Events

Are you expecting and live near Woodbridge, NJ? Come to an event I’m participating in as a special guest this Saturday, May 16, at Destination Baby, sponsored by teutonia and Cookie Magazine. Part of a series of special in-store events featuring women who have designed their motherhood to meet their personal priorities, values and passions, the event will have gifts, food and the opportunity to design your own teutonia with special guests.

The events support and honor the R Baby Foundation – founded by parents Andrew and Phyllis Rabinowitz. Born of one family’s loss and dedicated making improved pediatric emergency medicine a priority for all babies everywhere.

Location: Destination Baby
Address: 25 Woodbridge Center Drive, Woodbridge, NJ 07095
Time: 2-4 pm
More info: teutoniausa.com/events

There will be 11 other events in and around NYC through early June. Find one near you.

– Danielle

Facing off against MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski (co-host of Morning Joe and an MSNBC anchor), Soledad O’Brien, CNN anchor and special correspondent, will be competing in TrueChild’s second annual TrueFlavors Celebrity Cook-off at The Institute of Culinary Education in New York on Friday, May 8th. The two celebrity moms will be cooking in an Iron Chef-style competition where they will be presented with a mystery ingredient to incorporate. Top Chef winners Harold Dieterle (Season 1, owner and chef of NYC’s Perilla) and Hung Huynh (Season 3, executive chef of NYC’s Solo) will be on the other side this time, judging the competition.

We asked Soledad about her specialties and what dishes she might prepare as part of the competition. She told us,

“I have no specialties – I don’t cook! I’m a good sous chef, I can chop and I follow directions well. So we’ll win because I’m a good listener and a good, efficient executer of vision. If they’re expecting me to come up with meals, I’m clear on what I like and what I don’t like, but I can’t cook. A lot of cooking, though, is following directions well, and I can do that! There’s a professional chef working with me. Do you think I’d agree to that otherwise? I have four kids – I make chicken nuggets!”

The event is a fundraiser for TrueChild, whose mission is to break through gender stereotypes so children can be true to themselves and reach their full potential. The organization was founded by a group of parents who were concerned that the narrow, stereotypical messages their children were seeing (sex appeal, pink, babies for girls, and guns, toughness and sports for boys) would prevent them from being themselves and reaching their full potential.

Not in NYC? There will be two more TrueFlavors events in June: One in Austin featuring Top Chef’s Tre Wilcox and Mizael Saucedo and one in Denver with Top Chef’s Alex Eusebio and Melissa Harrison, plus four more in the fall in Atlanta, D.C., San Francisco and Orlando, with celebrities to be announced. The first in the series, in Chicago, sold out, featuring Top Chef’s Carla Hall and Stefan Richter.

At $250 for the NYC event, the tickets are going to be a splurge for most people but the event benefits TrueChild and it’s a very intimate environment — around 250 guests. You’ll have the opportunity to mingle with the celebrities and chefs, plus there will be “heavy” hors d’oeuvres, specialty drinks and goody bags! Purchase tickets here!

– Danielle

The Hot Moms Club and the National PTA partnered Wednesday evening for an event celebrating teachers, and the Celebrity Baby Blog was given a special peek into the party. Days of Our Lives star/The Biggest Loserhost Alison Sweeney hosted the event at The Treehouse Social Club in Beverly Hills, CA.  Kids played, made ‘thank you cards’ for their teachers, and designed Very Meri shirts.  There was plenty of great food, and TV chef/author Devin Alexander made her signature low calorie brownies for the attendees.

Days of Our Lives’ Bryan Dattilo and son Gabe show off their tattoos (Gabe’s says "I love my teachers").

Images by Joe DeOliveira for HMC.

More pics below!

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Moms are always superstars in the eyes of their children, it’s true.  But in the days and weeks after they deliver, it’s nice to be treated like a superstar, too.  For all the joy it brings, new motherhood can be tough — from engorged breasts to sleep deprivation to the shocking realization that your body is (likely) forever changed, it can throw even the sanest of us for a loop. At last week’s Boom Boom Room, however, it became clear that help is definitely on the horizon. Many vendors exhibited products that are geared towards mama care, and we’ve chosen to highlight a few of our favorites below.

