Monday 23 November 2015

Do Baby Fairs Really Help Save You Money?

Baby fairs happens in KL every two or three months or so. Hubby and I have been going for a lot of them and up till recently I started asking myself this question..."Do baby fairs really help us save money or spend more money?"

The TCE Baby Expo started at the Midvalley Exhibition Centre on the 20th - 22nd  November and we are wondering if we should go there to have a look. Essentially when we go and have a look, it probably means we are going to find something that we "need" and will end up buying it because the environment and sales people make it feel and sound "so good value!"

One of my budding and talented friends on FB wrote a short poem one day that really tickled and I thought of sharing here! Thanks Damien for the funny poem! It's all about baby fairs and the terrible haze a couple of months back.

Because of a blaze,
We're suffering from haze.
Tried to get away from it using waze,
But there's a jam outside so I'll get stuck in one place.
Tried to visit the expo upstairs, but the stalls are a maze.
The sight of hundreds has left me in a daze.
Please do tell me, is it a phase,
for all the pregnant mommies to shop like they're crazed?
For now I shall just cast a gaze,
and perhaps even laze,
as the fires next door raze,
for the next few days.

Anyway we did go and this is what we were specifically going to look for and compare:
  1. Disposable diapers - babies use a heck of a lot of those especially during their first month, so if we can buy it in bulk at a discount, we will probably stock up.
  2. Baby safety gate - Hubby has been looking for second hand ones or free ones but without much success. I guess it is not really our culture here to give away things in general here or should I say not a culture yet to use pre-loved or second hand goods.

For disposable diapers, I went to 3 booths, Mamypoko, Huggies & Pet Pet, I worked out based on their selling price that Mamypoko was RM 41.33 per mega pack, Pet Pet worked out to be RM 30.75 for their mega pack and Huggies at RM 34.90. By the way, I am comparing L size diapers as Chapati wears L size now.


Mamypoko Diapers

I found that you could purchase the Mega Pack during AEON member day sales as well, if I remember correctly the last member day price was RM 83 for 2 megapacks. Which works out at RM 41.50 per pack and on top of that you can still get an AEON RM 5 voucher on the day itself when you spend RM 100 and above. So if you purchase 8 packs it will work out approximately RM 332 and you get a RM 15 voucher.  

RM 332 - RM 15 = 317/8 = RM 39.625 per pack

One thing that you will have to check is that the megapacks alway have some promotion ie. 4 extra pieces of diapers or 6 extra pieces of diaper for free. So remember to look out for these packs  as they can bring down the cost per diaper.

Often there are promotions at Tesco and Giant as well. At Tesco, you could even arrange for the items to be delivered to you. At the moment, they are having a *Free Delivery* promotion if you spend RM 100 and above. 

CONCLUSION: I would buy at the baby fair if I was running out of diapers at that particular time but I wouldn't go crazy and stock up packs and packs of it. There is the headache of fighting with other parents during the fair, lugging it all to the car which could be quite a way away (this is Hubby's complaint as there are seldom trolleys available during baby fairs) and finally solving the storage space issue at home! Buying and stocking up during promotions periods at AEON or the other hypermarkets makes more sense but the only drawback is unless its the AEON members day, you may not know when the hypermarkets are having their promotions. 


Huggies

If I do buy, I will normally purchase the Huggies Dry Blue Jumbo Pack. Currently prices range between RM 34 - 38 per pack if no promotions.  I haven't used Huggies in a while but I distinctly remember that I would only pay between RM29 - RM33 per pack during promotions periods in the hypermarket. 

However for the pants version, I have seen AEON do pretty good deals on their twin pack promotions at RM 59. However, I forgot to check the prices for the pants version during the baby fair as there were so many people crowding around. Lazada is currently doing about RM 125 for a pack of 3 Huggies Dry Pants. 


I noticed that during the last two baby fairs, the prices were very similar, however, they would give out free gifts like face towels, disposable changing mats, inflatable swimming pool floaters...etc. depending on the amount that you spend.

The last baby fair in September 2015, I spent RM 129.50 to purchase 5 packs of newborn and S size diapers for Baby #2. Price per pack works out to RM 25.90 plus I got a free face towel and a pack of 5 disposable changing mats. 

CONCLUSION: Sometimes, they do have special baby fair promotions like the one that I purchased back in September 2015 for Baby #2. I noticed that it normally applies to special diapers for Newborns & S sizes. Currently the Newborn Huggies Dry pack is retailing for about RM 30.50 at Tesco Online. Worth checking out if you are a fan of Huggies and want to stock up on special sizes. 


PetPet

This time around, the Baby Fair was doing RM 123 for 4 packs. Not bad at RM 30.75 per pack. If I had bought them, I would choose 3 pack of PetPet Daypants Megapack and 1 pack of PetPet NightTape to compare with the quality of the Mamypoko as I use it at night for Chapati. However, I just couldn't be bothered to wait in line just to pay as I was on my own and didn't relish the idea of lugging the packs of diapers to the car as Hubby couldn't make it that day. Being pregnant at 28 weeks with round ligament pain really limits what you can do. So I had to give this good promo a miss.  

Current promotional retail prices are RM28.90 for a pack of NightTape (32 pieces only) and RM 38 per pack of Daypants. 

I have used the PetPet Daypants before when it was on special promotion at Tesco at about RM 28 or RM 29 per pack. But it doesn't happen very often and if not I am not wrong, I have only seen it once before.  


CONCLUSION: Touch and Go for this brand as I have not really purchased PetPet a lot. But based on current retail prices, the Baby Fair price is a pretty good deal. 

As I am now running out of diapers for Chapati, I am looking to purchase the special deal at Tesco Online which is applicable until 25th November 2015 for Fitti or Whoopee Diapers at RM 27.90 for L size (60 pieces) Cheap and good for during the day use!



I make it a habit to check out diapers every time I do my grocery shopping nowadays. At the end of the day, I try to keep my diaper prices between RM25 to RM31 at most. Anything more than that, I would only spend on Mamypoko as the quality is good and the comparable size is a little larger than most brands. I remember using Mamypoko M size for Chapati for quite while before having to change to L size and it lasts throughout the night. (Haven't had any leaking accidents so far) 


Baby Safety Gate

We purchased this Bebe Jessica Twins Baby Safety Gate about 1 year plus ago at a Baby Fair in KLCC Convention Centre at RM160 which at that time was a really good price. The quality and build of the gate and the locking mechanism was also good compared to another brand that we saw which is from MyDear for similar price. As we bought it for Mother-In-Law we realised that we now need one for our own home.


The prices at the baby last weekend had risen tremendously to RM180 just for the gate excluding any extensions! We would have to pay about RM 214 for the gate and the 14cm extension. 


Looked around and didn't see anyone else selling Baby Safety Gates. So Hubby said not to buy it because we could buy it cheaper online. They were all about that price before discount. Lazada offers anything between 10%-15% and if you wait, some times they have special coupons for 20% or 25% discount. 

So we will bide our time for the best online deal! 


Mummies & Daddies what do you think? Do Baby Fairs really help you save money? What are your great finds at Baby Fairs?




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