#ECMeetUp: We came, we saw, we ate mini cupcakes

Our 2nd #ECMeetUp for 2016 (lovingly referred to as “the mini meet”) took place this past Saturday at The Athenaeum. We called it a mini meet because we weren’t up to pulling off another massive meet, with all the frills and bows, as per the last time. In our heads (well, in Elles head and in my spreadsheet brain) we planned a small get together, with little brand involvement. But our friends over at Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism decided to blow our minds and we ended up having a semi-mini-meet of sorts that resembled a regular major meet!

As always, it’s been amazing planning the meet up with my co-planner, Ella. When one of us is freaking out, the other is the one holding things down. I was so thankful for that when I ended up having to be a waitress due to reasons I do not deem worthy to share. Aaanyways, she’ll be telling you more about the #ECMeetUp guest list, today. You needsta see it!

We were legit blessed yet AGAIN by all the wonderful sponsor involvements this time around. It’s so encouraging to see a huge number of brands and business be excited about our ever growing EC Bloggers list. So without further a do, we would like to say a thank you, and name drop, all the brands that made the meet up exciting:

Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism again and again and again! Thank you Reu, Anje and team for being so amazing! NMBT are passionate about creating a platform where creatives based in and around NMB can shine.

Rain Africa, well known for their luxurious bath and body treatments, were such a lavish addition to the goodiebags. They sent us boxes of attractively packaged lotions, potions and bath goodies to spoil ourselves with. Can’t wait to tell you more about it and to do a special giveaway sometime next week!

Woolworths Beauty (based in Walmer Park) also stepped up to the plate again this year with lovely smelling gifts and amazing hampers! Keep your eyes peeled for reviews to come!

Masterton’s Coffee and Tea Specialists has been dubbed Port Elizabeth’s favorite coffee. So we were super chuffed to have Mark and the lovely Gillian set up a coffee station for us. I think that our bloggers loved it too! (And alot!)

Oh and I must mention Belloccia Bakery’s yummy mini cupcakes that helped to start the day off right! Also, someone walked away with a nom-worthy Belloccia prize. Lucky fish!

Some of you may know that I am employed at Times Media, more specifically The Herald newspaper. The Herald Live (our digital newspaper) are excited about partnering with local bloggers. They sent over 4 Typo hampers that had everyone drooling over them! Hubstopher (you’ll find him over at Groove Station) won one of them and you would think that he would share it with me! He recons that since he was a ticket holding blogger AND the sound guy/dj for the day, he deserves it more than I do. But that’s another blog post for another day. #ithinkilovemyhusband

Christian Art Media sent 3 huge boxes of one of my favorite goodiebag items: BOOKS! The bloggers received an autographed copy of Shauna Niequist’s latest: “Bread and Wine“. Shauna happens to be a blogger, so we found this stunning read a fitting addition.

And while we’re on the topic of book writing bloggers, we were THRILLED to host our very own EC blogging author, Nadine Rose Larter, at the meet up. Nadine so graciously gave each meet up guest a copy of her book, ‘Coffee at Little Angels’. The lady is very modest when it comes to praising her own work. But let me tell ya, I’ve just started reading it and I can’t put it down!

Oh So Heavenly came on board with lovely smelling mini shampoos and conditioners. Benefit Cosmetics sent us a bunch of (much needed) bite sized beauty products – the mascara is my absoloute FAVE! I promise you, that mascara takes my eyelashes from “wheres wally” to “wally get out of the way you’re blocking the tv”. Like I said, much needed!

One of my favorite things at the meet up was the #ECMeetUp memory wall made possible by Print Wild. They are a legit online print service and my experience with them has been nothing short of fantastic. They also gave away 1 voucher for a blogger and 1 for the blogger to give away on her blog. So keep your eyes glued to Penelope&Bella for more deets on that competition.

Vita Liberata sent us some vouchers for the goodiebags (hello Summer!) and the Radisson Blu gave 1 lucky guest a breakfast for 2 .

We were so pleased to feature a whole bunch of Port Elizabeth based businesses and brands. I mean, if we’re hosting an EC meet up then we should fa shiz be celebrating EC businesses as well! Saltz (although not birthed out of the EC) was one of my absolute faves! Saltz produces 100% natural, infused magnesium bath saltz. I can’t wait to give them all a try and tell you guys about it!

I was also blown away by the creative talents of NogsteedsLana. Her range of unique and funky cards had me curious to see what else this girl has up her sleeve.
Thingmajigs was also another fave – hand crafted, quirky jewelry and accessories. Another unique, local business is the Oh So Charming brand that gave away a voucher for an animal totem (think: Brother Bear, but cooler!)

Cleo of CASA Fashion Design gave away a voucher for one of her designs and The Don Designs totally spoilt one lucky blogger with a voucher for a Blog Makeover! I know, right?!
How crazy is this list?
Now add to this our clever (and funny) guest speakers (Anje Rautenbach and Colours of You SA – thank you guys!) and incredible photography done by Miriam Maulana at New Kid on the Block Photography (thank you Mir) and you have, what I’d like to call: A super duper BIG-mini-meetup!

I will be posting the official meet up photos, a couple of reviews and a whole bunch of giveaways in the near future. So… see you soon? Great!