Thank you to Hilldale for partnering with me on this post! All opinions are my own.
This pregnant mama was long overdue for a mom’s day out and shopping trip with the girls. We chose to spend our child-free afternoon at Hilldale, a beautiful open-air shopping destination in Madison that has a pretty awesome mix of premium national retailers and cute local boutiques. My sister Rachel, cousin Michelle, and I each have little girls, so the dads gathered at my house for a playdate while us ladies headed out for retail therapy and catching up.
We literally shopped ‘til we dropped visiting as many of the stores as we could in the few hours we had before meeting back at my house for dinner. (Which, by the way, consisted of smoked chicken and ribs, cheesy potatoes, and corn on the cob! Special thanks to my hubby for preparing all of that!)
I made my biggest splurge of the day at Madewell where I ordered a beautiful crossbody leather carry-all. My newest purchase gives me more than enough room for my wallet, phone, and a few essentials (it even has space for diapers with wipes), but leaves me hands-free to hold tiny hands. I definitely want to go back to try on their jeans post-maternity, although the sales associate told me that Madewell does sell maternity jeans online, so I’m going to have to check those out!
We probably spent the most time browsing specialty gifts and cards at Paper Source. We totally lost track of time looking through all the unique items they had on display. We learned that they even hold crafting workshops and classes, which would make for another great mom’s day out. I made the cutest unicorn card for Evelyn while I was there. As most mamas know, even when the kiddos are not with us, we’re still thinking and chatting about them most of the time!
Speaking of kiddos, we checked out Playthings Toy Store which is full of adorable specialty toys and clothing. We each left with a gift for our girls. I couldn’t pass up a toddler-sized umbrella and might just have to go back for the matching raincoat and boots! Playthings is holding their semi-annual sale from March 16-19 that offers 20% off the entire store! This would be the perfect time to stock up on Easter basket goodies.
The girls helped me pick out a few new spring maternity tops at Motherhood Maternity. It was so fun to fill a dressing room full of clothes and model each outfit for the girls. They kept throwing more things for me to try on over the curtain. We giggled and laughed like a bunch of teenagers!
Our final stop was in Gigi’s Cupcakes where we drooled over all the choices to bring home for dessert after our big dinner. We couldn’t decide between all of the amazing flavors and ended up with way more than we needed. But hey, I’m not complaining: I’ve been eating a cupcake every day since! The baby loves it! Lol!
My feet were so happy to sit and enjoy a big meal together when we got home and tell the guys about all (okay maybe just a few) of our purchases! 😉
I definitely need to get back to check out the stores we missed like Sur La Table and lululemon athletica and enjoy lunch at Café Hollandar, and maybe even catch a matinee at Sundance Cinema. Because Hilldale initiated the second phase of its redevelopment this year, even more shops and a lovely community green space will be added. I’m excited to see what’s to come this summer! I’ll likely be due for another mom’s day out by then!
Check out my post about finding last minute gifts at Hilldale here.
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