thinking about Christmas. As such, even if the BlogOn at this time of year isn’t full on Christmas themed, there is a loose theme. I was glad to see the funny noise elves were back!
Also, it wouldn’t be the September BlogOn if I wasn’t wearing a Christmas hat. It’s turned into something of a tradition for me now!
Before the day had really even started, I’d had glitter put on my face, had bumped into several people I knew and had got my first clue for the Gingerbread Man Trail in Laura’s welcome speech! Then, as I headed for my first session, I bumped into a Sylvanian Families bunny! The 8 year old me was squealing inside!
It’s always so good to meet PRs that you’ve worked with and put a face to a name. I’m becoming a bit of a BlogOn veteran now, so there were a lot of familiar faces and it was lovely to have a catch-up. I really enjoy seeing the products they have on offer too, and putting them to the test! Here were some of my favourites:
Seekers – a fantastic magnetic game to help keep children off of their phones and pay attention to the world around them
Sylvanian Families houses interlocked together to make a larger house
The Sylvanian Families stand brought back memories of my childhood
The detail on the ceiling in this Sylvanian Families house was beautiful
(Unfortunately, I didn’t get pictures of all my favourites though, as I forgot. I was too busy playing with them! Oops!)
Throughout the day there are sessions you can attend, which are always very informative and useful. I take so many notes, as it’s such a full on day that you can’t reasonably expect yourself to remember everything later!
After the voting is finished for the best toys in different categories at the end of the day, raffle winners are announced! They are called out by the best name announcer in the world, it’s so funny. It’s always fun watching people dashing around trying to get the prizes they want. Towards the end, it was my turn to run up and choose something! I chose a doctor’s set for Autumn which she absolutely adores. It is such good quality, includes a pretend plaster (something I’ve never seen in a toy doctor’s kit before) and contained prescription forms and a temperature chart which were another nice touch! I’d thought about buying Autumn a doctor’s kit for her 3rd birthday, but hadn’t gone ahead with it. However, this one was much better than any I saw on the high street.
This is one of the great things about Blog On. You get to find out about products you may not otherwise come across and share them with the world! Likewise, you get to make connections and learn things that you quite possibly wouldn’t online. It’s an exhausting day, but so much fun and it always goes much too fast. I’m already looking forward to the next one.
The last couple of weeks have been crazy for me and I’ve only just got this post up. However, I’m going to be working on some reviews from some of the wonderful toys I saw very soon – just in time to give you some Christmas inspo. Watch this space! 🙂
