WHEW! We’re back from our first National Stationery Show. What a whirlwind.

The booth (one MILLION thanks to John for figuring out and building this plywood miracle) came together pretty well, with my hand painted signage and this amazing paper installation from all-around awesome event designer Michelle Bablo. She also helped John set up and break down the booth since Wiley wasn’t allowed to be in the convention center during those times.

Bringing a 6 month old to the stationery show was… a challenge, but that will make next year a breeze, right? Honestly, it was great. He’s young enough that he slept for most of the drive, and then John stayed behind at the hotel with him during the days (I enlisted friends to sit in the booth with me). We splurged this year and got a hotel room instead of staying with friends, so that we could easily go back and froth with the baby- that was a pretty big added expense but totally worth it. Our tiny NYC hotel room was pretty ridiculous with all of our baby gear crammed into it though!

The show was great! This was the first year they put us all downstairs, which made for a little bit of a more intimate feeling. I heard mixed reviews from people who’d done it in past years, but since it was our first time at the show, with nothing to compare it to, I think we did pretty well. It was super fun to meet buyers (and paper friends) in person, especially those who I’ve conversed with in emails or social media in the past.

Will we do it again? I think we’ll probably do it at least once more to have something to compare against, and then maybe switch to biannual.We’re also looking at some other wholesale trade shows that we might try out next year.

So now, we have A TON of printing to do to get all these new orders out, but that’s exactly the kind of “problem” I love to have!