Inside PopSugar Play/Ground 2019 – An Honest Review of The 2nd Annual Festival

New York, NY–Entertainment and technology media outlet PopSugar hosted its second annual PopSugar Play/Ground, an interactive and immersive festival catered towards women, in New York City this past weekend on June 22 -June 23.

With the theme surrounding powering your “happily ever afters,” this year’s festival brought out A-list celebs like Issa Rae, Chrissy Teigen, Mandy Moore, and Camila Mendes to discuss navigating through their industries, live fitness and wellness classes/activities, a beauty carnival with such brands like Benefit Cosmetics, Nair, and Physicians Formula, an exclusive shopping experience, a live performance from the upcoming Jagged Little Pill Broadway show, and more.

I found about this festival after seeing posts on Instagram following the inaugural event last year. It appeared to be a fun event to attend and I kept an eye out for it to see if it would be returning. Once I saw tickets became available I pondered over if I really wanted to go and opted to purchase a VIP weekend pass instead of trying to apply for a media pass. I didn’t have any real expectations going into this event, but I felt it would be a good networking opportunity and a way to have a good weekend in the city. My experience at the 2019 PopSugar Play/Ground was a bittersweet one I must say and below I’ll break down exactly why.

VIP Pass Experience

I brought my VIP pass before the price jump. I paid $223.76 with tax and the price was very reasonable to me for a weekend pass and all the perks that came along with it in addition to what was offered to general admission. VIP wristband holders had access to the Play/Ground floor an hour before the doors were officially open which did come in handy to be able to maneuver before the floor got packed, and it did get packed. There was also a Meet & Greet with fitness duo Karena Dawn and Katrina Scott of Tone It Up that was only available to VIP before the morning workout. I didn’t participate in any of the fitness opportunities so I can’t speak on how good or bad those were.

Happy Hour x Starborough Sauvignon Blanc (Photo: Glambergirlblog.com)

Love Your Selfie x Boxed Water (Photo: Glambergirlblog.com)

B12 Shots x Manhattan Internal Medicine (Photo: Glambergirlblog.com)

Other VIP opportunities included a designated lounge that offered a photo booth option with Boxed Water, Oracle Readings, a daily happy hour with Starborough Sauvignon Blanc, vitamin shots, temporary tattoos, tarot card readings, and much more. VIP’s were also offered a separate queue to enter the main stage area where many of the panels took place.

Now to my issues. Many of the wellness opportunities required a prior appointment that myself and many women that I talked to at the event had no idea you were required to do so beforehand. I only had the opportunity to take part in one wellness activity (Narrative Medicine with Ssanyu Birigwa) on Sunday and that’s because I had access to the floor before GA and went around to the different booths and asked if they had slots available and was fit in right after the doors opened at 10am. Was a VIP ticket worth it? YES. I can’t imagine doing this festival any other way. You do get many perks despite the minor hiccups.

GGB Suggestion: Sell less VIP tickets. In my mind VIP in an exclusive experience and it seemed to be hundreds of VIP wristband holders that pretty much took up a lot of space so basically it felt like every guest was VIP. Also do away with the scheduled appointments and allow guests to sign up for the different wellness opportunities once on site or simply wait in line until their turn.

My Goodies

Make sure you bring a large bag or snag one of the many free totes because you are going to load UP on goodies at the PopSugar Play/Ground. VIP’s took home a Play/Ground tote filled with items retailing up to $600 which included beauty products, books, and accessories. We also go a courtesy Otterbox cell phone case and there were tons of totes to get in the VIP lounge, but have no fear, even without a VIP ticket there were plenty opportunities to snag goodies from the many vendors. Wendy’s gave away fanny packs you could customize, Kohl’s had opportunities to win Kohl’s cash and other items, many of the beauty vendors gave away samples like creams, serums, deep conditioners, and lip sticks, Soma offered a courtesy panty and bra measurement, frozen yogurt pops were distributed throughout the day, and the lists goes on! Exclusive discounts were also available to PopSugar Play/Ground guests.

