Posts Tagged "bloggers"

Countdown to Christmas-Walking in a Blogger Wonderland

Posted by cafebebemama on Dec 22, 2010 in Blogger Love, Countdown to Christmas | 5 comments

Back at the end of November I set myself a challenge. I decided that I would launch my own Countdown to Christmas and blog every day up to Christmas. I have done so! And on a few days, more than one post managed to appear! I’m getting a bit tired now but am quite pleased with my efforts.

I offered the challenge to other bloggers as well and a few decided that they would take it up as well. They made such a magnificent effort but blogging every day is tough. I modified the challenge and encouraged bloggers to contribute as and when they could. And they have! There has been so much Christmas festivity and inspiration that I’ve been a bit beside myself! Up through today (22 December), there have been 116 posts linked up to the Countdown to Christmas. In total, 41 bloggers have contributed! Oh, and of course me…that makes 42! I’d love to recognise everyone who has contributed a post to Cafe Bebe’s Countdown to Christmas. Enjoy trawling the blogs below and at the bottom of this post, delve into the bloggy goodness of their individual posts. Fa la la la la la la la la!

• Mom on a Wire
• Support4Women
• Boxes, Lines and Squiggles
• Domestic Goddesque
• Lakes Single Mum (who has published a post every day…Gold Star Brigade)
• Mummy Matters
• Catching the Magic
• Tales from the Village
• Transatlantic Blonde
• Super Amazing Mum
• Angels and Urchins
• Mummys Shoes
• South of the River Mum
• Cherished By Me
• Mari’s World
• Imperfect Pages
• Mummy Squared
• A Matter of Choice
• Charlotte’s Plot
• Mums Survival Guide
• Red Ted Art
• Monkeying Around
• Mrs LJ Hall
• My Funky Party
• Moor Mummy
• Second Time Mummy
• Frugal Family
• This Mid 30′s Life
• Baby Budgeting
• Hello It’s Gemma
• Manana Mama
• English Mum
• Green Kiddie
• The Five F’s Blog
• Baby Genie (my 100th linky!! Whoop Whoop!)
• Ready for Ten
• Mummy’s Busy World
• A Place of my Own
• Blog Up North
• Babylon Lane Tales
• Ghost Writer Mummy

Do You Take Yourself Too Seriously?

Posted by cafebebemama on Oct 7, 2010 in Blogger Love | 6 comments

I received some invaluable advice from a friend the other day which applies to all bloggers and anyone who puts themselves “out there”. I thought I would share it with you while I try to find the shop where I can get a thicker skin.

“I read somewhere quite recently that to make it in an industry where others critique you, the only way to survive (emotionally, spiritually, etc.) is learn how to grow thick skin, learn to not take yourself too seriously, and be your own voice of reason/advocate.”

As I have real difficulty with the “grow a thick skin” part of the advice, I’m focusing on “not taking myself too seriously” and “be my own voice of reason”. I am a mum. I am a blogger. I am a mummy blogger. I am a writer. I am enjoying what I’m doing. I’m trying to make a difference with campaigns like the Pampers Big Kiss but I’m not going to solve the world’s ills with my blog or my writing.

If you’re starting out in blogging, perhaps you might want to consider those three nuggets of advice? While we’re out here, not taking ourselves too seriously, maybe we could also consider being adults and more professional in how we work, whether it’s for pay or in-kind. I don’t see Fishing Bloggers behaving unprofessionally and trying to stir the waters (ha…stir the waters…fish…water…ha).

One day the PR pitches will become more of a novelty than an expectation. One day the trend of using parent bloggers to review products, attend events and write about their experiences will become out of fashion. One day Fishing Bloggers may be the “IT GIRL” (or is it “It Fish”). Until then maybe parent bloggers can enjoy the perks, write about their experiences and act like grown ups.

Bloggers at Work for Pampers Big Kiss

Posted by cafebebemama on Oct 3, 2010 in Pampers Big Kiss | 1 comment

Last Monday a gaggle of Parent Bloggers got together to learn more about the Pampers/UNICEF campaign to eliminate Mother and Newborn Tetanus. The glorious Rosie Scribble shared some of her experiences from her visit to Cameroon and we all sat down to work on our team’s mission to bring awareness to the campaign.

