It's an annual event that takes place at several Simon Malls around the world and some private events as well. It was designed by Maria Bailey, to give Mom's a "night off".
I am a Member of Mom Select Network, a network that connects brands and bloggers for reviews and such. I got an email about this event and it just so happened that one was being hosted at my local mall, a small mall I might add.
I got excited. I have never been away from my kids. Ever. This was going to be my first time away. Thankfully it's only 3 miles from my house so the location and timing was just perfect. I gathered a few of my local girlfriends and we made plans to meet up at the mall.
Here goes....
My heels, I found it hard to drive my Minivan in these bad boys! And when I stepped out of the Van, I had a few eyes on me, I guess they were waiting for me to fall? ;)
Here I was, ready to go in and have my first night out away from my 2 year old and 7 month old.
I got even more excited when I saw the line looking like this a 1/2 hour before the event was due to begin. I was like okay wow, this might be a big deal.
I was there before my girl friends so I did a walk though. I got a fun bag, a few coupons and entered to win a few prizes. I hadn't eaten dinner thinking that there was going to be food there. I was wrong, they had 1/2 bite size cookies, tiny cinnamon bites, and mini pretzel bites, with teeny tiny cups of juice.
The highlight of the entire event was seeing my ladies. It would have been a total bust if it wasn't for them.
Oh and then there was the cow, he was the best entertainment there, the music was awful.
This is how we felt when all was said and done. We grabbed a sip of wine and went upstairs to eat, where we sat for hours to catch up on life.
There was so much hype all over the web about how amazing this event was going to be. I hope for other Mom's that the places they went were more exciting. There were no "make overs" or anything fun like that for us here in Maryland. I almost feel like Maria would be let down by how low key this event turned out to be. It was my first time being away from my kids and maybe other parents as well, where was the FUN?
I feel like the Mall could have put more effort into this event. I am the type of person where if you are going to do something, go all out. I tried reaching out to the Mall & Moms Nite Out website to try to put something together for our local moms group, but no one ever got back to me. Maybe that's why this was such a bust? Because they didn't utilize people who wanted to be involved.
All in all, I had a great night sitting in the food court chatting with my girls, which I could have done on any night at any restaurant. I spent 3 1/2 hours away from CJ & HJ, I never thought I could do it. Husband said he enjoyed the time with them, which makes me think I may do it more often.
