Baby show NEC

[lizardqueenie]

Sorry if this is posted in the wrong place but wasn't sure where else to post.

Just wondered if anyone has experience of going to the baby show & whether they reckon its worthwhile? Are any products actually cheaper?

I'm nearly 15w and will have to travel from London to Brum could go to the one in London in October but baby is due in early Nov so wondering if I will actually want to walk around then.

Grateful for your views!

Thanks LQ

I'm going on recommendation of a friend who went last year. She says she made a lot of savings-she had done her research before and got over £100 off her choice of buggy. I'm hoping I'll be able to do the same, but would like to hear other opinons...

I'm going with DH on Saturday, we're also going on the recommendation of a friend who went last year... hoping to pick up some washable nappies.... would like to hear opinions of others also.

Yep I went last year in Manchester with my sister, brother in law and nephew. It's really good, even if you don't pick up anything it's well worth going to see the stuff you could use.
We got loads of free stuff too so that was worthwhile. DP and I, now expecting DD1 are travelling from manchester to Birmingham to get there this time because it's worth it.
And NEC is bigger than the GMEX in Manchester so it's likely to be better too.

I went to the London show back in February and found it very useful.

I second the advice about doing your research beforehand, however! I turned up with a spreadsheet of all the products I was interested in, and the best price I'd been able to find them at. I think without this information I'd have been a bit lost about what was a good offer or not.

At the show I had the opportunity to 'play' with the various products I'd researched, and managed to get a few things quite a bit cheaper or with additional things thrown in for the same cost. i.e. I got the pram set around £100 cheaper with some blankets and such thrown in, and I got the cot £40 cheaper with a mattress thrown in. I also picked up lots of little things like sheets relatively cheaply.

I'd recommend turning up early, we were there for opening time and managed to get the most done in the first hour. After that, it started to get a bit manic busy and trying to get the attention of a sales assistant was a bit of a nightmare.

If there's a Mothercare store there, don't bother too much with it. They offer a 10% discount at the show, but the staff were clueless and they had virtually none of their stock. You can normally get an equivalent discount on their online site if you need anything!

With the Philips store, get there early if you want to get anything from them. They sold out of all their decent offers very early on, and the staff didn't have the appropriate clearance to move some of their offers to other products. (i.e. I already had a steriliser from elsewhere and would have quite happily swapped that product in the offer to a newborn set (cheaper!) as it still worked out good for me, but they were unable/unwilling to process that.)

The smaller companies and independent stores were much more helpful and willing to reach a deal, as well as bend over backwards to provide information and any assistance needed.

I didn't really stop to watch any of the presentations, so can't provide any advice on those, sorry! I was there to shop shop shop.

Hope that helps a little!

Am going to the baby show at the NEC on Saturday - never been before so can't be of much help (sorry) BUT I regularly go to other shows at the NEC/Excel (eg the Dive show etc) and as other say with a bit of research you can save quite a bit of money and also they are just great for ideas and convenience.

Thanks everyone, looking forward to it and feel much better now I know its not a waste of time!

Spirael - amazing amount of research! Well done! Have no idea what kind of buggy etc I want at the moment or really a list of other stuff that I need so I guess I better get my thinking and research cap on. Thanks for all of your top tips!