Oh ladies, you MUST join me in this! So many people I know are into scrapbooking but don't know about these expos! I think that the perception is that it's either for the die hards that scrapbook in groups for 14 hours/day or for businesses. It is for both--they have midnight scrapbooks and I'll tell you a bit about these folks later and owners of SB stores go to see new products but for us moms who love to scrapbook it is just plain shopping heaven!
It is just like an indoor art festival. Are you picturing it? Booths with vendors. Some are stores that travel and sell their stuff at the expos, some are small businesses that chooose to get their product out there by selling at expos and they usually make their own products and/or have unique items that you don't see everywhere and some are brands themselves that blitz their entire line in a booth for one stop shopping. It makes my heart beat faster just telling you about it! You can go and pay $8 to enter the expo and then just shop and shop and shop!!!! Take a break for a diet coke and you decide to leave when you can't carry any more bags!
And speaking of bags, lets talk about those that stay up all night and scrapbook. Now don't be offended if this is you because I have many friends that do this. I'm talking about the ones that are a BIT over the top. They travel multiple states to do this and they haul more stuff than I have in my entire kitchen. This years expo had new "policies" because of the literal luggage that people bring for their overnight scraps. I mean, here's my thing, by the time you load up all that stuff, couldn't you have just gotten a few pages done at home? I just don't get it. They have bag after bag after bag and their bags loop and stack together so they can transport it all. I'm not kidding, the money that I have spent in the decade worth of scrapbooking I've done, these women have invested in just their bags and cart boxes. So back to the policy, since people used to haul their suitcases on wheels through the expo to load up on the stuff they buy, that I doubt they could ever use, they had to make a no luggage and no stroller policy! Because people also took strollers with no babies! Next year, I'll have to take a picture of the check bag area--it is hysterical! I am NOT one to do things on a small scale but let me tell you I am a minimalist when it comes to some of the crowd at this place!
But back to WHY you should attend:
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I already told you about the shopping but the other fun thing is to take classes! I signed up for 4 classes. My favorite was the flip flop book! It's hard to know what you are signing up for and it's always a bit of a mystery in regard to figuring out what you get based on the description. I loved them all but this one is the cutest. thing. ever. You pay $20-30 depending on the class and each class is 1-2 hours long and they give you very detailed kits and 'how to' info. They walk you through it all in class but what you don't finish, you take home and can easily finish. I did this book almost all in the class and tweaked it at home. It has tons of tabs and a mini fold out book and a box to store it in that has more tags on it. 
How amazing is this book?? It is so cute and I adore it and am proud that I made it but at the same time, it is so simple to complete their kits, it's not like I did anything special.
We are going on a family cruise in October and I'm saving this for that trip! So look for your next Memory Expo and go, I swear it's fun!! You can look here for one near you!!
