Over the past few years my blog has been an independent effort, and I didn’t expect much of that to change when I converted the whole thing over to a locally-focused site in late 2022. I planned to spend the first few months of 2023 getting the word out to local families about my site and to later offer advertising and creative marketing opportunities within reach of family-friendly local businesses. What I didn’t consider in all this planning was the possibility that I would be forming strong business connections almost immediately nor did I realize how easy and natural it would be to connect with women-owned businesses.
Traditionally women have been taught to be competitive with each other in business. While a bit of good, healthy competition is normal in business and in life, networking, connecting and collaborating will give you better chances of success on a local level. That’s right, even the most independent, strong and intelligent women you know can benefit from being part of a team.
As for the business owners I have been in contact with lately; I connect with many of them every week and some of them almost daily. We share ideas, advice and we celebrate eachothers successes. Many of us connect on other levels as well, such as being a mom. As if I wasnt excited enough about what I am doing, now it all feels even more fulfilling and fun because of the great people I get to work with.
In February, 14 amazing local businesses contributed to local giveaways. Real Maine Mom handled the organization and promotion of these contests… originally there was only planned to be one but the interest was so high by local businesses that we were able to give away 2 baskets full of goodies! While big giveaways like this are not something I expect to be doing all the time, I do plan to do them on occasion, especially if the businesses like doing them. In the month of March I will be shifting gears a bit to focus on different types of collaborations with and among women-owned businesses, specifically.
One of the women’s collaborative efforts I have been working on actually involves my daughter’s birthday party and its kind of a fun story I’d like to share. So, first off, you should know there are 7 women-owned businesses involved (if you count me). I’m super excited to have the opportunity to use their products and services first-hand, most of which for the first time. Since theres a lot of opportunity here to trade services for services and services for products, I am actually able to include more businesses than I generally would have considered. I am going to share as much as I can with you all about my experience, starting today with how it all came to be and who’s involved.
The birthday party collab actually started with 2 conversations, and me trying to mesh together 2 completely different, yet equally amazing ideas for my daughter’s birthday party.
Castles in the Sky Events, Falmouth, ME– It wasn’t until I spoke with Keri from Castles in the Sky Events that I could picture my daughter’s party. Castles in the Sky is a newer business out of Falmouth with an impressively-fun offering for themed teepee tent slumber parties. When Keri and I originally connected it wasnt about my daughters birthday party, but by the time we got off the phone I was convinced that Keri would be handling the decor for her party! I hadn’t realized that even though we weren’t ready to have a slumber party at our house that she could help us with stylized decor custom to the birthday theme. She will be setting up playtents and an activity table and it sounds so dreamy that I honestly can’t wait to see how this turns out and know my daughter is going to flip over all the special touches!
KidPowered Pastries, Scarborough, ME– If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook than surely you already know my daughter is obsessed with KidPowered’s baking classes. Laura is just unbelievable with the kids. We chatted on and off about potentially having a special themed class for my daughter’s party and I was 100% sold on the idea, I just couldn’t picture where we would have the party. At that time, KidPowered Pastries did not yet have their fabulous new space on Route 1 in Scarborough. So I got back to Laura and officially booked her once I had a space – because the kids need something awesome to do at the party and I don’t have nearly the patience that Laura and Kelsey of KidPowered Pastries have.
Dragonflower Ranch, Yarmouth, ME– When I expressed to Keri from Castles in the Sky Events that I didn’t want to have the party at my house she immediately gushed about Dragonflower Ranch and connected me with the owner, Krystal. While I haven’t been by to visit yet I’ve seen pics and the massive event space located above the horsebarn looks absolutely perfect for the party. It’s really one of the only spots I can think of that has one big space that I can have room to have the full playtent & table set up, the full cooking setup and space for eating cake, doing a pinata, etc. There is a lot planned for Dragonflower Ranch in 2023 that will open up services the whole family will enjoy so this is a new business local families will want to keep their eye on for updates. I didn’t even mention they have horses and miniature horses! I can’t wait to visit and have this space as our backdrop!
Amanda Huebner Photography, Scarborough, ME– With this party being at such a picturesque location and having so many local businesses coming together with amazing offerings, I invited the very talented Amanda Huebner of Scarborough to join us and capture some of the details. I haven’t had the opportunity to work with Amanda before, but I am quite familiar with her work. I have been following her business on Instagram since she was offering porch pics for families in 2020. Amanda is the perfect person for the job because she is skilled at capturing families, events, and also commercial products & brands. She’s such a great resource to share with so many of the businesses that I work with, extending beyond this party.
Rabbitbrook Toys, Biddeford, Maine– I’m so excited to include Rabbitbrook Toys because Mallory, the owner, creates the most beautiful wooden peg dolls that spark the imagination of any child with their simplicity and impress all of us parents with the attention to detail. You may have seen her signature gnome dolls and the adorable reels on Instagram she has meticulously arranged bringing them to life. Mallory has custom designed wooden peg dolls that will be used as a party favor and match my daughter’s theme (yes, she does that!) and I absolutely cannot wait to show you all what she came up with. I guarantee they won’t be like anything you’ve seen (in a good way)!
The Sensory Mess, Westbrook, ME– I’ve been following along with The Sensory Mess for a few months now and chatting with Rachel about all things mom- related but now is the perfect opportunity to use her products because she customizes the most adorable and fun play dough favors to match any party theme and is a popular local option for favors. I love all of the special touches she includes, like the custom sticker on the lid!
Long story still long (lol) there is a lot of collaborating happening here. When I would meet one business owner it would cause me to think of another business owner I wanted to connect them with and so-forth. I fully expect the connections being made for this party to extend beyond this single event. At times I do feel like I am acting as a local business matchmaker, but I couldn’t be happier to do it when I can because I, too, benefit from new connections and my goal is always to help local businesses get the word out as much as I can.
Overall, I think this is a beautiful example of the power of women when we are open to working together and the best part is, in the end, everyone wins. For the party, I think this is due, in part, to us having so much in common, being business owners and women, but I think we all also realize that we can reach further when we reach together.
You can follow along with this collaborative effort when you follow on @realmainemomguide on Facebook or Instagram. I am dying to see this all come together and I can’t wait to share the photos with you all. There is also more in the works for local collaborations and giveaways in the coming months, and the best way to stay in the know is also via social media or to subscribe to my email list.
