Colorado & Denver Blogger Exclusive Meetup | Planning And Hosting An Event

I truly believe the world would be a better place if more women came together, supported each other, built each other up, encouraged one another, and cheered each other on. So often we see women get caught up in the catty, gossip cycle that is driven by insecurities and comparison. Every woman would be lying if she said she hadn't done that at least once in her life. It's unfortunate that in our society sometimes women compete with each other more than encourage each other. One of my strong passions in life is to break down this mentality, create strong bonds between women, and be a good example of women empowerment. I am not perfect at this, but I am extremely passionate about bringing women together and creating those bonds. 

I started blogging in October of 2014. One of the main reasons I wanted to start a blog was because I loved reading so many other women's blogs. I found them creative and inspiring and it lead me to want my own blog. After a few months of blogging I found myself feeling so lonely. I had nobody to really chat with about blogging, nobody who knew exactly what blogging was, how it worked, etc. I wanted so badly to have friends in the blogging world. Ones I could run ideas by, share blogging struggles or successes with, and learn from. I started to search for some sort of blogger meetup or networking event. It was almost impossible to come by. The only one I came across was not open to everyone and it seemed a bit cliquey. I figured, if there wasn't an event where I could mix and mingle, and create great bonds and new friendships with bloggers in Colorado... then I should probably just create one! And the idea was born. I decided that I wanted to create an event where ladies all around town (or men, but let's be honest most bloggers are women) could meet up, have a great time, make new friends and chat blogging.

The most amazing thing about the event was how lovely everything fell into place. The first and best thing that happened was my blogger friend Lauren (LadyPlanner), agreed to create and host the event with me! This was so great because planning something you've never done before can be a tad intimidating, but doing it with a friend makes it more fun and less scary. She too agreed that Denver was in need of an event like this and she was just as excited about it as I was, which was a huge blessing. The next thing that fell into place perfectly was the venue. I had been attending Denver Style Magazine (DSM) events for a few months at this point and I had also written a post for their blog before, so I asked the ladies at DSM for their thoughts on the event. They thought it was an amazing idea and offered to help promote it and also offered their venue for the event! That too was such a blessing. At this point I felt like the event was meant to happen since it was coming together so well. 

The next two things that fell into place was the collaborations. We had Froozer, a company that makes delicious frozen fruit treats, agree to work with us on the event and provide free samples to all the guests. That was such a treat, to read more about their product head over to this post I did on the perfect post workout snack. The next collaboration we locked down was a photographer to shoot the entire event. Lauren got in contact with Corey from Corey Anthony Photography and he agreed to shoot the event and provide amazing photos for all of the bloggers to use. He takes absolutely stunning photos (as you can see below) and we were incredibly honored to have a photographer of that caliber take photos of our event. He did such a great job and it is such a treat to have these memories of the event. Check out Corey's Instagram, it's so inspiring!

Lauren and I took care of the snacks and drinks. There was white wine and rosé, because what's a girl's night without a little vino?! We also made some "blogger bites". I made caprese salad skewers, and cake pops, while Lauren made some delicious watermelon, basil and feta bites, as well as some cucumber sandwich bites. I must brag and say it was all so delicious and incredibly darling. It looked as though Pinterest had exploded all over the blogger bites table! We also brought the decor. For the decorations we had a gold sequins #, a banner that said "Blogger Love", a pink tassel banner, an "Eat Sleep Blog Repeat" sign, some pink paper pom poms around the room, and of course a marble slab to display the wine on. 

We also put together an activity to get the ladies chatting with new people. We created "Blogger Bingo" which was a simple bingo game but each square had something related to blogging in it and the ladies were to try to have other ladies sign their sheet where it applied to them. I know that's a bit confusing, but for example if it said "lifestyle blogger" I could sign on that square for them. Make sense? Anyways, everyone had a blast playing the game and it really got all the women talking and making new friends. We had five prizes for the first people who won. It was a really great ice breaker.

At the end of the night we all went on the rooftop and took photos! That was such a blast and the view of Denver was stunning, especially since the sun was setting. Corey, the amazing photographer, took a lovely group photo of all the women (pictured below) and then he graciously took beauty shots of the women who wanted them. 

Overall I am so pleased with how the night turned out! I made so many new friends and it felt so great to see the women bonding and making new connections. It was a lot of work to plan this event but I am so glad Lauren and I did because it was a blast and it brought so much value to the blogger community here in Colorado. If you are a blogger reading this, I absolutely encourage you to either attend a blogger event (if it exists already in your city) or to plan one. Trust me, it's worth the effort!

I want to say thank you to all the ladies who came that night, it was so great meeting you all and I had a blast! Also, thank you Corey, Emily from Froozer, and the wonderful ladies at Denver Style Magazine, you all made the event so special and I appreciate your time and resources! And of course, thank you Lauren for having the courage to plan this with me, I'm so grateful for you!! Thanks everyone :)

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