FIVE Essentials for a Mom's Night Out!
- Erica McIlquham
- Mar 13, 2017
- 5 min read
Hi!
Kelly (herwritepeace.com) and I met last summer at the Women of YGK function at The Loft hair studio. I remember walking up to Kelly and another woman when I arrived at The Loft and talking about why we were there that night. It sounded like this..
"I'm new here"... "ME TOO"
"I'm a blogger".... "ME TOO"
"We moved here because of my husbands job".. "ME TOO"
"I just had a baby"... "ME TOO"
"I'm here to find friends..." .. "HAHA- ME TOO"
You get the point, right?!
We talked all night.. didn't mingle with many others and made plans to connect again. Time passes, schedules are jammed, babies and husbands take precedence. Now it's 2017 and winter feels like it will end soon- I swear there was something in the air because it just felt like things were going to happen. I had just started a new blog (this one) and Kelly reached out to me and said.. we've been trying to do a night out since last summer, let's GO OUT and do it as a blog collaboration. So here we are.
When we met to discuss the collab and other things, the ideas got flowing. We chatted with some other locals and interest started building - we knew we had to do something with this
SO, we planned our moms night out during the Kingston Canadian Film Festival - we collaborated with Laura from YGK Studios for the clothing and Kaley Crosson (local photographer who is also new to Kingston) came out with us (she was in the same boat as us last summer) and snapped our photos (THANK YOUUUU). We drank and ate at Stone City Ales. It was a great evening. Since we started planned this and brainstorming together we have also been talking to other local moms about their experiences and their stories. It became clear that there are other moms out there looking for a connection in Kingston and this is where it gets really exciting! Kelly and I are going to be launching a set of events- for moms - to get out once a month! It's going to be epic and we have BIG plans.
Scroll through the rest of this post (and head to Kelly's blog to see her breakdown) to read about our FIVE essentials for having a successful moms night out, our re-cap from our night at Stone City AND a video where we get into more detail about our plans!
The FIVE Essentials for a Moms Night Out
1. Mom Style - Look Good, Feel Good
Alright ladies- time to put AWAY the leggings.. I know, I know, they make you feel good! BUT it's Mama's Night Out and let's be honest.. we don't dress for our partners we dress for ourselves so pull out that outfit that makes you feel amazing OR if you can, buy something new! If you are like me, there is nothing that makes you feel better than a new piece of clothing! Kelly and I worked with the beautiful Laura of YGK Studios (@YGKstudios) to outfit us for our night out and Jessie from Closett Candyy was there to give us a few style pointers (SCORE)! If you follow us on Instagram (@ericaemma1 and @herwritepeace) you know that we did an Instagram poll to help us choose our outfits for the night. Laura gave us so many BEAUTIFUL options to try on.. it was so hard to pick just one!
2. Rule of TWO
If you are gonna go out as a mom (we all know how much planning and prep it takes) you've gotta follow the rule of TWO! At least two activities to make it a solid night out! When we hit the town we did dinner and drinks at Stone City Ales followed by a movie for the Kingston Canadian Film Festival at The Grand Theatre! Normally we wouldn't say a movie is a good go-to for a moms night out (you want to be able to chat) but in this case we wanted to support the local festival and get in on the action! So plan your two activities and get out!
3. Release yourself (of responsibility)
If you are going to go out- no need to dwell on what is going on at home! Whoever you have asked to watch your babies for the night is going to be PERFECTLY fine. Don't check your Nest camera, stop texting your hubby and trust that all the work you did to get yourself out of responsbility is going to WORK. Because, well, you are a mom and you nail the whole planning thing on a daily basis. Let go!
4. Tribe Vibes
Find your crew and enjoy them! It has taken Kelly (@herwritepeace) and I while to find each other and now that we have - we understand the importance of connecting with people who give you the freedom to be you! When we met up with Kaley we knew instantly that she was going to be part of our tribe as well! We all had a common connection being moms and we found it so easy to laugh and share with one another. This is where our upcoming events will help you - we are DETERMINED to help everyone find their tribe and find their place in our beautiful city!
5. Planning Ahead - Momming in the Morning
We all like to have fun- but we still have to get up with our babies in the morning and get home safely to our families. Plan ahead- chase your cocktail with water, download the UBER app before you leave the house, ask your partner to get up with the kids the next morning so you can have a sleep in. Do whatever you need to do to make sure there are no regrets because your night out should be something to celebrate and make you feel renewed to mom again until next time.
Hope you enjoyed our FIVE essentials! We will be using these to plan all of our outings and we encourage you to do the same!
Now, for a little preview of what's to come...
Follow both Kelly & I on Instagram to stay current with our updates. Subscribe to our blogs and we look forward to seeing you soon!
Special thanks to:
Clothing: YGK Studios
Photography: Kaley Noel Photography
Dining & Drinks: Stone City Ales
If you are a local Kingston business or company and you'd like to collaborate with us for one of our nights out - we'd LOVE to hear from you! Please email me at erica.mcilquham@gmail.com
Thanks for reading!
xo
The #YGK Mom
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