Fundraiser

With the weather turning much cooler the last couple weeks, I think of Winter and warm drinks. It's time for coffee, tea with a teaspoon full of honey and hot chocolate with little marshmallows floating in the top. It's also time to start thinking about holiday parties and gifts. What gifts are you giving this year? Candles, bath products, baking mixes, honey? Will you be looking for natural, organic products for your friends, family and teachers this year? Will you be looking for products that are made in the USA? If we gave you an opportunity to do all that and support BWI of North Central Illinois at the same time, would you? Well, here's your chance!

BWI of North Central Illinois is partnering with Bee Authentic to bring you natural, organic products that are made in the USA! 

What does Bee Authentic sell? 

Honey! Bee Authentic has several different types of honey. Have you ever tried Buckwheat honey? Avocado honey? Mangrove honey? The honey will taste different based on where the bees get their nectar so you might just want to buy a sampler!

Baking mixes! Are you gluten free and looking for a cupcake mix? Bee authentic has both Lemon and Red Velvet mixes that are gluten free! They also have organic cookie, pretzel, focaccia and pizza mixes. 

Spice mixes! Do you want to feel like you are relaxing beachside in Key West? There's a spice blend for that! Bee Authentic also has Original, Italian and Southwest spice blends available.

Drinks! Bee Authentic buys Fair Trade coffee and roasts the beans in South Florida. You can buy whole coffee beans or ground. If you aren't a coffee drinker, cocoa is available too!

Candles! Want candles without paraffin? These candles burn longer and paraffin candles and clean the air while burning! Bee Authentic has several styles of beeswax candles available. 

Bath and Body Products! Would you like to relax with some essential oil body wash? Orange or Lavender? How about Lavender or Peppermint Bath salts for a little relaxation time? Would you like a solid lotion bar to help with that dry, Winter skin? Solid lotion bars have no bottles. They are made with beeswax, honey, cocoa butter, shea butter and essential oils. (Yes, I will be trying the solid lotion bar! Will you?)

Soap! Would you rather wash with an organic soap bar? Do you need some organic, foaming hand soap for the kids? Both Lemongrass and Lavender are available. Bar soaps come in Honey, Citrus, Patchouli, Peppermint or Oatmeal Lavender.  These bars come in three-packs so you can split the set and make three people happy! 

Garden in a box! What kind of flowers do you want in your garden next year, patriotic or sunflowers? Will your garden have vegetables or herbs? These kits have seed packets, dirt pellets, biodegradable cups and instructions. 

Seeded wrapping paper! Want a gift within a gift? Wrap your package in this seeded wrapping paper and you'll give two gifts in one! The wrapping paper can be planted to grow wild flowers! I love this idea. I need some wild flowers!

Pet products! Want all natural shampoo or treats for your dog or cat? How about some catnip? These are natural, organic products for your pet!

How do I order?

There are two ways to order. When you order from either the catalog or the website, 40% of your order goes to BWI of North Central Illinois.

To place your catalog order, contact a leader by December 2 at 11:59pm. You can also e-mail us at BWIofNCIL@gmail.com to place your order. Order forms will be available at meetings through December 2. If paying by check, please make checks payable to BWI of North Central Illinois. We are told these orders will be delivered before Christmas. We plan to have meetups so that we can get these orders to you. 

You can also order directly from the website here: http://beeauthentic.com/   BWI of North Central Illinois will still get 40% but the products will be delivered directly to you! Please enter "BWI of North Central Illinois" in the box for the "Organization Name"and in the box on the checkout page.  

What if I like the products? Can I order more?

You can always order directly from the Bee Authentic website. Anything you order from the website will be shipped directly to you. Please identify "BWI of North Central Illinois" in the "Organization Name" and we'll get 40% whether it's next month or next year!

So, please support BWI of North Central Illinois with your Christmas shopping this year!

Happy Wearing!

IBW Wrap Up

Yes, it's finally here. Our leaders did so much work gearing up for International Babywearing Week that we took it easy for a couple weeks. IBW was big for us so we wanted to share some photos, summarize what happened and make a few announcements. So, here we go!

Meetings
For IBW week, we had four meetings - Sugar Grove, Dekalb, West Dundee and Rockford. We showcased traditional carriers. Attendees tried on an Amuautik, Onbuhimo, Hmong, Selendang, Kanga, Podaegi and wide-blanket pod.  The Rockford meeting was held at Rock Cut State Park and attendees went on a hike afterward.

We thank Swell Gallery in West Dundee for donating meeting space at short notice! Giveaways during meetings included items donated by Salon Ellenbe, Fairytale Journeys by Bethany, Fluff Envy and Lavender Llama.