Carol, Chrissie, Tara, Amy, Tim and myself came up with some great strategies and are going to bring you some important information over the coming weeks. We are working on this campaign because we are parents, because we care and because we want to make a difference. Simple!

Just a reminder of what you can do:

• Click HERE to add a VIRTUAL vaccination which will SAVE A LIFE! No trick, just click (one click only per IP address please)
• If you’re on Twiter, add a “Twibbon” to your avatar by clicking through to this site: Twibbon It’s very simple and ever so fashionable.
• Purchase Pampers nappies & wipes with the 1 pack = 1 vaccine logo. If you use them, buy them!
• Support and retweet this campaign as much as possible!

And if you ever wondered whether we bloggers just do this for giggles, have a look at all the hard work we got down to on the day!

I challenge you to add captions to each of the four photos above. Please add your captions in the comments below. The best captions will be revealed later in the week! Let’s keep it clean folks…this is Pampers/UNICEF after all! Until then spread the Pampers Big Kiss word. Thank you for your support!

Pampers Big Kiss Challenge

Posted by cafebebemama on Sep 28, 2010 in Pampers Big Kiss | 1 comment

I am taking part, for the second year, in an amazing campaign. Pampers and UNICEF have been working together since 2006 to help eliminate newborn tetanus. So far, Pampers Mums have helped save the lives of 100 million women and their babies world-wide. But there are still 170 million women and their babies who need our help. With your support, we can help save even more, and together, help eliminate newborn tetanus.

For the second year in a row, Pampers and UNICEF are reaching out to parent bloggers for their help. We’re spreading the word, leading the charge, annoying the bejesus out of our “followers”. Why not join in on the fun?? I’m working with 5 other bloggers to spread the word. Please visit their sites regularly to hear important posts and realise what your support can do:

• Bringing Up Charlie
• And 1 More Means Four…And 1 More
• New Mummy
• Mediocre Mum
• A Diary of a Yummy Mummy and The Jetsetting Baby

Also, you absolutely MUST visit the site of our Ambassadress, Rosie Scribble. Rosie made the journey of a lifetime this summer to see just what is working as a result of the Pampers/UNICEF campaign. Rosie visited Camaroon and has an inspiring tale to tell.

Now, what can you do? Well, if you use Pampers nappies and/or wipes, just go to the store as usual and purchase your preferred nappy. Make sure you see the “1 pack = 1 vaccine” logo on the package. By purchasing these products you are saving a life as your purchase buys a tetanus vaccination. If you don’t use disposable nappies or wipes, it’s even easier to contribute. Simply click on the button on the top of this post OR on the sidebar of this blog. You have just purchased a tetanus vaccination by doing so!

If you are active on Twitter, follow the bloggers and watch for the hash tag #pampersbigkiss and re-tweet, re-tweet, re-tweet! You can also “wear” a “Twibbon” on your Twitter avatar by clicking on this link: http://twb.ly/cFQztT . The bloggers usernames are: @cafebebe (moi), @and1moremeans5 (Amy), @Caroljs (Carol), @dotterel (Tim), @mediocre_mum (Chrissy), @Taraleniston (Tara) and @RosieScribble (Rosie).

Thank you for your support of this extremely worthy cause. I am honoured to be working with Pampers and UNICEF and with your help we can reach those 170 million women and babies and eliminate the threat of tetanus. What are you waiting for??

How to Treat a Parent Blogger

Posted by cafebebemama on Jan 19, 2010 in Blogger Love, Little Miss Adventures, Travelling Adventures | 14 comments

Future Bloggers enjoying Lyle's Golden Syrup Pancake Day

Little Miss and I had another brilliant adventure down to London last week where we were shown just how a parent blogger should be treated by the team at Fleishman-Hillard PR.  We were proud to be invited to take part in the Lyle’s Golden Syrup Pre-Pancake Day event which was held at The Cookery School.  The delightful Kim Hong, pictured above with Blogger SuperDad Tim of Bringing Up Charlie, Charlie, Little Miss and the bottom half of Muddling Along Mummy and her daughter B, make such a refreshing effort with us bloggers.  She deserves an award except I don’t have any to give her.  Shall I tell you about our day?  Yes, well alright then.

