All About Blogger Bash

On July 12, 2017, I attended Blogger Bash. Blogger Bash has been around for a few years now and is ever changing. Marking its fourth year in existence, Blogger Bash is a conference for Bloggers, Vloggers and other media outlets to rub shoulders with companies and their PR teams in the hopes of building relationships and starting partnerships. In english, Blogger Bash is essentially a way to make yourself (ie: you the blogger/vlogger/etc) known to people who might want to help you by either sending free products your way for reviews or work with you on paid promotions. (I’ve only done a handful of paid promotions and none of them were very lucrative. Mostly, I just ask for samples of the companies products.) It’s also recommended to mingle with fellow attendees. This year, Blogger Bash was held in Pier 60 at NYC’s Chelsea Pier.

I went over the basics of Blogger Bash in an earlier post. For the most part, 2017’s Bash was centered around expo’s. I attended two of the three expo’s: Babypalooza and, the main attraction, Sweet Suite. In past years, it seems like they had panels, as well, but, as I said, this is an ever changing event. Personally, I would have preferred some panels, because they would have filled some of the down time. A panel would have been the perfect way to fill the gap between Babypalooza and Sweet Suite.

In this post, I’m mainly going to cover cool things I saw while walking around Sweet Suite. But, first, let me talk a little about the other events. The first event I attended was the Armitron Breakfast. Armitron is a watch company based in New York. Their watches are pretty classy looking! The breakfast featured a number of successful woman who have made an impact through media. It was an interesting discussion that featured some really thoughtful responses on how to build your brand and be successful. At the end of the discussion, they announced the names of the lucky folks who won free Yankee’s tickets and/or some watches. I went into the breakfast wanting the watches. (You can never have too many!) However, I instead left winning the Yankee’s tickets! Super exciting, right? Am I a baseball fan? Not really. Am I a New Yorker? Definitely not. But, it was fun to win them! (I’m still hoping they include a watch, though I don’t think that will happen!) I’ll figure out something to do with them.

After the breakfast was Babypalooza, an expo that featured baby-centric products. (Big shocker, right?) I was a bit surprised at how few companies participated in that expo, to be honest. There were around 24 tables total, featuring a variety of different baby products. It was a nice event. I’m sure mommy bloggers had a blast. For me, it was just a little light on exhibitors. One of the main problems I had with this Bash in general was timing. I did a loop around Babypalooza pretty quickly, leaving me with over 3 hours between leaving this expo and the start of Sweet Suite. The hotel was at least a 15 minute walk or $10 cab ride and neither option sounded appealing to me. It was too little time (and way too hot) to walk back and forth between Pier 60 and my hotel near Time Square multiple times during the day, but, also, too much time between events, so it seemed like for-ev-er until the next event was to begin.

So, let’s get to the Sweet Suite. Very similar to New York Toy Fair, the Sweet Suite featured lots of different companies and PR specialists sprawled across the room. The toys varied between techy to dolls to games to crafts. Here are some of my favorite toys from Blogger Bash.

Just Play’s Mal, Evie and Uma were, by far, the most exciting thing I saw in the Sweet Suite. Based on Descendants 2, they’re a whopping 28″ tall and are articulated (for the most part). You may not be able to tell, but all three have articulated shoulders, elbows and wrists. They come with wear and share accessories and sticker tattoo’s. The only downfall I see about these so far is that they don’t have knee joints. Also, they’re a bit pricey. Mal, Evie and Uma will retail for $49.00. You really have to admire the faces on these three girls from the Isle of the Lost.

Also from Just Play was the Singing Jojo Siwa doll. I’m a Dance Mom’s fan. I admit it. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine. I was really surprised to see Jojo merchandise in not just one Sweet Suite table, but multiple! For those who haven’t partaken in watching this reality TV show, Jojo was a dancer on Abby’s team for a few seasons. She eventually left the show. Now, apparently, she’s a tween superstar. She even has her own doll. The Jojo doll looks remarkably like the youngster and is 10″ tall. It sings Jojo’s hit song, “Boomerang!”. It’s out now and retails for $19.99.

Doll collectors will probably also take a liking to Just Play’s DreamWorks license, Spirit Riding Free. They are 11.5″ tall. Besides having cute faces and nice hair, they’re articulated! It seems like Just Play is really listening to consumers here. (Well, besides the whole ‘no knee joint in the tall Descendants line’.) They have a second series that is a bit smaller, but I prefer the line pictured in this post to that one.

Say hello to Our Generation’s boy doll! This is a first for their company. I, personally, think he’s cuter than other 18″ boy dolls on the market now. I’m going to reach out to see if I can get more information on him. Stay tuned!

Also on display was this super cool looking boat! If I had display space, I would totally pick this up.

You’ll be seeing a brand new line from Battat coming soon, Glitter Girls. They’re a new size, smaller than Our Generation. I’m not crazy about them. They have odd looking faces. But I am interested in seeing if their clothing options fit other doll lines.

