Vegas, baby!

In T-6 days, the husband, Gracie, and I will be hopping in a plane to see what's new and exciting in the world of juvenile/baby products at The ABC show in Las Vegas (the rest of the gang will well-cared for by family). This is our third year attending, and we *can't* wait! There's over a million square feet of things to see, there are approximately 900 exhibitors attending this year (my feet are sore just thinking about it!). It's a great opportunity to meet many of our suppliers face-to-face, but even better, it's a great opportunity to bring you the latest and greatest in terms of new products, and updates to current products (if anyone's introducing new prints or colors, this is where we find out!).


In addition to all of the gems we get to see at the show, I have to admit, there are a lot of duds. You have to wonder what people are thinking sometimes when they bring certain products to market, perhaps it's the mentality "if you build it, they will come." What products have I seen that I would consider a dud? Well, let's see. There are the disembodied hands to soothe your newborn. Yes, seriously. Can you imagine the nightmares your child will have later in life??? Umm, maybe just actually hold the baby? There's a thought! Of course perhaps I'm not the best judge, I saw these and thought to myself "What a crap idea, that's what spit on a tissue is for!", but it turns out I don't know squat, they're doing quite well, thank-you very much!


The timing of ABC is quite tricky, it's held the same weekend as Baby Boom, an annual parenting show here in Ottawa. This Friday, I will be running around like a madwoman trying to set up for Baby Boom, organize the store for my 5-day absence, *and* pack for our trip, then I'll spend a sleepless night tossing and turning, trying to figure what I've forgotten (believe you me, it's not a question of "if", it's a question of "what"!), then I'll board a plane at 7am on Saturday morning (praying the baby takes her first 3-hour nap, not likely, but you never know!) and hop on down to Vegas (baby!).


Las Vegas is a lot of fun. I'm not a gambler, far from it, I'm far too cheap to just give money away, but there's a lot to look at there, everything is so over-the-top. My husband has spent a lot of time deciding which buffets (yes, buffets) we'll be hitting up (Saturday night? The Bellagio. He claims he will starve himself all day. I know the man, he won't last past 9am!). He also wants to drive out to the desert. Not sure why, I've seen CSI, I know nothing good ever comes of the desert! But I digress. It's a good time.


We just picked up a new laptop yesterday to take with us to ABC, so I'll be live-blogging from the show to keep you up-to-date on our newest finds, and I'll post about the duds we come across this year (seriously, you have to wonder what some people are thinking!). So follow along, because I'll have some goodies to give away! Exhibitors like to give free things away at the show, and as much as I like free things (I actually *love* free things, who doesn't?), I'm going to do some giveaways on the blog to anyone who comments on the Vegas-related entries. My good fortune will be your good fortune!