Fun w/ Mommy Parties - My Pregnancy 2.0 Party

This past Saturday I was honored to to host a MommyParties - Pregnancy 2.0 party.  I was so excited!  I love throwing parties and it was perfect timing for me being that I just had Lincoln and I have so many friends that also are expecting or have just had babies as well.  What better way to get us all together than to throw a mommy party.  So what are MommyParties you ask?  They are parties where real mom's like myself get to throw a party for 10 of our closest friends to test out products that we might like to use in our everyday mommy lives.

My Mommy Party was sponsored by Pregnancy 2.0, a website that helps new moms and mom's-to-be by providing product information and reviews on various baby and mothering products.  This time we were the testers and reviewers.  We got a first hand look at the various products and I can't wait to share with you all what we found.  MommyParties and Pregnancy 2.0 provided us with various products from Britax, Baby Plus, Snuggle Buddies, & Xlear/Spry.  In addition to testing products MommyParties supplied me with some great recipes to try out and serve to all my guests.  I made almost all of them which included sandwhiches with hummus and cucumber, cheese tortellini with pesto dipping sauce, peach tea, and lemon mousse.  There was also a fruit salad, but being I have a newborn, that was just too much work for me.  Instead I bought a yummy broccoli salad.  They also supplied me with some games to play.  I selected the baby items memory game.  The top winners got prizes which included a re-usable grocery bag, a diaper bag, two Snuggle Buddies, and the Britax Baby Carrier.  I love seeing my party people go home with fun prizes.

Listed below are the items we tested and what we thought of them.

Britax Baby Carrier & Baby Carrier Seat Extender Insert
Before the party I tested out the Britax Baby Carrier.  I wanted to make sure I knew how to use it before everyone got there and be able to demonstrate it's features at the party.  This was the first item we broke out at the party.  The first thing that we all noticed is that it seems like a hybrid of the Baby Bjorn and the Ergo Baby.  It was definitely intriguing.  Several of us had each of those brands and it was interesting to see how this carrier measured up to those.  There were a few features we liked, a few features we didn't, and a few features we couldn't test out with our itti bitti babies.  We loved the newborn insert for the carrier.  It really made the carrier versatile so that both a newborn and an older child could be comfortable and well supported in the carrier.  It was very easy to install and take out the newborn insert as well.  We also loved the extra back support provided by the waist band, as well as the attached burp cloth.  The main feature that we did not like about the carrier was that you had to pull it over your head.  This made it impossible to take the carrier off without putting your child down.  It also might mess up your hair if you had it done nicely.  Unfortunately we didn't get to test out the seat extender since all of our babies were too small to use it, but the idea definitely intrigued us.  Overall we were so-so on this carrier.  It was a nice carrier, but wasn't our favorite.  I would still recommend it and my sister who won the carrier at the party is ecstatic to use it with her son.

Britax B-SAFE Infant Car Seat

The next item that we tested out was the Britax B-SAFE Infant Car Seat.  I love taking car seats out of boxes because they're ready to go with no assembly required.  The look of this car seat is very clean looking.  I love how the black, red, and silver look together.  It's a very modern look.  As for the function of the car seat, I feel it's very similar to the Graco Snugride that I already have.  Both weigh about the same and function very similar to each other as far as the seat belt and how they secure into the car.  A few moms had the Baby Trend car seat and some moms preferred the straight handle of the Britax, while others preferred the triangle of the Baby Trend.  I would say it was about 50/50.  Overall we felt it was comfortable and easy to use though.  The main feature that we loved was how easy it was to click into the Britax stroller.  We also loved how many levels of adjustment there were for the shoulder straps.  This car seat would fit a VERY small baby as well as a large baby.  The features we didn't like were that the sun shade is semi-attached at the back so it's hard to rotate the shade to the front.  We also didn't like that the seat belt guides are hidden under the seat padding.  Occationally I like to use my car seat in a car that does not have the base installed and I can't imagine having to lift up the padding each time to install it.  Overall we were so so on the car seat as well.  I would like to add though that after examining the car seat even more after the party, I've grown to love it and have decided to switch out my Graco Snugride for the Britax.

Britax B-Agile Stroller
The next item we brought out was the Britax B-Agile Stroller.  Britax asked us to assemble the stroller at the party, so that's just what we did.  For some reason I could not find the instruction book when we took it out of the box, but it was so easy to assemble that we didn't even need it.  Of course we found the instruction book right as we finished putting the stroller together.  This item was the hit of our party.  We loved the size of the stroller.  It definitely could fit a larger child as well as a small baby.  We also loved the large sun shade.  Most stroller shades are so small and useless, but this one will definitely block the sun.  Another great feature was the wheel lock.  It was so easy to use and you only needed to lock in one place instead of several wheels.  The biggest feature that we loved was how easy it is to fold up and how compact it folded up.  It was AMAZING!!!!  The stroller is slightly heavy, but not so heavy that we would have trouble putting it into our cars.  Overall we loved this product and I can't wait to use it with Lincoln!  I have to admit that after reviewing this product I did go on the Britax website to check out their other strollers and I secretly (or maybe not so secretly) long for a Britax B-Scene.

Baby Plus PreNatal Educational System

I received the Baby Plus system a few days before I had Lincoln and I wish I had it for my entire pregnancy.  The idea of it is so amazing and I really wish I had a chance to test it out longer.  The main function of the unit is to encourage your baby's congnitive development while still in the womb.  The way it does this is through a 16 lesson program where you play a sequence of heartbeats for two hours each day from about the 18th week on.  Babies that use the system are noted to more redily nurse at birth, display an increased ability to self-soothe, are more interactive and responsive, and much more.  As for the time I did test it out I didn't notice any changes in Lincoln's behavior, but one of the pregnant mommies at our party tried it out and her baby was drawn to the sound.  He would move to the side of the belly that the unit was placed on each time we moved it.  It was quite amazing.  There were two downsides to the unit though.  The first was that the heartbeat is quite loud and it bothered my husband.  I didn't mind though.  The other downside that did bother me as well as the other mommy were the clips on the back of the unit.  They seemed to dig into my belly.  I would reccomend to Baby Plus that they not put these clips on the unit.  Otherwise I thought the idea was very cool and I would totally buy this product.

Rashti & Rashti Snuggle Buddies
These little baby toys were so cute!  Snuggle Buddies are basically a toy and a blanket all in one.  We received the monkey and the owl, and everyone thought they were so cute!  We loved how silky they were on the inside and how incredibly soft the fabrics were on the outside.  Not to mention the whole collection is irresistibly cute.

We also received some nice product gift bags for each of my mommy testers at the party.  They included a package of Spry Gum, KID'S Xclear Saline Nasal Spray with Xylitol, and KID'S Spry Tooth Gel.  I've yet to try the products yet, but can't wait to test them out in the future.  What great party gifts to receive.  I also added a personal gift from myself for each guest by making them a burp cloth and two washcloths each.  In addition each guest was asked to send me a quick, easy, healthy, and yummy recipe before the party.  I compiled each of these recipes and added them to each of the gift bags as well.  Here are links to the recipes.  Page 1 & Page 2.

Overall we all had a great time at the party.  It was fun testing the products and it was even more fun getting us all together.  We had 7 babies at the party and two pregnant moms.  It was definitely the cutest bunch of party guests you could have.  I hope we can have an opportunity to host another event for MommyParties in the near future so we can all get together again.  Till then keep checking in for more great information, reviews, DIY projects, and giveaways, as I keep on with my Adventures In Fluff.