The following blog may include affiliate links. Please see my affiliate disclosure page to understand what that means. This was an all expenses paid trip, but I was not paid to write this blog. All thoughts and opinions are my own and are not represented by any of the mentioned companies.

Incredible doesn’t even begin to describe my experience this past week. If you didn’t see, a couple of blogs ago I explained that I had won a trip to the New York Toy Fair with KidsEmbrace and Franco Dreams. On the night of Thursday, February 20th, I got on a red eye flight from Sacramento, CA to New York City. I honestly didn’t know what to expect. Would I get along with these people? Would they like me? Would I feel comfortable flying across the country to spend a week with people I had only DM’d and emailed with? Would the toy fair be fun or would it just be a lot of intimidating work? I had no idea what I was getting into last week — and I’m coming out of the trip today with a bunch of new friends who quickly became like family and a bigger understanding of how to do business as a brand at a trade show.

Let’s start from the very beginning, back when I found out I had won. Because I had won the contest, my team leader from Collaboration Nation got to attend the fair with me. Nikki Diaz hand picked me for her team back in November/December, but we had never met. We broke the ice and hit it off by DMing each other daily about what food we wanted to eat while in NYC (she’s pregnant, and I love food. We totally worked out haha.) By the beginning of the trip, I felt like I knew her already so that was really comforting. I had met a few others casually through emails but I honestly had no idea what I was getting into. *cue “Into The Unknown” from Frozen 2* All jokes aside, I was genuinely excited but I was totally nervous.

Traveling into NYC

I flew out around 9pm on Wednesday night. When I left my son at the terminal, I sobbed my guts out knowing I wouldn’t see him for a week. I’m pretty sure TSA thought I was crazy. I flew into JFK early Thursday morning and with no sleep at all, I took the LIRR to Penn Station. Imagine my face when I walked up (okay, okay…struggled to lug my 50 lb suitcase up) the stairs straight into MADISON SQUARE GARDEN!! So unexpected but such a cool start to my week of exploration. It was FREEZING the first day I was there — literally a high of 37 degrees Fahrenheit — so I hopped in a cab to drive me the 3-4 blocks to the Hyatt Place NYC Times Square — my little home away from home at 39th and 9th. At 7 am, Vincent (the C.O.O. of KidsEmbrace) was already in the lobby awaiting my arrival with a KIND bar and Starbucks iced coffee in hand. He even got the flavor right! What a guy. He got me all squared away at the desk and even negotiated for me to enjoy the breakfast buffet our hotel offered right then and there. He left back to the expo center to continue setting the booth up, but he encouraged me to do whatever I wanted in the city that day and to not stress about helping them out. So what was the first thing I did, childless in New York with no real plan and all of my expenses paid? I took a 5 hour nap. I’m not even joking. It was glorious.

When I woke up, I got ready in my cutest outfit (including my awesome custom jacket made by MagicalDenimCouture!) and planned to head out when I got a text from Angelo’s aunt Lisa! She lives in NY and invited me out to lunch — so sweet of her! I met up with her on 6th ave and we walked to a pizza place called Lazzara’s pizza. It was delicious! Napkin thin crust pizza with delicious flavor. We talked about life, love, family, and fashion. We said our goodbyes and I headed back to the hotel to take my leftovers to my fridge. She’s always such a great conversation and I wish I would’ve gotten to see her more but there was just so much going on and I was only really “free” that first day.