GGB Suggestion: The only downside to all the goodies is for day two only attendees. I noticed vendors were low on stock, ran out, or had completely different samples from the first day of the festival due to the volume of how things were distributed the day before even with day one guests being limited to the amount of freebies they could take. If you want to maximize your freebies come to both days or day one for sure of the festival.

Navigating PopSugar Play/Ground

Logistically the festival needs WORK. Throughout the day there were a number of panel discussions with celebrities, wellness workshops, and fitness classes where you really had to come in with a game plan if you wanted to get the most out of the activities. The app you can download for the event was also tricky. You get notified when something you added to your schedule was happening, but it was too late notification to have enough time to get good seating. Unfortunately no matter how much you plan ahead it was impossible to get around to all the things you wanted to so it was a real ‘Sophie’s Choice” going on.

‘This is Us’ co-stars Mandy Moore and Susan Kelechi Watson have girl chat (Photo: Glambergirlblog.com)

Samsung Galaxy Soul Space Stage (Photo: Glambergirlblog.com)

For example I wanted to see the panel with Mandy Moore and Susan Kelechi Watson and the sit down with Amanda Seyfried and Milo Ventimiglia about their film “The Art of Racing in the Rain,” but the time slots were SO close and the locations were on polar opposite sides of the venue that I had to leave the Mandy and Susan chat not even mid way through to get a close enough seat for Amanda and Milo. Even with the VIP queue, getting a close seat for any of the main stage panels was a gamble. Once inside people did not leave their seats so if you really wanted to see someone and have a good seat you better plan to stay seated all day at the main stage because guests weren’t asked to empty the area after each discussion.

So again, you have to make a choice beforehand on who is on your priority list to get an up close and personal view of. [Side note: I was only able to “meet” Chrissy Teigen by paying an additional fee (the price of her cookbook) only offered to VIP ticket holders. I also left her panel discussion (book signing location was on the other side of the venue) to get a place in line to guarantee I got to meet her.]

Conversation with Amy Aniobi and HBO’s Insecure Issa Rae (Photo: Glambergirlblog.com)

Amanda Seyfried and Milo Ventimiglia discuss film “The Art of Racing in the Rain” (Photo: Glambergirlblog.com)

Book Signing and Photo Op with Chrissy Teigen (Photo: Glambergirlblog.com)

GGB Suggestion: Place screens throughout the venue or have a designated area where multiple screens will be set up to view panels that you can’t get a good seat for. Also maybe rework the layout of the festival so activities with back to back time slots are easier to access.

PopSugar “Play/Ground?” 

With using a key word like “playground” in the title of a festival I would expect more things to play with. Possibly it was intended of a figurative term, but I would consider a title change.  Last year PopSugar Play/Ground had multiple huge slides that led into a ball pit and this year multiple swings were held under a rainbow. That’s as much of a playground that you got. If an aspect of this festival is to decompress from life stresses and embrace your inner child I would want more playful activities on the line of all the new age interactive exhibits like The Museum of Ice Cream and Candytopia.

GGB Suggestion: Incorporate more opportunity to play. Add a playground area in a tented space outdoors that could include a bounce house, swings, slides, merry-go-round, and other chances to let your hair down throughout the day.

Photo: Glambergirlblog.com

Overall, I think the idea of PopSugar Play/Ground is a good one. They are many festivals catered towards women that have come out in the recent years and I think events like these are a good way to connect with people like you, people not like you, and get a better sense of self in the process. This is still a new festival and I know if it continues on I’m sure the brand would want to make it bigger and better than years prior. Maybe with the different themes in mind many of the vendors would change. With PopSugar being the brand and working in media I would have loved an opportunity to chat with some of the staff about the industry at a designated booth. The ones working the event weren’t inviting and I could count how many people of color were on staff (not including outside vendors), but that’s a whole other issue.

From my experience would I attend again? Probably not unless major changes were made like the ones I mentioned above and the talent were people I really wanted to see.

Did you attend PopSugar Play/Ground 2019? Let me know your thoughts on the festival in the comments below. Would you want to attend this festival? You can share your feedback in the comments as well.

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Photo: Glambergirlblog