A recap from our first, very fun East London ShopUp!

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind for me these last few weeks — traveling from Amsterdam to LA for our ShopUp there, coming back to Amsterdam just in time to celebrate King’s Day , then packing again the next day for a little road trip with my family to the north of England. From there we drove south for our first (fabulous!) ShopUp in East London taking place that weekend, and now I’m back in Amsterdam; slightly dazed but full of inspiration after so many impressions (and with tons of laundry, of course).

Our London photographer (the talented Big Bang Lightbox!) just sent the photos of our fun ShopUp weekend and I wanted to share some with you here. This was our first ever ShopUp in the hip and happening area of Shoreditch, known for its many street markets, cool brands, bars and boutiques and overall funky, artsy style. How fun to spend a few days in this buzzing part of town!

Our location, the Old Truman Brewery (once home to London’s largest brewery!), was entirely transformed into the best family shopping destination :). We had such an amazing selection of independent brands and boutiques set up house again! And what was especially fun this ShopUp, is that there were so many ShopUp kiddos! I had my family with me, and Rebecca, Kate and Lara also brought their kids. They all wore their mini ShopUp aprons and were so helpful the entire weekend! I loved seeing the big girls help entertain the little visitors in the kids activity center, which was so beautifully set up and decorated by the team from The Little Top. They made pretty flower crowns, decorated little paper windmills and did faceprinting. So cute!

Aside from the phenomenal shopping and the sweetest kids activities, our partner Little Dish was handing out their new healthy chickpea snacks Pop Pops. Then there were free magazines from our media partner Baby London magazine (I took a copy home too and am loving it!), and delicious ice-cream samplers from Frill, made from 100%  fruit and vegetables with no added sugar! Thank you to all of these wonderful partners! (And a special mention to the Me Montessori preschool in East London — we love the Montessori way of educating children and are so thankful for their sponsorship.)

We really had the best weekend, it was amazing to see so many families visiting, new to the ShopUp or returning, and I just love the community of talented makers and creators, all so wonderful and supportive of each other. Can’t wait for the next ShopUp (September 17 and 18 in New York)!!

xxx Esther

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