Times Square and meeting the KidsEmbrace team

Once I got back to my hotel, Nikki had texted me that she had just got to the hotel! Immediately she came down to my floor and met with me. She was so sweet and it was already very comfortable from weeks of messaging each other NY restaurants and food haha. We talked about her flight and I mentioned I was gonna head to Times Square after we talked. She wanted to join and ran upstairs to get her beanie and coat. The walk to Times Square was freezing, but really fun! We passed a bunch of amazing smelling restaurants and the New York Times building before we got to the spot in front of the Disney store. We took some photos and then crossed the street to explore inside. It was massive and had a bunch of NYC exclusive merchandise right inside the door. I purchased a cute shirt for Andy as well as a really cool experience they offer where a cast member takes your photo in their theater and you choose a time for it to go up on the Times Square billboard above their store! You also get a digital and printed copy of your billboard photo and a pin that’s exclusive to the Times Square Disney Store. I chose for my photo to show about 10 minutes later and we ran outside to prepare to get some photos in front of it. Those were the longest 10 minutes EVER in that 30 degree weather! It finally popped up, I got my photos, and we headed into a store right next to it that had little NY souvenirs. We both wanted to get little taxis and FDNY trucks for our kids, but I didn’t realize I was going to have to give up a kidney for three little cars. HAHA. $62, three toy cars, and two souvenir coins for my husband later and we were headed back in the direction of the hotel — but not without stopping at Gray’s Papaya! Making quick stops for food became a regular thing for Nikki and I when we were out and about. It became a known thing after we literally ditched everyone to go get Banana Pudding from Magnolia Bakery one night and couldn’t stop talking about it for the rest of the trip. Hahaha. We went back to the hotel for a couple of hours until we got details for dinner once the others completed building the booth. We met in the lobby around 8pm that night and took a cab to Maloney & Porcelli. The food was fantastic, the atmosphere was straight out of a movie, and it really let me get to know the guys from KidsEmbrace better before the actual toy fair started. I got to know Vincent more – he’s a family driven man who loves his wife and his daughter. He loves a good seafood tower, and you’ll almost always catch him laughing until he can’t breathe over the latest dad joke. Then there was Bryant — who seems super quiet until you actually get to know him. He’s actually hilarious and super friendly, and I loved hearing about his family and how he and his wife have been together since high school! I also got to meet David who works with Franco Dreams. He heard I was from Modesto and immediately started asking me super specific questions about my town — come to find out he’d actually been here! What a cool coincidence. We finished our food after Vincent and I took turns spilling everything we touched on the table, and we decided to head back to the hotel so we could all rest for the start of the toy fair the next morning.

The NY Toy Fair

The New York Toy Fair was something out of a dream. Never-ending rows of booths filled with hopeful companies — big and small — attempting to network with different distributors, licensors, and other companies seeking collaboration. A very common question I got during the week from people on my Instagram was if it’s a public ticketed event, which it is not! The Toy Fair is a trade show. It’s only open to exhibitors, their guests, and people of the toy trade. The public cannot enter, and it’s not an event where things are being sold at each booth. Most booths are set up with a very basic idea of how you could display their product in a storefront, which will attract other companies to want to start carrying that product in their stores. It also gives each company a chance to debut upcoming products for the next year. KidsEmbrace was showing off a very exclusive black uniform Batman seat that has never been sold before. Their blue Batman seat has been so popular that they even made a giant adult size for fun photo opportunities, so I’m really excited for them to release him in his other color. In the time we spent at the booth, I figured out the answers to the most basic level of questions being asked, and I was able to carry a knowledgeable conversation with anyone that came to look at our booth! It was really interesting and felt good to fall so easily into the rhythm of what we were actually there for. I always broke the ice by asking if the person wanted a photo in the giant Batman carseat. How could you say no to that?! It was lots of fun. Bumkins Baby, a close partner of KidsEmbrace, had a booth right across from us so it was like one big party the whole time. I feel like I spent an equal amount of time hanging out at their booth as I did at our own. Nikki and I spent the rest of each day running around the entire fair, searching for networking opportunities both for KidsEmbrace and ourselves, and we even had the chance to meet FGTEEV, Blippi, and Doug the Pug. We also attended an event put on by Bonkers Toys to view the new toys put out this year by Ryan’s World, Trinity and Beyond, FGTEEV, and Braille Skateboarding! It was really awesome and I personally enjoyed seeing how proud Trinity from T&B was of her toys and how she was showing everyone how they worked. Can you imagine being so young and already having a mass marketed toy? How cool is that!? They sent us away with some free Ryan’s World surprise bags and goodies from Magnolia Bakery. Overall, the Toy Fair was really well put together and I enjoyed getting to network with brands from all around the world!

The few days we were at the toy fair kind of blurred together in a cycle of meeting Nikki downstairs for breakfast, going back upstairs to get ready for the day, walking or taking a cab to the Javits Center where the fair was being held, networking, meeting new people, and having amazing team dinners afterwards at restaurants like Mastro’s and Arno’s. We did a LOT in the 4 days of the Toy Fair, and my feet are still paying for it. Pro tip if you ever go to one of these – wear extremely comfortable shoes.