Sticking to 18″ dolls, have you heard of My Sibling/My Pal dolls? They’re a line of 18″ boy dolls with rooted hair. There are two different lines. The My Sibling Dolls are meant to help you learn more about what it would be like to have a sibling with a disability. Creator, Loretta Boronat, seemed really passionate about her line. Both lines feature clothing made in the USA and are “outfitted and packaged by adults with disabilities at a local sheltered workshop in Montclair, NJ.”

My Pal dolls are similar in the fact that they were designed to all have an educational or socially relevant purpose in mind. For example, My Pal the Patriot represents a child who knows someone who has or is serving in the military.

Real Cooking had a new product on display, Princess Cakes! You don’t know how much I want to try these out. I’m sure whatever video I shot would be an epic fail video, but how cute are these cakes! Plus, once you have the molds, all you need to do to make them again is to buy the ingredients.

These have been on store shelves for a while, but here are some pictures of Sunny Days Entertainment’s Cupcake Surprise. I remember these from the 90’s. They stayed pretty true to the concept and size of the originals. I’m not sure what I think of the faces on these, but I still think the concept is pretty neat. They just need to switch up the face molds and make each girl look a little more unique. They come in two sizes. Both sizes are pictured below.

Wicked Cool Toys had their big properties out and about at Blogger Bash! I was excited to see Teddy Ruxpin. Originally created in the late 80’s by Worlds of Wonder. What I love about Wicked Cool Toys Teddy is that they are using stories from the original release. This teddy is smaller than the original one, but the fact that he’ll be speaking in Teddy’s voice and telling kids the same stories that I (many of us, I suspect) grew up with warms my heart! Teddy has an animatronic mouth, LCD animated eyes and touch sensors that control story choices and control. He’s super soft, too, and probably much lighter than the original teddy, since he doesn’t have a cassette deck inside of him. He works with an app and connects via Bluetooth, so you don’t need wifi to ask Teddy if he’d tell you a story. The books are animated through the app. If you buy the Target exclusive, Teddy will be wearing his classic vest! He will retail for $99.99.

If you recall, Wicked Cool Toys also makes Cabbage Patch Kids. At Blogger Bash, they showed off their new Little Sprouts line, a line of tiny Cabbage Patch Kids figures and playsets. These figures are small enough to keep in your pocket. There are 120 miniature Kids, Babies and animals to collect, including rare and ultra rare Sprouts. The playset pictured below is Babyland General.

Jakks Pacific brought a trio of Superfriends to Blogger Bash! The DC Toddler dolls are so cute! They’ll retail for $19.99 and be out sometime in August. The line features Batgirl, Supergirl and Wonder Woman. The paperwork doesn’t say their size, but I’d say they’re the same size as Jakk Pacific’s Disney Princess Toddler dolls.

That pretty much covers the dolls showcased in the Sweet Suite. If these aren’t out already, expect to see them sometime in Fall 2017. Below are some of the other non-dolly items on display. CandyLab makes cool wooden cars. They’re simple in design, but striking!

The 3D Print Shop intrigues me. It’s not a real 3D printer. It’s more like a mold-o-rama. But, the interesting thing is this: You can make molds of your favorite things and replicate them. That feature makes me think you could easily make clones of doll accessories with this toy.

Alex’s Sweetlings are a cute, crafty toy that let you make creatures out of fake food items. You use the fake frosting (whipped clay tubes) and the frosting tips to decorate your cupcake, ice cream cone or doughnut base. Add a few details (like eyes, ears and mouths), let sit for a few hours and voilà– you’ve made yourself a (non-edible) little friend. Toys like this always get my attention. I love crafting cute food items.

So, that’s a look into Blogger Bash’s Sweet Suite. You’ll be seeing some of these toys on the blog and YouTube channel, I’m sure! Overall, I think Blogger Bash was a fun event. Do I think I’ll be going again? Honestly, I’m not sure. It’s a very expensive trip to get from Illinois to New York and I’m not sure if it is cost effective for me to attend this event year. I prefer Toy Fair, to be honest. It would have been different if Blogger Bash had had some educational panels or other events (not just a breakfast and three expo’s) to fill my time, but as it is, this year was just a little light on programming for me to be set on attending yearly. For a one off, though, it was fun. I met a lot of great PR reps, some that I’ve met before (and somehow remember little old me) and hopefully, we’ll be able to start and/or continue working together to keep this blog and my YouTube channel alive and relevant.

To see all my photos, visit my Flickr album.

Besides attending Blogger Bash, I did a few other touristy things while hanging out in New York City. I’ll share some of that with you in a later post. Also to come is the Sweet Suite box opening video, so stay tuned! Blogger Bash updates aren’t over yet. But now, it’s your turn! What’s your favorite doll/toy featured in this post? Do you have any questions about anything here? Let me know in the comment area!