The Best Swag From BlogHer ’13

I’m back from BlogHer ’13, exhausted, but happy after spending time with thousands of bloggers in Chicago. I’ve already started seeing the opinions of the best swag received at the event, from free phones to wine to vitamins to books and yes, even adult novelties. There are swag collection photos on Facebook and Instagram.

And I’ll admit I’m all for the swag. It’s fun to bring home some new products to try out, and my kids love seeing what new toy or game I’ll bring home for them each year. My husband loves the iPhone case that Best Buy was handing out on Saturday. I was thrilled to bring home a few Vitamin Burst Brew Over Ice k-cups from Keurig so I can try them out without buying a whole box of them first. And thanks to Nature Made I’m all set on vitamins for the next month or two.

So what was my favorite swag from the event? It was all of this:

A lovely Expo hall with wide aisles holding sponsors who were (mostly) easy to talk with and interested in working with bloggers.

At the Welcome Reception (sponsored by Daily’s Cocktails – yum!), a band I’ve never heard of – Sidney York  – who were so much fun and introduced me to the idea of “weapons-grade love.”

Yes, they’re rocking a french horn and a bassoon.

The beauty of running/walking along the edge of the lake in Chicago at 6:30am for the Best Buy/BlogHer 5K. And finishing.

quiet beauty of Navy Pier at 6:30am

Ow, my feet.

Spending quality face-time with my co-workers.

This looks like a tame photo of a few of us. Where are we sitting, you ask?

Yep, same location. In the bathtub of the presidential suite for the CheeseburgHer party. Best seat in the house.

We somehow convinced Lisa Stone to join us for a (blurry) photo, too.

Team building exercise at the White Cloud booth – or maybe just goofy photobombing.

All team meetings should be like this.

Dressed up for the occasion

Needing a rest when we considered the email waiting for us after the conference.

Watching amazing keynote speakers, like Gale Anne Hurd (producer of Terminator, The Walking Dead, etc) who won’t rule out a collaboration with Joss Whedon should the opportunity present itself.

 Photo credit: BlogHer 13 photo team (Danielle Tsi, Nader Khouri and Ricky Kluge)

Crying during the BlogHer Fashion Show as I watched other bloggers, despite their fears and insecurities, show off their inner and outer beauty like I did a year ago.

 Photo credit: Melisa Wells

And, of course, catching up with newer and long-time friends, even if some of them do live an hour or less than me and it’s silly that we only see each other at these conferences. (All of those people called “coworkers” up above? They also fit in this group as well.)

Who could ask for better swag than that?