Franco Showroom, Empire State, and the final night

The day before I flew back home, Franco Manufacturing (or Franco Dreams as most of you know them as) set up an influencer party for us and a few NYC influencers that included an amazing tour of their showroom, as well as breakfast! We weren’t allowed to take photos since there’s a bunch of unreleased stuff, but I can promise you it was amazing. I wanted every single bedding set they had! When we sat down for breakfast, they gave us these incredible goody filled BACKPACKS that included items from Franco Dreams, KidsEmbrace, High Speed Daddy, Bumkins, Sunstaches, Cozyphones, Happy Feet, and Silver Buffalo NYC. They had all different combinations of characters, but I chose Paw Patrol since we didn’t have any of the Paw Patrol stuff yet. After the Franco party, I was hosted by the Empire State Building for a VIP tour, which I will go further into in a separate blog. I brought along Kira from Franco Dreams as well as Nikki, and I also got to pick one of the NY influencers from the party to bring as well. I ended up picking our new friend Laura, and I’m so glad I did! She was so sweet and we actually ended up taking her to the toy fair after the tour! It was a good day to bring her because the fair was ending, so most booths were selling some of their stuff to prevent having to ship it back. We all walked out with a bunch of goodies for our kids for next to nothing. We said our goodbyes to Laura, tore down the booths, and went to our last team dinner of the trip – or so I thought – at a place called The Restaurant. We came back to the hotel after, said our goodbyes to the Bumkins team, and ended up going back out just as KidsEmbrace. We grabbed a couple slices at Joe’s Pizza – a place just off of Times Square known for being in Spiderman, and a known celebrity staple with photos lining the walls of every celebrity that has stopped in. All four of us squeezed around one tiny table and ate until we couldn’t anymore. The pizza was excellent! I definitely recommend Joe’s for anyone going to the city. It was around 12:30 in the morning and I knew that the Disney Store stayed open until 1 am. I had been eyeing a NYC Minnie Loungefly bag the entire trip but hadn’t convinced myself to get it until this moment. I asked them if they wanted to walk around the corner to go get it and everyone semi-willingly said yes haha. We ended up having a blast shopping and goofing around there at midnight, and I finally got my bag. We took an uber back to the hotel, said our final goodbyes in the elevator and went to bed.

The long road home

Literally every single person from the trip left before I did. My flight wasn’t scheduled to board until 4:10 pm, and everyone else flew out before 10am. I scheduled my Lyft to JFK for 12:10 pm and was out of my room by 11:30 am to check out. I sat on the couch in the lobby and just soaked everything I could in before I had to leave. I couldn’t believe that a week had already flown by. I got in my Lyft, and started the hour long drive to the airport. Once I got there, I checked my bag, went through security, and got something to eat. Around the time we were scheduled to board, they kept delaying the flight by 10 mins over and over because a flight attendant hadn’t shown up for work. We finally got on the plane, got comfortable, taxied out to the runway, and then sat there for an hour! Everyone was so mad and confused, and I just wanted to go home and see my little boy! They finally came on the intercom to let us know they were receiving some fault code about the landing gear, and possibly would have to go back to the gate. We were all furious. They sat there for another 20 minutes and finally told us we were cleared to take off. I didn’t know whether to be excited to finally leave, or extremely nervous to be flying in a plane that was giving fault codes. I landed safely 5 hours later, found my parents, drove back to Modesto, and finally got to hug my sweet kid and show him all of his toys. It was around 10 pm at this time and I was exhausted but the adrenaline of seeing my family again kept me up well past 2 am that night. We finally snuggled up, went to bed, and my dream trip was finally over.

I want to truly thank the people over at KidsEmbrace and Franco Dreams for sending me on this wild adventure. I am so honored to be a social media coordinator for you and can’t wait to see what we do together in the future. Thank you for the laughs, the drinks, the midnight strolls through Disney Store, and the love. Thank you Nikki for taking me in all week and making sure I was always comfortable, well fed, and having fun. I appreciate all of you and had the best week ever. Here’s to next time!