ASD Birthday Bash Report

It’s not often that you hear about a bazaar featuring almost 100 shops, but at ASD’s Birthday Bash, those figures almost became a reality although just slightly shy of that planned century mark. But what a bazaar it was.

If one were to write a text book on “how to organize a bazaar for blogshops”, then the ASD Birthday Bash would be a fine example. The 8000 sq ft venue was nicely laid out, there was a nice variety of vendors, the air-conditioning worked perfectly and was a “cool” welcome from the scorching mid-day heat, there were clean restrooms disguised as changing rooms for all, and everyone seemed to have smiles on their faces. The atmosphere was just really good.

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As we made our way to the entrance, we were greeted by a warm “hello” followed up by a big smile from Yien Yee, who so happens to be the lead organizer of the event, and the brains behind ASD. Upon registering, we received our freebies which came in a white eco-friendly bag from Clinique. Unfortunately for us, we came slightly late and most of the freebies had run out! So we had to settle with 1 Clinique freebie pack which didn’t seem to do justice to the very big bag it came in. Small problem!

After our short conversation with the organizer, we decided to start doing what we came here for… SHOPPING!

We were pretty much spoilt for choice with the ocean of vendors who were out in force, with familiar names like Soak Republic, Bunny Noo, Soul Chic, Lush Serendipity and Oh! Popsicles just to name a few, all scattered in a reasonably easy to navigate square. There was sufficient space between shops for 2 lanes to walk comfortably back and forth so we didn’t have to worry too much about obstructing traffic whiles we feasted our eyes on the “oh-my-god-that’s-so-nice” pieces of clothing and accessories adorning each booth. We took our first stroll around greeted by many familiar faces, and some not so familiar faces as well.

We’re happy to report that we found a major highlight of the ASD Birthday Bash, a little thing called “Shugacrush”. Owned by a girl who took advantage of the blogshop hype to sell her seriously awesome home made cakes and cupcakes! Their Chocolate Cheesecake is an absolute MUST TRY if you get the opportunity to. We liked it too much that we had a slice of it for lunch!

We licked our lips after that amazing “piece-of-cake” and continued our stroll. After a few rounds, and after a eyeing it several times, we couldn’t resist buying the famous studded belt which was such a big hit online from Bunny Noo. Pearl, the very cute and bubbly owner, gave us a great deal for it that left a smile on our faces for the rest of the afternoon. =)

Unfortunately even after 2 hours of meticulously looking for more nice stuff, the belt was all we ended up buying. Not that the variety wasn’t excellent, but the other pieces which caught our attention didn’t seem to like us very much when we tried them on =(

We called it a day at around 4pm, said our goodbyes and left the building, concluding that the ASD Birthday Bash wasn’t as “special” bazaar as it was a very “comprehensive” one, and we mean that in a good way. Because unlike many bazaars on the streets today, there really was absolutely nothing to complain about during our whole visit there… It definitely covered all the basic requirements of a successful bazaar. No more, but most definitely no less.
Perhaps it could have done with some ambient music to give it a nicer, more exclusive atmosphere?

But all said and done, the ASD Birthday Bash yet again stamps ASD’s reliability as a bazaar organizer, one which you can expect a positive experience every time.

A big round of applause for ASD!

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by the committee of Fashion Republik