Camp Baby Recap

Whew! I’m home from Johnson’s Camp Baby and I have so much to share. First, let me say what an awesome experience it was. J&J invited 50+ mommy bloggers to travel to New Brunswick, NJ (the company’s headquarters), all expenses paid for a couple days of fun and learning.

As I talked about in my last post, the first night we were treated to a wine tasting with Ted Allen. Here’s my very lame picture of him. But you can see better photo documentation of his presence over at MomAdvice.com. Amy snagged him for a jealous-worthy picture.

The next morning, was a whirlwind of seminars, including:

• The Mystery of Getting Your Infant & Toddler to Sleep with Dr. Jodi Mindell
• A look into how Johnson’s develops its baby products with J&J’s research and development team
• Infant/toddler eye care and an introduction to the InfantSEE program with Scott Jens, O.D.
• The Dirt on Germs with Charles “Dr. Germ” Gerba, Ph.D
• Mom Trends with Tina Sharkey, Chairman and Global President of BabyCenter, LLC
• Mom and kid nutrition with dietitian, Lisa Tartamella
• A “Tell Us What You Think” session, where the mommy bloggers got to speak their minds on Johnson’s products and impressions of the company
• A “girls talk” about “what is happening down there.” Nuf said.
• And finally, Braiding at Its Best–how to braid your little angel’s hair.

It was a jammed-packed day. After an hour break, all the mommies got gussied up and were chauffeured to the Frog and Peach restaurant. We were treated to an open-bar, fancy appetizers, and Nintendo Wii and DS games. It was my first time playing the Wii. Here’s Susan playing tennis.

And my ass trying out the yet-to-be-released, Wii Fit. It’s basically a board you stand on for an array of games including aerobics, yoga, and more.

Thank God we got a better picture of ourselves at the sit-down dinner. Aww…

As we left the restaurant we were each surprised with a Nintendo DS Lite with the game Brain Age. Whoo-hoo! We were sooo excited.

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and were taken to J&J’s headquarters. Many of the mommy bloggers stayed to listen to a presentation about Safe Kids, a J&J sponsored program whose mission is to prevent accidental childhood injuries. Only myself, Susan, Adrienne, and Carmen were interested in touring J&J’s daycare facility.

As a working mom, it was refreshing to see a corporation like J&J with an on-site daycare for working parents. It’s a Bright Horizons NAEYC-accredited daycare, nursery, and kindergarten facility. The daycare isn’t free to employees, but deeply discounted. Employees are welcomed to stop by the daycare at anytime during the day. And if there’s an opening that day, they’ll provide back-up childcare for employees who are just visiting the headquarters for a day of meetings.

After the J&J tour, we headed back to the hotel for the grand product giveaway. We got all sorts of great products, including Johnson’s baby products, bath products, and shampoos, Avveno baby lotion, Splenda, Listerine, new Listerine Smart Rinse for kids, and more. They also announced the three winners for the trip to Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Yep, can you believe it? J&J is an Olympic sponsor, so three lucky bloggers get to go along for the trip of a lifetime. I didn’t win, but that’s okay.

Because we got so much loot, J&J is shipping our freebies back home. There was no way I’d fit everything in my carry on bag. Once it gets here I can’t wait to share the wealth with my WMAG fellow bloggers.

Here’s me pretending to look like I’m blogging on the spot. I couldn’t keep up with all the mommies who were live blogging or twittering.

All in all, I had a great time and I can’t thank the J&J team enough for the experience. I loved meeting so many wonderful women bloggers from all over the country. And I felt very privileged to be a part of a great blogger outreach program put together by the J&J team. I think it was a smart move by the brand to reach out to a select group of their core target audience, rather than blowing the marketing budget on another national print or TV campaign.

Thanks, Johnson’s!