2nd Annual Baby Spring Fling

We've planned your Saturday activities for you!

2011-04-21T08:43:00.000-07:00

We are so excited about the activities at the FLING!

Not just because we get to win prizes and shop 'til we drop... but we can bring the kids and know they will have a fantastic time too!

First off, of course, the EGG HUNT. 12:30pm.
Candy! Running! Bunnies! FREE!

But, we have more than just an egg hunt to keep your kids boredom-free this weekend.

IF Training Center is coming to the FLING and they are bringing mats for your kids to try some tumbling moves on! They will demonstrate some of the niftier skills they teach and (with parental supervison) they will help your kids try a few things too! What a hoot!

Our Earth Day events will be great too! Paper crafts for the kids to enjoy, potting some plants and a groovy scavenger hunt with PRIZES just for the kids! When is the last time you spent an afternoon having a family time? Too long! Come scavenger hunt as a family!

(Once you are done having a blast at the FLING make sure to hustle on over to the Earth Day event at Tauphaus Park and double the fun!)

So, what are YOU doing with YOUR FAMILY Saturday?

What is the Baby Spring Fling?

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Simply put: It is a day full of family activities, prizes, education for kids and parents and opportunities to shop!

Now, lets give you some details!

1. The history of the FLING: Birth Network started the Baby Spring Fling in 2010 as a way to educate parents on different ways to have babies and raise children. It was a rousing success. In 2011 the Idaho Babywearers offered to carry the torch and host the FLING for the year and Birthnetwork graciously gave their blessing. While the host of the FLING may rotate or merge from year to year, the overall goal will always be the same. We want to give families a fun day filled with free activities, opportunities to learn about a different way to parent, from conception through school age and a change to shop and win awesome prizes!

2. What does the 2011 Baby Spring Fling have going on all day? We're glad you asked!

First off, the booths. Goodness, we have some great booths this year. If you haven't found those last minute gifts before Easter, those accessories you need... if you are trying to decide how to school your kids, you want to learn about some new products or ideas to assist you in your parenting journey or you just want to shop til you drop... you need to wander around the FLING and see these booths! We have been very picky and only want to bring you a variety of quality businesses for you to look over and learn about. Believe us, you'll love what you find at the FLING!

Then, we have a chance to make history! The Great Cloth Diaper Change is taking place at 10am at the FLING! Register HERE in advance, and come have a change to be part of a Guiness World Record! Who doesn't want to be able to put that in a baby book!

At 12:30pm we have our first ever Easter Egg Hunt! It is going to be a good one! Kids ages 12 and under can get candy and prizes and we even have an egg crawl and an egg waddle for our littlest kiddos to participate in! Come look at the booths, do the egg hunt, win some prizes and get candy for the kids! Everyone wins!

Finally, all day long we have Earth Day activities for the kiddos. Come inside the FLING and we'll show you the booth where you can let those littles do some fun projects, learn about how to live a little greener and have a good time. Makes the best price for entertainment: FREE!

And of course, while you are here you have a change to win prizes in our raffle! The list of prizes are coming soon, but believe us, you don't want to miss out on this.

So, tell your neighbors, facebook your friends and get yourself over to the Baby Spring Fling April 23rd, 2011. 10am-3pm. This only happens once a year, so don't miss out!

Vendor slots are filling up!

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Some categories where we do not have any slots left for other vendors:

Photography
Hair bows
Crochet hats
scentsy

Categories that are nearly full:
Jewelery
cloth diapers
wood working

If you have been in contact with Angela, your spot in these categories is possibly still being held for you, but you must contact her in the next 24 hours to keep that spot for you. We are so excited about the great booths that are coming! Watch our sidebar for new booths as we get their information!

Remember, the deadline is the 16th of April!

Preregister for the Great Cloth Diaper Change!

2011-04-04T10:40:00.000-07:00

Vendor Question #4: Selection of booths

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We are working hard to protect each business this year.

Some of the things we will do to help your business:

We are going on a first come first serve basis. If you pay for a booth first you are in line ahead of other businesses like you which helps because...
We are limiting the number of booths that sell the same products/services. We will hold that number to 3 or 4 of each genre (ie. you sell bows, only 2 or 3 other businesses will sell bows also. At MOST.)
If you are a brand specific business (ie Pampered Chef), we will only accept ONE of each brand.
We will let you share a booth with another business, but YOU have to get that sorted out and let us know so we can approve each business.

Remember, a key way to get a lot of people to this event is to tell vendors to get booths and to tell everyone you know about the Fling! Use your Facebook, Blogs, Website, email and Twitter along with good ol' fashioned WORD OF MOUTH! The more booths we have, the more people hear about the Fling. That means a lot more people get to find out what you have to offer them!

Feel free to email or call us with any questions on this and remember, first come first serve!

