social media – The Next Kid Thing

Enjoy the Magic: Attending the 2016 DisneySMMC

May 4, 2016May 4, 2016 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

It’s hard to believe that it’s time for the 2016 Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. In March, a magical invitation landed in my inbox at just the right time. Naturally.

Chaos and hardships always seem to pop up at the most inopportune times. This year, though I truly shocked and honored to receive another invitation to DisneySMMC. Because it wasn’t our first time, I had to really think about it. We weren’t financially prepared to take a vacation to Disney World, just weeks away. And truly, with all the chaos happening at home, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to take a vacation, never mind be with anyone outside of my daily bubble.

And that’s when it hit me: in light of the crazy, I needed to seek joy. So, we pinched our pennies, and the stars aligned, and here we are…

Because joy always balances the crazy, right?

For my non-social media friends and family, DisneySMMC is an invite-only event hosted by Disney Parks where we, as influencers, are given an inside look at what makes this place so magical. It’s one of the few elite celebrations where families are included and encouraged to join the festivities. Disney hosts meticulously-planned parties and social media strategy lectures and more over the 4-day event.

One of my absolute favorite speakers was from the 2015 event. Eva Smith, Head of Marketing Insights for Pinterest shared a lot of valuable information. In fact, I’ve gone on to use a lot of that info when I freelance as a social media consultant and train small businesses. The lessons and insight I gained from that talk alone was worth all the effort and investment in attending.

Sponsors such as Hanes, Kimberly Clark, Alamo, GoGo SqueeZ, Joffrey’s and American Tourister contribute to the magic. But it’s the Disney Parks Team that goes above and beyond to provide such incredible experiences for the 150+ influencers and their families in attendance.

It goes without saying that, contrary to popular belief, DisneySMMC is NOT a “free trip.” I’ve had friends and family members assume that we get to come here for free. Not the case. In fact, we had to scrape to be able to afford this trip. (We’re eating PB&J on the days that Disney doesn’t feed us!) While we pay our way to take part in the Celebration, we do receive some complimentary items (swag), discounts and other cool perks. One of our favorite perks was meeting Olaf last year!

If you follow me on social media, then you may already know that my family has been in Florida for a few days. With the crazy weather on the East Coast, I’m glad we got the painful traveling out of the way so we can hopefully enjoy the sunshine for the rest of the week.

Today, May, 4, 2016, my guys and I spent the day at Hollywood Studios in honor of Star Wars Day. May the Fourth Be With You! It was cold, wet and rainy, but we had so much fun checking out our favorite attractions and interacting with Storm Troopers and more.

Now that we’re all settled into the Beach Club, I will be sharing a lot of info on my social channels. I plan to snap more off the cuff, behind the scenes stuff on Snapchat. Fun visuals over on Instagram. Limited updates and maybe a Facebook Live post from some parts of the conference on Friday, 5/6. And definitely videos over on YouTube. I’ll link up my channels below, so be sure to follow for more fun updates!

Twitter: @jenrab
Instagram: @jenrab
Snapchat: jen_rab
Facebook: The Next Kid Thing
YouTube: The Next Kid Thing

Full disclosure: At DisneySMMC, we receive some complimentary items and discounts, however all opinions on NKT are my own.

We’re going to #DSMM in May

March 7, 2016March 7, 2016 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Blogging has afforded my family and me the most wonderful experiences over the years. But, among all the cool experiences, some of the highlights have been being invited to Disney Social Media Moms Celebration (DSMM) multiple times.

I’ll be the first to tell you: I don’t have the “biggest” blog, I don’t have numbers inflated by giveaways, and I’m almost always overwhelmed by life and how much work needs to get done. Nevertheless, I believe in staying true to myself and to this site I created 8 years ago. I’m proud of having the platform to keep my journalism background at work while creating a site that reaches such a diverse audience. NKT has ebbed and it’s flowed, but through it all, I’m so glad I’ve had an outlet to share all of the cool things for kids that make us happy.

When my littler guy was extremely sick 2/3 years ago, and we had nothing but visits to specialists and procedures on our calendar, I shared a lot of my life on social media as a way to cope. My community rallied and helped me stay sane. Sure, I use social media daily to promote the site and whatever’s the topic du jour, but in the end, it’s truly changed my life.

At Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, I’ve learned how to hone my craft and how to better understand analytics for platforms such as Pinterest. Speakers have inspired us in storybook ways, just as one would expect Disney to showcase. But most importantly, Disney has brought my family together in the toughest times,—when we’ve been financially drained by medical bills, overcome by worries and consumed by what ifs. As my older son is quickly racing to become a teen and my younger son gets stronger every day, it’s the happy times that elevate us as a family.

