BlogHer11: The Swag

Here it comes. The first of three BlogHer posts I’m writing this year. I did this last year because it was just too much information to cram into one post and it makes total sense to break it up into three:

• The Swag (which can only be shown through the magic of video)
• The Venue (which happens to be the sunny city of San Diego, a city with ridiculously idyllic weather)
• The People (because that’s what this crazy blogging thing is all about)

And to further complicate things, I can’t just do one video (or two, actually) like I did last year. It’s just too much stuff and I wouldn’t do anything justice if I kept it to 2 minutes. Plus, you just might not care about some of this stuff.

Here’s my entirely materialistic take on the swag this year:

I didn’t fall in love with any one particular thing. Lots of odds and ends. And because I was flying, I felt the need to be a lot more selective about what I took and kept and packed in my suitcase. In reality, I was still the total swag hag.

You might have noticed that I have things strewn about. I didn’t get to do a lovely unpacking and display on my dining room table. That’s because I just left San Diego yesterday. This is totally a hotel room video. On the plus side, when it came to all things toy and kids, my son was with me and thrilled to be a part of the video.

Next up? The lady products. The Health + Beauty Aids and makeup and medicines and other girly things.

The only company that I was superimpressed with (from a swag standpoint) was Dr. Scholl’s because they were assessing your feet and giving you a free pair of custom orthotic inserts.

The humorous part was that after waiting in a very long line they told us to step up for the machine to assess us and asked us if our feet hurt. Um, HELLO?? I’ve been walking all over the conference and the entire city of San Diego while still trying to look fashionable. YES, my feet hurt. But apparently, they meant “in general.”

There were, however, some memorable products.

P.S. The red flats I showed you are from a little company called @afterflats

For all you foodies, I didn’t leave you out. But you probably won’t fall in love with anything I have to show you. Weird assortment of snacks. A big bag of flax meal. Lots of Smarties. But I don’t want to ruin the surprise for you.

I have to give a big shout out to Flip Flop Wines. Not only did they host a wonderful wine tasting but I was so totally impressed with the work that they are doing with Soles4Souls. And for that reason, their flip flop wine suction cup thingies had to make it into my video.

And then there’s all the rest of the crap that didn’t fit neatly into any category. It’s household, office, and totally random categories. But definitely some good stuff worth mentioning.

And now for the stunning conclusion.

In summary, it was fun. I still can’t help myself around free stuff. And I totally loved meeting so many brand reps (I didn’t say it was ALL about the free stuff).

Tomorrow’s post… BlogHer: The Venue (everything you want to know about San Diego even if you weren’t afraid to ask).

Tagged as: blogher, blogher11, swag, swag hag, video, Vlog