Let’s start at the beginning — delivery day!  No need to worry about exposing your ‘assets’ while pacing the halls of labor & delivery, because dearjohnnies has you — quite literally — covered.  Created by founder (and mom of 3!) Rachel Zinny (shown at left with Summer Sanders), we’ve reviewed this Wellesley, Mass.-based company before, and were thrilled to see that Rachel has kept up the good work since we caught up with her last. dearjohnnies unveiled its new Gramercy line of hospital gowns at the Boom Boom Room, and the new prints — including the Lola, the Ava and the Pia (each $72; Ava shown at right) — are quite simply adorable.  They’ll be available online July 1, but if you simply can’t wait you can order one now by calling dearjohnnies at 617-320-9884.  It’s an easy way to feel extra special on what will no doubt be the most special day of your life — the day you become a mom!  It’s no wonder Jennifer Garner, Tori Spelling and Mariska Hargitay are fans.

Exclusive for CBB readers:  Save 20% off your order at dearjohnnies now through June 30.  Discount cannot be combined with other promotions or discounts and will be applied as a refund after original transaction has been processed.  Readers must put code CBB20 in special instruction box upon checkout to receive the discount.

For more from the event, click ‘continue reading.’

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The Boom Boom Room, hosted by Jayneoni Moore in NYC, was wall-to-wall packed with vendors, booths, and people.  But like any other event, there were a few vendors who — long after you had passed them by — you just couldn’t stop thinking about.  Before you knew it, you found yourself making the rounds again just to get a second peek!  If you’re thinking you missed out, don’t worry.  Over the next week Missy and I will be bringing you information on products that really stood out to us at the event, from new fashion lines exclusively for boys and girls to new styles of baby gear, and much, much more!

How many times have you looked in your diaper bag and realized you forgot the baby’s bib?  Or you can’t find that darn pacifier for the life of you?  April Klein, mother of two, hopes she can help with her invention of Bébe Belay ($9) — a baby accessory that can be used as an instant bib, a connector clip, and a pacifier and toy holder!  The ribbon is equipped with specially designed clips on either end that are made to pull free with a force of two pounds or greater, in order to avoid strangulation and baby-pinching.  Using Bébe Belay is as easy as stringing the pacifier through the ribbon and clipping it to the tab, or clipping both ends to a napkin for an instant bib.  You can even clip two slippers together so they will never get lost again!

A hit at the Boom Boom Room, Constance Zimmer (pictured at right with April) stopped by the Bébe Belay booth and chatted with April about all the great uses of Bébe Belay.  She was then was gifted a few Bébe Belays of her choice to use with her daughter, Colette Zoe, 4-months.

Continue reading for more great vendors and their products!

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The flagship Destination Maternity store on 57th & Madison in NYC welcomed Jessica Denay, Hot Moms Club founder and author, for a reading and signing of her book, The Hot Mom To Be Handbook: Womb with a View, on Thursday, May 15th.

Guests — a mix of expectant moms and industry types — sipped on lemonade and enjoyed appetizers while Jessica, looking gorgeous in a purple dress, read aloud some choice excerpts from her new book. After Jessica signed copies, prizes were raffled off, with a few lucky attendees winning bags of goodies from Destination Maternity!

The Los Angeles event — with many celebrities! — was held in April, to great success.

Images courtesy Destination Maternity.

More photos below!

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Swag and celebrities are always a happy mix, and yesterday the love was in full bloom at Jayneoni Moore’s Boom Boom Room.  For the first time ever under the ‘Boom Boom Room’ name, the event — a staple on the celebrity baby circuit for the last four years — ventured outside the confines of Beverly Hills, to a sunlight-flooded (and jam-packed!) studio loft in Manhattan.  From cutting-edge innovation to classics-in-the-making, there was a little something for everyone at this showcase for all the latest in baby and kid gear and fashion.