Scare Crow Festival
We also had a scarecrow family wearing at The St. Charles Scarecrow Festival. We won 3rd place in the traditional category and got a check for $150! We want to thank Sarah and Daron Montgomery, Jacquelyn Jennings and Justine Garcia for working on this. We also want to thank everyone that came out and voted!

Big Event
Our Big Event was, well BIG! We offered Babywearing 101, Wrapping, Ring Sling/Pouch and MT/SSC classes.

Missy Bedford put together a wonderful DIY table for everyone.

We had lots of great food generously provided by Briana's Pancake House in Elburn and our kids got to play next door at Elburn Hill Church, where church volunteers donated their time! This event was also made possible by cash donations from Alice's Place and Fairytale Journeys by Bethany!

Karl had some awesome games for everyone to try including a scavenger hunt and a "guess which wrap this is" with close-up photos.

Participants and winners for classes and games were given tickets to enter into a drawing for our Natibaby Bicycles wrap donated by Marsupial Mamas. Our wrap winner was chosen at the end of the day. Kate Yoder won the bicycles wrap and immediately gave it to her friend, Jessica! Congratulations Kate and Jessica!

Auction 

During IBW, we auctioned a wrap and custom dye job that were donated to us. For these items, we thank Marsupial Mamas and Crafting Out Loud!

Raffles
We had some awesome raffle packages for IBW! For a review of our raffle packages, please look at the blog post here: http://bwiofncil.blogspot.com/2013/10/drum-roll-pleaseraffles-and-giveaways.html Our winners were as follows: 
Package #1 (Gimme Some Love): Chris (Tabitha) Goins
Package #2 (Feeling Pretty): Rachel Dreyer 
Package #3 (Fire and Ice): Rachel Dreyer 
Package #4 (Who's Your Baby): Sarah Chrzaszcz 
Package #5 (Sirens Song): Patricia Butler Hager
Package #6 (Girls' Day Out): Justine Garcia 
Package #7 (Dipped in Stardust): Kayla Moreno 
Gift Certificate #1 (Marsupial Mamas): Erica Walton 
Gift Certificate #2 (Iddy Biddy Pool School): Kim Tibbetts 
Gift Certificate #3 (Radiant Heart Yoga Studio): Veronica Ruiz 
Free Membership to BWI of NCIL: Stephanie Ackley

We raised a few hundred dollars from the raffles. Because we are a new chapter and we set up two libraries this year, we have some debt. We decided that fundraising money should go to help pay that debt. Once our debt is paid, we'll continue to do fundraisers so that we can buy more for the lending libraries! 

These raffles would never have been possible without many generous sponsors. While we encourage you to check out "Our Wonderful IBW Sponsors" page, http://bwiofncil.blogspot.com/p/ibw-sponsors.html, here's a list of businesses who donated items for the raffles: Becoming Isis, Chunky Potatoes, Color Dip Studios,  Fluff Envy, Goodwin Homestead, Express Yourself, Iddy Biddy Pool School, KM Berggren, Lavender Llama, Marsupial Mamas, My Lil Market, Oscha Slings, Purple Elm Baby, Radiant Heart Yoga and Wrap Scrap Creations. 

Memberships

Several people signed up for memberships during IBW week and one lucky person, Stephanie Ackley, won a free membership! What happens with membership money? Half of membership money goes to Babywearing International for insurance, support and sometimes new baby carriers! The other half stays in our chapter and is used to buy new baby carriers for the lending library. Since we have several new members, we got to buy some new fluff!

New Fluff
Yes, we have bought a few things for the lending library! There are also a few things that we plan to purchase in the near future. So, what did we buy? An Ellevill Ming 4 and an Ellevill Lady 6 are here!

We also acquired an Easycare #2 size 4 and a Storchenweige Cafe size 6.

Nope, we're not done yet! We're adding a new SSC that has often been requested. We know that a lot of people want to try a Tula so we're adding one to the lending library too! This is a stock photo of the one we ordered and it will be here soon!

We also got some donations during IBW! Oscha sent us a Starry Night Raven 5 for the lending library.

A Portee des Coeurs donated a Natibaby Little Dream wrap size 4.

Kindercarry sent us a toddler-sized Kinderpack.

Catbird Baby provided a new Pikkolo.

Shiny Stars Designs sent us two ring slings.

Our IBW care package from BWI came with an Onya, a Sleeping Baby Productions ring sling and Sling Rings!

We thank these sponsors for sending donations! Also, after winning a Girasol #4 ring sling donated by Purple Elm Baby during the raffle, Rachel generously donated it to the lending library.

We had a great time during IBW and we hope you did too! We appreciate all the support from everyone who came to meetings, our event and bought raffle tickets. We also appreciate all of our sponsors. Please remember that these are the people who support our chapter and lets support them too!

Happy Wearing!