The Gift Bag (cell phone just for scale)
I had the pleasure of attending the MommyBites Summit, a.k.a. the Ultimate Mom’s Night Out, on Wednesday night which was fantastic (and not just because of the amazing goodie bag, although we’ll get there too).
The night began conveniently after work at 6pm at The New Yorker Hotel (which has a Starbucks right across the street from it! – I got tea) with a very simple sign-in process, raffle tickets and free food!! Attendees were given access to a table full of free samples from PopChips, Pretzel Crisps, Nutri-Grain cereal bars, and even ice cream!
So I sat there, my pregnant belly happy, while listening to an intro describing the newly designed MommyBites website, and then listening to the charming guest speaker Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project (which thankfully was included in our gift bags because after listening to Gretchen speak, I really want to read it!). She spoke about all the ways that people (even super busy moms) can and should try to make themselves happier starting from just making your bed every morning to the more thought provoking – finding a spiritual leader to emulate. And she successfully argued away the thought that it might be selfish to try to seek personal happiness.
I’ll add my wish here for a future event with just speakers (and food and gift bags) because clearly MommyBites knows how to pick interesting topics with knowledgeable, engaging speakers. I’d absolutely attend!
But I am not at all complaining about what happened next. The doors behind us opened to a hall full of vendors selling and describing their services for anything from book filled gift baskets from Baby Book Baskets and innovative magnet closure onesies from Magnificent Baby to kids yoga classes at Lil Yogi’s NYC, and luxurious skincare for mom and mommys-to-be from Mama Mio Skincare. And get this, more food!! There was a buffet table with pasta dishes, servers walking around with plates of hors d’oeuvres, and sample boxes containing 3 mini cupcakes from Baked by Melissa (soooo yummy, btw).
Unfortunately, I didn’t win anything in the raffles :( but I wasn’t sad for long because I was handed an enormous gift bag soon after. There was so much inside I had to divide it up between the large items and the equally-as-cool smaller samples (see below).
 Gift Bag Contents – Big Stuff |
 Gift Bag Contents – Small Stuff |
Although I cannot use the Perler Beads Biggie Beads set for 2 more years (it’s for kids ages 4+ – remember the beads you make a design with and then iron to fuse them together?), I was happy on behalf of my fellow attendees that the gift bags included products not just for newborns and pregnant ladies since this was an event for ALL moms. The big stuff also included a pair of organic newborn Babylegs legwarmers, a Britax stroller organizer/ cup holder (included for the first 150 registrants), a full size MAM bottle and 2 pacifiers set, a full Safety 1st baby grooming kit, Giggle’s Guide to Baby Gear, and 4 full books: Brain Rules for Baby, The Happiness Project, ABCs for Expectant Dads (the author, Todd Barrett Lieman, was there to sign it!), and Crave -The Urban Girl’s Manifesto.
The smaller items in the gift bag included more coupons and flyers to mention, a water bottle, 2 kids music CDs, a SquareSpot card (included for the first 150 registrants), grape scented Boogie Wipes, Boob Tube from Mama Mio Skincare, Mabel’s Labels, an issue of New York Family magazine, LemiShine machine cleaner, Dapple toy & surface wipes, NurturMe baby food, C-Spray (vitamin C supplement spray), CleanWell hand sanitizer, VMV Hypoallergenics Mommycoddling All-Over Lotion, and a tiny stuffed toy (with coupon) from Polarn O. Pyret.
Overall an amazing gift bag and amazing event, especially for the $25 admission price. I’m absolutely going next year! And I’m excited to see how the rest of the events this month compare!
Thinker Mommy 
What do you think?