Vendor Question #3: Cost of a booth or sponsorship and booth information

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The cost of a booth will be $50 for each booth. If you were a vendor last year you get a $10 discount.
Booth size will be: 8x6 (8 feet wide and 6 feet deep)

The cost of a sponsorship will be $100 and if you were a sponsor last year you get a $10 discount.
Sponsorship booths will be places in the highest traffic areas and the size will be: 16x6 (16 feet wide and 6 feet deep)

If you are a non-profit or educational group please contact us. You may qualify for a reduced cost or even free booth. (Email us HERE)

Further information for booths:

1. We need all your paperwork and fees 7 days before the Fling.

2. You are required to provide tables, chairs and other items needed for your booth.

3. All booths must look professional and be "child friendly" as there will be many little ones in attendance.

4. We will open the school at 8:30 am for you to set up. Everyone must be fully ready for attendees by 9:45am.

5. Power will be provided for you. Please bring tape and cords for anything that needs power and please tell us if you need power so we can place you accordingly.

6. When you arrive on the day of the Fling, please drop the candy and eggs off when you check in. We are only requiring 1 bag from each vendor, but we won't refuse more than that. And remember, the larger the bag, the better. We anticipate a large group of kids at the egg hunt and we do not want to run out of candy please. We want this to go off well in order to gain a good reputation so we can have even more successful events in the future!

7. We strongly urge you to provide a door prize for the egg hunt. It can be geared towards kids or adults or you can do one of each. It doesn't need to be huge, but the more door prizes we have, the more people we will get in the building after the hunt.

8. We have approximately 100 goodie bags to hand out and we strongly urge you to give us something to put in the bags, be it coupons, business cards, brochures... anything to help people learn more about your business. We need those items for the bags 7 days before the event so we have time to stuff bags.

9. Please help get the word out about this event. Use your social media (blog, facebook, twitter etc), use the poster and fliers that we will email you in your stores and tell everyone you talk to about this event. We will have a huge event if we all get the word out.

10. We are going to be selective as to what booths (and how many similar type booths) we have. So, if you want a booth, we suggest contacting us quickly as it will be a first come first serve situation. Email us at IdahoBabywearers@gmail.com or call Angela at 745-1497 to reserve your booth immediately.

***One last note: We can lead a horse to water, but we can't make them buy anything from you. We will do our best to get as many people to this event as possible and with your help in getting the word out, we forsee a huge event. But our focus is education, not sales so let us know how to help you, but realize we can't make people purchase things. However, if you utilize the ways we have listed (and will continue to list as we think of them) to attract people to your booth be believe you will see the benefits long after the Fling is over.***

Want to be a Vendor?

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Email us at IdahoBabywearers@gmail.com and we will get you the information to sign up.

In the interest of protecting our vendors will will not take duplicate businesses (ie 3 Scentsy vendors) or too many vendors in the same genre (ie there won't be 10 bow businesses sitting in a row, probably only 3 or 4 spread out) so first come, first serve.

Afternoon Event: Easter Egg Hunt

2011-03-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

The Baby Spring Fling is the day before Easter! How fun!

At 12:30pm we will be hosting an Easter egg hunt for the community.

Ages 0-12 are welcome to participate.
We will have a special FLUFFY guest, candy and prizes!

Come early and check out our great booths or stay after and browse. There will be great products to buy for last minute Easter gifts along with all sorts of wonderful education booths and other fabulous businesses.

Where will you be April 23rd? Ripping it up with your family at the Spring Baby Fling!

Morning Event: The Great Cloth Diaper Change

2011-03-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

This event will be hosted by Tonya Taylor, owner of Komfy Kidz and Designer Cloth Diapers.
Come be a part of a world record!

Vendor Question #2: What are the details on the Easter Egg Hunt?

2011-03-15T13:01:00.001-07:00

The egg hunt will be held on the lawn of Bonneville High School at 12:30 in the afternoon.

It will be open to children under age 12 and we will have age groups set apart to make it easier for the tiniest ones.
The Easter bunny will be making an appearance.

As a vendor you are required to contribute at least ONE bag of candy for the egg hunt. You do NOT have to put candy in eggs, but it would be a good idea. It would also be a great idea to provide more than one bag of candy because we anticipate a large group of kids.

Some ideas on how to make the egg hunt work MORE for you:

1. Egg some prize papers. (We mean put some prize papers in an egg.) The winners need to come to your booth to get their prize. This year we will not have door prizes that we give out. Instead all door prizes will be a part of the egg hunt and winners will come straight to you. This will bring more people to your booth and that is what we all want.
2. Egg some coupons for great discounts. While people may not buy that day (and we suggest coupons have a month or so of use available) people will want to come see your booth to get a look at what you are offering.
3. Bring extra candy or other treats and tell us. We will let parents know that your booth has extra goodies for attendees who visit their booth.
4. Advertise the egg hunt at your business, on your blog, facebook and twitter. We will provide the posters and fliers but your active participation in advertising the egg hunt and Fling is vital to getting the most attendees possible.

