fruit juice: November 2009

We are very proud to introduce Beyond the Bum, a brand new company featuring unique, high-quality, natural baby products. From innovative cloth diapers to the latest baby-wearing products and modern baby accessories (including our Fruit goodies!), Beyond the Bum offers in-house parties or baby showers, education on natural parenting and an in-home or online one-stop baby shop! Check out BTB's website at www.beyondthebum.com or visit the blog at www.beyondthebum.blogspot.com for the full report and photos of last month's launch party.

Kelly Pagan, Beyond the Bum's Founder

We are thrilled to be in partnership with Beyond the Bum and look forward to growing together in the weeks, months and years ahead!

We had an amazing experience in Beverly Hills at the March of Dimes Celebration of Babies 2009. I failed to take enough pictures to capture the event so I will have to paint one for you with words instead. Hopefully, I will do it justice.

We arrived to the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills at 8:30 on Saturday morning for load-in and set up. Funny story here: We purposely arrived a couple days early to do a dry run to be sure we knew where the hotel and load in entrances were. We conveniently noticed a corner Starbucks just in case we needed some morning caffeine on the day of the big event. We did, of course, and so after picking up some quick coffee and a breakfast sandwich, we headed back out Pico Blvd. towards the hotel. After about 8 or 9 minutes, Michelle and I both decided our surroundings were not looking familiar anymore. So I got out our map and we retraced our path back. Our missed turn? On the very corner where we had stopped for coffee! So much for the practice run! :)

We were close enough to the hotel that the lost time was of little importance. We parked at the back end of the hotel where a small set of stairs led up to the beautiful garden area, replete with green foliage, a wide variety of flowers, fountains and brick walkways.There, the March of Dimes staff was busy laying out the red carpet and MOD backdrop where the paparazzi would feast on celebrity attendees. The boutique area was already prepared under white canvas tents covered the path from the garden to the ballroom entrance where the luncheon would be hosted. About 15-20 tables lined either side of the walkway, dressed in white linens and ready for vendor displays. We felt very fortunate that our table was located just outside the ballroom entrance. Later, we realized this proved fruitful for two reasons: first, it happened to be the warmest place in the boutique on a cool Saturday morning and second, it proved to be a congregating area for guests coming and going. We spent the next hour and a half hauling our goods from the car to the table and then proceeding to set up shop. Here's a photo of the set-up just before guests started to arrive.

Guests began to arrive at 11:00am, though the biggest rush came right before lunch. A mix of doctors, nurses, mommies and babies, celebrity couples and advocates of babies' health made their way through the boutique, some stopping to peruse, converse and buy our goodies. At the end of the day, though we didn't sell a ton of goodies, we felt very privileged to be a part of this event and very excited about the opportunities ahead. Here are just a few of the opportunities we are considering as a result of this event:

The March of Dimes National Relations Director asked us to consider partnering with them to go nationwide.
Cedars-Sinai Hospital Nurse and PR Director asked to sell our Fruit products to their parenting, baby development, pregnancy and birth class clientele and patients.
A fertility doctor asked if he could order/send baby gifts for his patients.
Two women who are involved in The Pump Station (pumpstation.com) asked us to be represented in the Pump Station boutiques.
A new boutique owner in West Hollywood asked to carry our goods in her new salon/boutique for mamas and babies.
Another boutique vendor at the event asked if she could help us get into the LA market because she thought Fruit would be an excellent fit.

Of course, my thoughts and answers to all of these inquiries were YES! Now that we are back home, I am working and talking through the details of what all those things look like. Needless to say, the event was a great success and we are eagerly anticipating what God has in store next!

A few other noteworthy parts of the day:

We got to meet Kelly Cotreau, the facebook giveaway winner who connected us with this event!
We were treated to take-out lunch from Jerry's Deli (a Santa Monica fave) by my dear friend Jen Pamu.
We met a few celebrities face to face, though most of them entered the ballroom without going through the boutique. Our favorites? Dawn and Ali Ballard (Numb3rs) and their sweet kiddos, Naya and Cairo. Naya and Michelle hit it off and provided some good entertainment during our lunch break!
We found that having a real live baby at our booth was a big hit! Hillary Smiley (my dear friend and one-day assistant) brought her little guy Luke (4.5 months old), and was able to display a Fruit blanket, burp cloth and nursing cover in action to the guests. So fun! Hillary did take some photos so when I get more from her, I will post them.