21 Years of The Baby Show
MEDIA RELEASE
Baby Show: Pregnancy. Baby.
Toddler
Time warp – 21 years of the Baby
Show
15 August 2014
The
Baby Show began 21 years ago in 1993, so let us briefly take
you back in time. 1993 was the year of songs with
exclamation marks like ‘Whoomp! There It Is’ by Tag Team
and ‘Boom! Shake the Room’ by The Fresh Prince. There
were songs so difficult that the people who sang them then,
can’t sing them now, like Whitney Houston’s ‘I Will
Always Love You’. And Prince changed his name to a symbol
and became ‘The Artist Formerly Known As Prince’. Happy
days.
'Jurassic Park’ made $357,067,947 at the US box
office, ‘Power Rangers’ first hit TV screens, and
‘Cheers’ finished its award-winning run. It was the year
that gave birth to the Internet – but also Niall Horan,
Zayn Malik, and Liam Payne from One Direction. Go figure.
Meanwhile in Auckland, the Baby Show took its first shuffling steps towards becoming New Zealand’s biggest, most popular, and longest-running parenting event.
Baby First has been at every show
Baby First exhibited at that very first Baby
Show and every show since then. Bruce Nuttall from Baby
First reckons the products on show in 2014 are streets
ahead of their 1993 equivalents.
“Buggies, prams, baby
carriers, and other essential products are generally safer,
stronger, lighter,
and better value for money than they
were when we started with the Baby Show,” says Bruce.
“We’re
selling Lillebaby Carriers this year and
they’re simply amazing. You can wear them on your front,
hip,
or back, with baby facing in or out, right from
newborn up until they weigh about
20kg.”
Natures Sway turns
21 this year too
Kate Hornblow made her first
Natures Sway baby hammock in 1993 for her firstborn,
Madelynn. Now
Madelynn is 21 years old and works the
Natures Sway stand at The Baby Show alongside her
mum.
“I used to sell baskets at the Titirangi Market
and I just hung Madelynn up in the hammock in the
tree
behind me. People loved it so I started making more of them
and we now retail in Denmark
Japan, and Australia,”
says Kate. “We started exhibiting at the Baby Show in
2002. Back then our
natural, organic approach was
unusual but now people are much more interested in natural
products,
particularly when it comes to their precious
children.”
Plunket &
Huggies have been together 21 years
Well,
actually 22 years – they celebrated the 21st anniversary
of their partnership last year. And this year they have
teamed up to create the amazing Huggies & Plunket Parent
Room, a welcome oasis where parents can change and feed
their babies, take a wee breather, and test-drive the latest
nappies from Huggies featuring the new DryTouch layer.
Yes, everything seems to have got bigger and better since 1993. But when it comes to products, services, advice, and info about everything to do with babies and young children one thing hasn’t changed: the Baby Show is the best place to find it all.
ENDS