Constance Zimmer — who took turns with boyfriend Russ Lamoureaux wearing daughter Colette Zoe, 4 ½-months (see photo at right) — was one of the lucky celebrities to be gifted with a teutonia stroller.  A German company just breaking into the American market, teutonia reps revealed that actress Minnie Driver recently fell in love with this fully-customizable strolling system, while working on the registry for the baby she’s expecting in August.  Minnie opted for the t-150 model in cobalt green with kingston walnut accents which, coincidentally, we’re told is the exact same color scheme Constance settled on yesterday, for herself. 

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The Hot Mom-to-Be Handbook: Womb with a View author Jessica Denay will be doing a book reading and signing on Thursday, May 15th in New York City, and all area CBB readers are invited!

The event will be held at the Destination Maternity store at 57th St and Madison Ave, from 7-8:30 pm. Refreshments will be served and prizes will be given away. Bring the kids; there will be flatscreens showing children’s videos, as well as a play area!

Click below for more info and how to RSVP.

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Every spring in Hollywood there is one event that gets celebrity moms (of both human and furbabies) out and about to learn about the latest luxury goods and services for their babies. The Silver Spoon Hollywood Dog and Baby Buffet is something that these elite moms look forward to. As do I — it’s one of my favorite events to cover! But this year I noticed a new trend at the event. It seems now more than ever, that the Buffet is not just about moms and their babies. This year it was clear that the Buffet was also all about the proud dads.

Watching dads like Dean McDermott and Scott Baio chat casually with each other about parenthood, quiz vendors about their products and attend to their kids, it was clear that the girls are not the only ones in Hollywood with baby fever! These dads may not always be the ones who show, but they are definitely dads in the know. They were every bit as interested as their women when it came to learning about what was new and what was best for their children. They were in the right place to get the scoop, as there was an awesome array of products and services, hand picked by Silver Spoon founders and event organizers Melissa Lemer and Lorena Bendiskas.

Click below for more from the event!

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Celebrities and experts in the field of parenting, health and fitness turned out at the Skirball Cultural Center on Thursday for the launch of Pregnancy Awareness Month. Declared and founded by holistic lifestyle expert Anna Getty (pictured left with brother Balthazar) May 2008 marks the inaugural year of Pregnancy Awareness Month (PAM).

Through PAM, Anna aims to empower pregnant women with information, “how to” ideas and inspiration to incorporate PAM’s four key initiatives: education, exercise, nutrition and wellness, and nurturing into their life routines and to show women how easy it can be to make healthy changes in their lives for themselves and their children.

Celebrity attendees included Diane Farr, currently expecting twins, Melissa Joan Hart and sons Mason Walter, 2, and Braydon "Brady" Hart, 7 weeks, Dawn Ballard, wife of Numb3rs Alimi Ballard, who gave us a first peek at their adorable 6-month-old son, believed to be named Cairo Che, Brooke Burke, most recently mom to 8-week-old son Shaya, and Josie Maran, mom to Rumi Joon, 23 months.

Attendees at the event were treated to a lavish and healthy buffet and round table discussion, featuring sage advice and amusing anecdotes from some inspiring moms and powerful voices in the world of motherhood:

• Spokesperson and Founder and prenatal fitness expert, Anna Getty
• Dr Alan Green, author of Raising Baby Green
• Model and actress and founder of Josie Maran Cosmetics, Josie Maran
• Founder of Stroller Strides, Lisa Druxman
• Christopher Gavigan, CEO of Healthy Child Healthy World 
• Alanna Stang, Executive editor of Cookie Magazine
• Actress and Momprenuer of Baboosh Baby, Brooke Burke
• Mompreneur and Founder of Scandinavian Child, Brenda Berg
• Authors of I Was a Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids, Pam Nobile and Trisha Ashworth

Click below for more photos and the rest of the event details!

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