It’s been going for 14 years, and to be honest with you, I think that was probably around the time when I last went to the Women’s Lifestyle Expo in Wellington. My male photographer thought it would be only about tampons and hair ties…
Women’s Lifestyle Expo 7 – 8 August 2010.
TSB Bank Arena, Wellington
It’s been going for 14 years since the first exhibition in 1996, and to be honest with you, I think that was probably around the time when I last went to the Women’s Lifestyle Expo. I had it in my head it would be a quick visit with products and stalls I already knew about. But I was wrong and through those 14 years the Women’s Lifestyle Expo has grown to more than 160 stalls featuring a wide variety of things to not only interest women, but men, too.
What did I think of it?
I was pleasantly surprised along with my male photographer who thought it would be only about tampons and hair ties. But in fact the Women’s Lifestyle Expo is a colourful mix of beauty products, local businesses, fashion, household products, food and more importantly there’s a vast array of stalls designed to inform women about their health. Health stalls range from the more alternative, to breast awareness, natural health, spinal health……the list goes on.
One of my favorite stalls was the Cupcake Sweeties stand. With cupcakes being the in thing at the moment, this colourful stall with delicate pretty looking cupcakes got my tonsils tingling. Launched last year in May, Cupcake Sweeties are an online company based in Lower Hutt. You can order cupcakes for any special occasion or buy supplies, like decoration kits, to make your own creations. Not only are these little delights the cutest things you’ve seen they also taste delicious.
Food was obviously on my mind as my attention was drawn to hairdresser and Mexican restaurant owner of Las Margaritas, Andres Plmentel. Watching him do his magic in styling a new hair do, Andres was quick to inform me he was more than just a hairdresser and his margaritas are the best in town! Impressed by his multi talents, I think I’ll have to head down to 9 Daly Street, Lower Hutt and try those famous margaritas.
Next it was time to do what every woman loves – shop! There was plenty to buy, with businesses from local and afar selling products from all ranges of clothing, beads, fragrances, skin care, and soaps, all at affordable prices. The product that stuck out in my mind was the Window Mates Magnetic Window Cleaner, a fantastic little gadget that allows you to wash both sides of your window at once – brilliant!
Frankly, I was rather impressed. $10 got you into a world of food, cooking, fashion, inspiration, shows, demonstrations, competitions…all sorts. It was a great day out. My only disappointment was the goodie bag, it was ok, but most of the brands I hadn’t heard of and I’d probably rather had a bunch of sample products I recognized. But don’t get me wrong, I felt the expo was well worth $10 and exceeded my expectations.
It definitely wasn’t just about tampons and hair ties!
Story and photos, Sarah Hunter 7 August 2010.
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