When Little Miss and I arrived at The Cookery School for our day of Pancake Fun, I was greeted first by UK television and radio presenter Emma Forbes who actually helped me heave the pushchair down some rather narrow stairs.  I love how many old buildings there are in London with no accessibility whatsoever!  When we got downstairs, Kim was there to greet us and once Little Miss woke up (she had blissfully fallen asleep on the 30 minute walk from King’s Cross), there were two child-sized tables with colouring pages, colour crayons and stuffed Lion toys to play with.  What more could a 19 month old want?  Also greeting us were freshly made lemon drizzle muffins and our choice of tea and coffee brought to us by the staff of The Cookery School.  The children were entertained by various members of staff including Josh & Dan who showed us how difficult flat pack furniture assembly really is!  This allowed us bloggers to chat and “network” with each other as well as live Tweet our presence to those bloggers who couldn’t attend the event (we did miss you…really we did!).

Presenter Emma Forbes on the Right

Once the Pancake Event of the proceedings kicked off we were an enthusiastic audience for Emma Forbes’ presentation of making the PERFECT PANCAKE and even got to have a go ourselves.  Tim of Bringing Up Charlie even claims to have done a PERFECT flip…there is no photographic or video evidence but as he’s a decent bloke, we’ll take his word for it.  Hannah of Muddling Along Mummy was honoured by having her gorgeous daughter chosen to flip pancakes with Emma Forbes…a special treat that she’ll be reminded of when she gets older.  After our flipping adventures, we were given the chance to make our own batter which delighted the children no end.  There was much mixing and going “round and round and round” from Little Miss in particular.

Little Miss Mixer at Lyle's Golden Syrup Pancake Day

Tim and Emma starting the pancake process

Muddling Along Mummy Hannah & children

After the mixing and flipping (Yes, Tim, we know you flipped it…sure, sure) we sat around sampling the yumminess of Lyle’s Golden Syrup and other toppings on our efforts and chatted as only parents can.  Our children were well behaved and their bellies were full.  We were all happy campers to say the least.  But that wasn’t all…no, no, no!  The Fleishman-Hillard team wasn’t done with us!  We were given goody bags to take away containing:  all of the ingredients to make proper pancakes (flour, eggs, milk, butter), 3 varieties of Lyle’s Syrup, a lemon (topping), a “Lyle the Lion” soft toy (Little Miss now refers to him as Ly-lo) and a Prestige frying pan!  A frying pan!  How great is that?  It was a little bit heavy to take on public transport but we all went away with everything we need to create our own Pancake Day at home!  And had I encountered a nefarious character on the way home from London Town, I would have been able to fend him off with my new frying pan.  Fantabulosa!  The Fleishman-Hillard team also did a draw for 2 Flip recorder/cameras which the lucky Tim won one of.  We are now expecting glorious VLOG posts from Tim & Charlie soon at their site.

Baby Bloggers amusing themselves!

It’s a very popular thing these days for PR’s to be reaching out to parent bloggers.  They contact us through our sites and give us a pitch for something we’ve “just got to try out”.  Sometimes they make a bit of an effort and actually read a post or two to show you that they know who you are and that they are interested in you.  Most of the time you get something like “Hello…we thought you might be interested in this product”.  Often, they target the pitch to the wrong person or get your name wrong altogether.  I had a pitch recently from someone who addressed me as “Dear Sir…”  Fleishman-Hillard is one of the few PR companies who is making a concerted effort to PROPERLY reach out to parent bloggers.  They KNOW who we are because they regularly read what we write and they create events for us that are very special and well worth our time and support.  I would like all PR’s to take note of the efforts that Fleishman-Hillard is making.  It doesn’t take much to make a parent blogger happy but when we are happy, we’ll go to the ends of the earth to support your cause.  Upset a parent blogger and you don’t want to be on the receiving end of what we are capable of!  So, thank you Fleishman-Hillard and Kim Hong.  Little Miss and I had an absolutely wonderful time in London, learned to make the perfect pancake and went away happy and feeling valued.  Three cheers for you…hip, hip, hooray; hip, hip, hooray; hip, hip, hooray!

Thank you Lyle's Golden Syrup & Fleishman-Hillard