**We will be recycling the eggs after the hunt so we can recreate this fun activity year after year.**

Egg hunts are a lot of fun and this one is sure to garner a lot of visitors for your business! Feel free to contact us with any questions!

Vendor Question #1: What Can a Vendor Expect from this year's Fling?

2011-03-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

Remember first and foremost that our goal in this event is EDUCATION. We want families to see the many options available to them as parents, from where to get their baby's first haircut to where to buy healthy food, even to where to shop for life insurance. We are not forcing any particular lifestyle on anyone, we merely want people to see the many wonderful options available to them.

Having said that, we feel that businesses and groups that are friendly to more natural parenting methods will suit this event best. We are strong advocates of breastfeeding anywhere a baby is hungry so know you will see nursing mothers and we expect at the very least kindness and respect shown to them (and if you want to cheer them on, we'd really love that!).

We have selected a great day for our Fling in order to maximize the number of people who attend. In the morning we will be hosting "The Great Cloth Diaper Change" event. Parents from around the world are all planning to meet at the same time and change their baby's cloth diaper at the same time in an attempt to set a world record. This will be happening first thing in the morning and we will have local news coverage and a large group of parents participating so we will start the Fling with a bang!

Later in the day around 12:30 we will be hosting an Easter Egg hunt (it is the day before Easter you know!). We have planned this hunt at a time when all the other community Easter Egg Hunts have ended so we expect a large crowd. We are asking every vendor to contribute at least one bag of candy (it is up to you if you want to put them in eggs or not, but we will NOT be providing the eggs) and if you want to contribute some prizes for kids to pick up directly from your booth (and GREAT way to get more foot traffic), we fully support that idea. We will talk more about the egg hunt on another blog post.

We will also have an earth day event. We are still working on the details, but it will be fun, free and another reason for people to get to our event, check our vendors out and have a great time!

With all these events, we know we will have a huge crowd. But... while we can get the people to come, we can't make them buy anything. That is your job. As it is the day before Easter, a lot of people will be interested in last minute goodies for family and friends so bear that in mind. With a little creativity and a lot of fun we know every vendor will have a great time, get a lot of exposure and make this Fling a huge success!

Baby Spring Fling 2011!

2011-03-15T11:54:00.000-07:00

We are THRILLED to announce the date and location of the 2011 Baby Spring Fling!

April 23 from 10-3pm at Bonneville High School
Hosted by The Idaho Babywearers

Come get great information for mamas-to-be, new parents and more seasoned parents!
We will have booths for many stages of a family.

Additional events at the Fling include The Great Cloth Diaper Change, an Easter egg hunt and an Earth Day activity... all FREE!

Come for the goodies, the great buys and the entire family fun!

For more information and to get a booth please email us or call 745-1497.

Pregnancy & Baby Fair in South East Idaho

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BirthNetwork of Idaho Falls will be kicking of this spring with their first annual "Baby Spring Fling" on April 10th from 10-5pm at Sandcreek Middle School in Idaho Falls. BirthNetwork of Idaho Falls is a chapter of BirthNetwork National, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating families on evidence-based maternity care and the many choices parents have in during pregnancy, labor, and delivery. Their belief is that birth can profoundly affect a woman's physical, mental and spiritual well-being.

As a new or even experienced mom there is so much to figure out regarding pregnancy and preparing for baby. This year you may be able to hit the jackpot for information and great products before baby arrives!This event is like no other in our area. Have you been to a craft fair or bridal show? Well, this event is all about BABY! And it's more comprehensive than you might think! Professionals who would like to advertise their services to the pregnant women of Southeast Idaho will be there as well as venders selling baby or maternity items. You can learn about babywearing and buy your first baby wrap, buy homemade soap, learn what a doula is and how she can help at your birth or what childbirth education class you'd like to take. Booths about The Midwifery Model of Care and a local breast-feeding support group will be there as well as fabulous baby-friendly goodies to buy! A handful of these booths will be provided by BirthNetwork of Idaho Falls as a place for expectant parents to learn about birth options, all entirely based on evidence. Some of those topics include comfort measures for labor and delivery, informed consent, and what the "induction seduction?" is. ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network) will also have a booth.

This is a new chapter in Idaho that may be of help to you! A welcome booth with information about BirthNetwork and their free monthly chapter meetings as well as concessions will be there for your convenience. For more information or if you're interested in reserving a booth as a vendor contact one of BirthNetwork's chapter leaders: Katherine at 390-7465 or Jennifer 745-0663 or email birthnetwork (dot) if (at) gmail (dot) com

2010-01-15T12:42:00.000-08:00

Typo: flier should read 10' x 8' booth not 11' x 8' booth.