Did you get carried away? The F.A.B. Babywearing Fair

What a Saturday!  The tropical storm Santi was within the Philippine jurisdiction and we had 2 events happening that day!  The first activity was LATCH's Save the Best for LATCH which I will post about separately.  This was followed by the F.A.B. Babywearing Fair - Get Carried Away!  Friday night, I was really worried about having to cancel especially since we had paid a non-refundable fee to the venue and supplies.

Fortunately, Santi decided to leave the Philippines earlier.  Weather significantly improved and by Saturday afternoon, it was just drizzling.  Since everything was booked and set-up, we decided to push through with the event.

We have gone a long way since the first babywearing event.  What used to be small group meet-ups in coffee shops has evolved into a full-blown baby fair.  For this year's event, we timed it to coincide with International Babywearing Week which happens from 5 - 12 October 2013, with the theme "Get Carried Away".

The Filipino Association of Babywearers was busy this year! Aside from organizing the fair, we worked on a babywearing feature on Working Mom to highlight the celebration.  So you still have until this month to grab a copy of Working Mom magazine.  The focus of the feature is to highlight babywearing safety, no matter what carrier you have.
We are all volunteers who aim to promote the love of babywearing among Filipinos.  This year's F.A.B. Babywearing Fair was held in a new venue - The Roxy at Tomas Morato.  For the past events, we had been holding it at Renaissance Function room simply because it was central and had parking.  This year, we wanted to find another location to make the event accessible to people from the North. Hence, The Roxy was chosen.

The decorations for the Fair

We also chose it because it had mirrors all over, allowing babywearing fans to see how to put on the carrier and view their carrier at various angles.  However, I found the place not too clean and the staff not helpful.  Some attendees also thought that the venue was cramped and warm.

Since we had a limited time to use the venue (3 hours only), we had to make good use of time and decided to keep our program short.  We always have a talk on babywearing safety to emphasize that whatever your carrier is, you need to keep in mind the STICK tips.  We were also joined by IndigoBaby's Denise Bernardo for the Mom N Baby Samba.

Aside from the program, we also invited several baby carrier manufacturers and distributors to display their products and let babywearing fans choose, try and learn how to use different types of baby carriers.  This is the signature of the FAB Babywearing Fair!  Participants get to see and try all different carriers.

We were also fortunate to have the support of sponsors and vendors such as Paper Chic Studio, Messy Bessy, Moringana, King Sue, Red Ribbon, Mamaway, Cycles/Cradles and PLDT Home.

Did you attend the F.A.B. Babywearing Fair? Share your feedback and perhaps suggest a location for the next babywearing activity!