Today’s post written by Angela
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Today I’d like you to meet Mel Barassi, doyenne of the Australian baby and kids world, and proprietor of The Hip Infant – www.thehipinfant.com.au.
Mel’s enjoys eating, socialising, sewing and reading – despite not having finished a book since she launched The Hip Infant in 2004. Mel’s wry humour, warmth, and sense of style is completely engaging. Read on to find out more, and don’t miss The Hip Infant blog: you will be instantly addicted!
Mel lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband John, and their four children, Max, Gus, Finn and Coco.
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Tell us a little about your background and how you came to start The Hip Infant
In my past life I was a Registered Nurse and enjoyed the varied opportunities this career gave me.
My training and all hospital roles were as a paediatric nurse in both of Sydney’s major children’s hospitals. I loved it, but my first child was born 10 weeks premmie and was quite sick.
This made me look at a different side of working with children and at the time felt I was way too emotional and affected by my own experience to be a good nurse to my patients.
Fortunately I somehow fell into a job as a film nurse 12 months after Max was born. It was a great opportunity I got to go to amazing locations, meet incredible people and I had lots of fun, but by the time my second child arrived I learnt that having two children was more on the challenging side and logistically the long hours I was expected to be away for work were not compatible with juggling 2 little children.
It was at this point I started dreaming of an at home business and started laying the ground work for what today has become The Hip Infant.
The Hip Infant evolved over time, I was a stay-at-home-mum looking for clothes for my kids and I couldn’t find what I wanted in conventional retail stores so I set about finding them for myself.
At that time online stores were very new, but I saw a gap in the market and crossed my fingers – it sounds clichéd yet true! I did a lot of research, sold items on ebay, did markets, I really listened to what parents were wanting for their kids.
Once I eventually started the process was pretty quick, I fortunately have a husband who works in IT so his support and help were invaluable.
How do you decide what to stock at The Hip Infant?
I’m not sure I should say it, but there is not a lot of method to my buying! I buy things that I would like to wear myself if they were 10 sizes bigger and I buy what I would like to see my kids in.That said, I am very proud to say that we don’t sell plastic toys, anything with batteries that whizzes and flashes or anything endorsed by television programs or commercial ventures.
I guess I am somewhat of a traditionalist, I think little people should look like little people, not adults. Importantly, I want to provide my customers with brands they can trust, ensuring quality is really important for me
What are your top 5 all-time favourite products for babies and kids, and why?
1. Aden + Anais Muslin wraps you can never have too many wraps and muslin is easy, safe, washes well the list goes on.
2. French Bull monster plates- they have been around for years now and I still adore them and so do my kids. Our house is full of them, even kids that come to visit fight over them.
3. Snugglebum PJs- I have a pj obsession, my children love them as much as I do. I have been stocking Snugglebum since we started The Hip Infant and there has not been a season yet that I have not loved. The quality is amazing and the prints super cute. Snugglebum filled a real niche when they launched and I have always been very honoured to be a stockist. There are plenty of similar brands around these days but Snugglebum will always be my fave!
4. Green To Grow Bottles- These bottle are fantatsic, easy to use and of course they look great. I have now used them and stocked them for over 12 months and I have to say they look as good as new, have never leaked and knowing they are BPA Free offers that extra piece of mind. I nearly choked when I saw how expensive they were but have to say they are worth every cent.
5. David Fussenegger Blankets: I first purchased one of these blankets 10 years ago when we had our first son, it is still in great condition and still sits on the end of his bed! I love the range we stock now.
What 5 new products are you loving for babies and kids right now, and why?
1. Belly Art Inkless print Kit (read our blog and my horrid tale with a pot of fabric paint, a newborn and a pillow…it was ugly) $24.95
2. Printspace Customised Birth prints $35.00 I love anything personalised and feel like I am forever buying gifts for new babies, I think these are ideal
3. Milk & Co Baby from $22.95 his has walked off the shelves since we have first started stocking it, people are loving the room strays. There is nothing else around like it and I think we all strive to have a yummy baby smelling nursery and spraying with a natural product is ideal for peace of mind.
4. Newborn Organics- the downside of being online is that people do not get to touch and feel our products. Our new organics range is the softest lushest most divine cotton. Most people who have purchased any of the range email to say they cannot beleive how soft it is! which is very flattering. Our organic range is 100% certified organic cotton.
5. Our own The Hip Infant Limited Edition printed range of tees and baby grows, they are very cute, printed on our lush cotton and are unique to us.
What is your favourite way to spend time with your kids?
With four children our life is consumed with routine and activities, they are all very busy and as three of them are boys I like to keep them as active as possible. Our weekends are full of sporting activities and in between we have lots of chill out time at home.
Every Sunday morning we go to Yum Cha – we are very faithful to our local chinese resturaunt! The kids are crazy about bike riding so we do lots of that too.
The one thing we never miss out on during the week are our bedtime books, the kids love it and so do I. It is the one time they are assured to get some one on one time, and it’s a good time to have a chat too.
Do you get any ‘me’ time, how do you spend it (or would you spend it)?
With four kids, a full time job and a husband I have to make a real effort to make ‘me’ time. When life gets busy it’s the first thing to be sacrificed unfortunately!!!
When I do have ‘me’ time I catch up with girlfriends, go to the gym and sometimes just enjoy putting my feet up! I also love walking – it is the only time I get to think.
When you’re a mother I think it’s really important to try and include some ‘me’ time everyday in your life – even if it’s just a long hot shower with the door shut.
For any woman juggling motherhood and family, life is a balancing act and requires a lot of patience, compromise and deep breathing!
What’s coming up for The Hip Infant?
We have some great things in store for Spring and Summer (with some early ones arriving next week!) from Ouch, Snugglebum, a great new Cuddlefish range, Plum Baby, and of course we have some of our house hip delights arriving at the end of August.
The Hip Infant blog has just had a makeover, and due to popular demand we have some really interesting articles, interviews, guest bloggers and just generally some nice day dreamy bits and pieces to view.
We also have a great competition coming up, stay tuned you won’t want to miss out on this one!
