Event Planning: Exhausting! And Amazing! The Power of Social Media! #MomMixer

Me & Colleen at the start of Mom Mixer

It’s Sunday afternoon and I think I am finally getting over the total and complete utter exhaustion I felt around this time yesterday.  Together with my good friend Colleen from Classy Mommy, I co-hosted Mom Mixer – a holiday showcase in downtown Philadelphia at the gorgeous XIX Restaurant at the Hyatt at the Bellevue.  We brought together brands and bloggers and had over 160 bloggers coming to our event.

Maaaaaaaan, I am definitely learning the ropes when it comes to event planning.  Obviously I’ve planned plenty of birthday parties and smaller events, and not counting my wedding this is the second time I’ve planned an event of this size.  I will say this – with a event like this, you have to EXPECT the unexpected.

This time, it was Hurricane Sandy.  6 days before our event was scheduled, a massive and devastating hurricane hit the east coast.  While it definitely affected the Philadelphia area, the implications of the storm were nowhere near as severe here as they were to our New Jersey and New York City neighbors.

For starters, our title sponsor, Hasbro?  Their reps who were coming to our event work and live in Hoboken.  Try as they might, they could not get to our event as literally they are without power and stuck in town.  We felt terrible for them!

Natural disasters happen and the most important thing is that we all pull together to help one another during these times.  Colleen and I thought about postponing our event but in the end we decided the better thing to do was to utilize the power of social media and help those affected.

We raised $500 for the Red Cross at our event thanks to generous donations from Mom Mixer attendees.  And dozens of toys from toy displays of our sponsors: Hasbro, Just Play Toys and K’NEX are now at a shelter in Philadelphia.  And all the leftover underwear and bras from our sponsor Barely There?  This week it will be en route to the Jersey shore to help at shelters there.

It feels really good to be able to help out in such a way.  Our event was business and I’ll be bringing you posts and reviews of amazing products all week but today?  I just feel really glad to have pulled off a fun event in light of some of the darkness that surrounded this week – and in doing so, know we hopefully helped many people!

Thank you so much to everyone who came and donated and helped to make our event what it was.  Love the power of Moms and social media!  We could not have made such a difference without you all.