What a year 2021 has been!
We have made some incredible memories, met some amazing mums and dads and welcomed some lovely new faces to the Basking Babies family.
It’s not always been easy, especially with lockdowns and restrictions, but together we’ve pulled each other through and come out even stronger.
As the year draws to a close we wanted to share some of the highlights that stood out to us. Grab yourself one of the leftover mince pies and join us for a walk down memory lane.
A return to in-person classes and events
Let’s start our 2021 round up with a particular high for both our parents and our franchisees.
As we saw an end to many restrictions, we were able to return to in-person classes and see lots of our amazing online pals in real life.
We bonded together and pulled each other through the hard times of lockdown with fun live-online yoga classes and massage sessions. So when we could finally welcome you all back to in-person classes it was incredibly special.
Charity fundraising
This year we’ve been more determined than ever to give back and support amazing charities that have been a lifeline to our parents.
In March our fab team of franchisees came together to host a Basking Babies Marathon Day for Mind. The day consisted of a packed timetable filled with baby massage, baby reflexology, and baby yoga sessions. We were so proud to hit goal of £200! We raised a great sum of money to give to a charity that does fundamental work to support people’s mental health and wellbeing.
But that’s not all – we’ve also been raising money for Great Ormond Street Hospital with our annual festive dress up. We have LOVED seeing your little ones get dressed up as smiley Santas with us in class!
An amazing sum of money has already been raised for GOSH. We are so grateful for your contributions – If you’re yet to donate, you can still do so just here!
Brand new classes
We were thrilled to announce two brand new baby yoga classes this year – Baby yoga (crawling) and Baby yoga (walking)
These classes are great for parents and their little ones to relax and let loose, after all, baby yoga always leads to smiley babies! If you’re yet to get signed up to one of our new classes you can find local sessions near you here.
Fresh faces and our first franchise outside of Essex
We have had the pleasure of welcoming 5 brand new franchisees this year.
These include Sophie (Burnham, Hatfield Peverel & Maldon), Liz (Chelmsford), Chantelle (Huntingdon), Kerry (Epping, Harlow & Loughton), and Natalie S (Brentwood & Billericay).
It’s been amazing to see these lovely ladies throw themselves into life at Basking Babies.
It was also very exciting to label Basking Babies a nationwide name as Chantelle opened our very first branch outside of Essex, in Huntingdon. We can’t wait to see more Basking Babies branches pop up around the UK in 2022!
Our annual conference, award wins, and nominations
There’s been a lot to celebrate this year!
In September we hosted our annual conference with all of our Basking Babies business owners. It was a day filled with awards and cocktail making… After all, it would have been rude not to have a couple when we were reuniting with our extended family!
We were also nominated for two Essex Mums Awards, receiving the ‘Highly recommended’ title for our lockdown classes. This was a really poignant award for us to win as the relationships we built and the conversations we had with parents during lockdown at our live-online classes were so important and valuable to us.
The awards and nominations didn’t end here. Two of our lovely franchisees Emma and Jackie were also nominated for Mum’s Guide to Romford Awards, with Emma winning the Best Pre/Post-Natal Support award. Their hard work and dedication never goes unnoticed and we were so proud that they were recognised for all that they do for parents and babies in their community.
It’s definitely been a jam-packed year, but we wouldn’t change anything. We’ve grown, we’ve adapted and we’ve formed some incredible friendships with both families and franchisees. Thank you for your support – bring on more amazing memories in 2022!