Our life is far from storybook, but we’ll always have our Disney memories to lift us up when we need them most. I’m forever grateful for Disney Parks and BSM Media for making those memories that much more magical.

I’m finishing up some video from last year’s Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, but for now, I wanted to share this recap video of last year’s event that was created for Disney.

I can’t wait to share our experiences at DSMM again in May. Until then, I’m sure my Pinterest boards and blog posts will be flooded with Disney crafts and ideas inspired by The Mouse.

2011 Top Toys

March 20, 2012 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

We might be well into 2012, but I got a little nostalgic while putting together an application. This application process, which involved pinning the best of 2011’s toys, made me really think about what made these toys and games so great*. But before I go into that, here’s just a few of the hot toys of 2011. Coincidentally, I was at the launch for two of my favorite toys from last year, but parties and costumed monsters aside, these toys really rocked!

Let’s Rock Elmo

This interactive and rockstar-inspired version of the the furry red monster, comes with his own tambourine, microphone and bongos. Kids can sing or play along with Elmo or let Elmo be his own one man band with his instruments. I love how Let’s Rock Elmo can recognize the instruments and does his own little dance. And not surprisingly, since this Elmo sings and dances, my four year old still loves to rock out with him. And as I mentioned on my Pinterest description, one of my favorite aspect of Let’s Rock Elmo is that its interactivity is a hit with many special needs kids.

Skylander Spyro’s Adventure

I have a whole detailed post about Skylander coming up, but I’ll just reiterate what I said on Pinterest. Activision’s Skylander Spyro’s Adventure does what no other video game has been able to do: bring characters to life in the form of functioning collectibles. And even though he may not totally get the game itself, my guy loves the concept and the whimsical characters—so much so, he slept with his Skylander case for weeks!

Pining for Pinterest

As social media continues to flourish, I try my best to stay at the forefront of it all. Even though I haven’t been blogging as much as I’d like, in our families’ recent health scares and the new baby arrival, Pinterest has kept inspired. Over the past few months I haven’t been pinning kid products as much, but instead, I’ve been unearthing ideas for my home and brightening up my monochromatic wardrobe! But tonight as part of the Toy Insider Parent Advisory Board application I submitted, I put together some pins and my opinions on what I thought were some of the best toys of 2011. I’ll be sure to update my boards with more cool kid stuff. Pinterest is such a tricky space right now, so I’ll more than likely share my own ideas and repinning everything under the moon! And since we’re talking about pinning, find me on Pinterest!

*IMO: What makes a toy great

Since I’ve been writing about kid products for a few years now, I thought I’d reassess why I choose to feature the toys and products on this site. Why do I think a toy is great? Aside from what my own family thinks about a product, I consider these things:

Does it have a lot of play value? (this is a biggie)
Will it make it past the first month?
Is it durable enough to pass down?
Is it safe?
Is it educational in some way?
Will it drive me crazy?
Is it really worth it?

As products in general constantly evolve, I still get excited about the newest innovations in toys, games, apps, books. I count my lucky stars for being able to do something fun and fascinating on my own terms.

Janie and Jack Tweets a sneak peek

June 23, 2009June 23, 2009 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

As they say, the internet—specifically, social media—has forever changed the way we receive information. But lucky for us shopping fanatics, that’s a good thing. Even though I’ve been on Twitter for almost a year, I love seeing that it’s going mainstream. Better yet, many of my favorite stores and brands are joining the Twitter and Facebook bandwagon. On very few occasions, these stores and brands are harnessing the power of social media the “right” way, rather than having a one-sided conversation.

It’s true, I often see stores or brands tweet or merely post things without interacting with the consumer. It’s too bad for them because these new social media outlets are invaluable to both the consumer AND retailer. For instance, check out one of my favorite stores, Janie and Jack. Last night, Janie and Jack, a part of the Gymboree Corporation, tweeted a preview to their upcoming line. They posted the link to the sneak peek of their new lines, which then led to their Facebook Fan Page which showcased four photos of super cute outfits that aren’t even available online until June 29 and in the stores until July 8. Cupcakes and pirates: two of our favorite things!

Great usage of Twitter AND Facebook, Janie and Jack! While these adorable new outfits might not be on our budget just yet, that preview reminded me that Janie and Jack has a 60% off sale going on right now! These sales are awesome, especially since I normally don’t buy at Janie and Jack until things go on sale! If you’re new to Twitter or even if you’ve been on for awhile, be sure to follow your favorite stores and brands, in addition to your friends, and you’re bound to find some secret sales, previews and maybe a deal you just can’t pass up!

Have we connected on Twitter? Maybe I’ll even do a secret contest of my own soon. hmmmm…