Q&A: Andy Hurwitz, Partner At Baby Loves Disco, Which Is At Shampoo This Sunday
This Sunday, the Baby Loves Disco event will be taking place at Shampoo Nightclub at noon. Baby Loves Disco founder Heather Murphy and her partner-in-business Andy Hurwitz have created an event (and now national touring machine) that parents can take their young kids to without having to worry and watch them every second; where they can relax, have a few drinks, and hang with some friends, all while their kids are occupied.
The idea stems from wanting to be able to take your kids somewhere, not worry about them, and still have a grown-up good time. It trades juice and kiddie songs for real music and liquor (and also tons of juice). The event first started eight years ago and now, with corporate sponsorship, they were able to take Baby Loves Disco across the country, on a consistent tour, with many of the events being free. This Sunday’s event at Shampoo however, is a ticketed event. Tickets and more information are available here, and meet us after the jump for our conversation with Andy Hurwitz on what you can expect this Sunday and how it all got started.
Tell us a little about what actually happens at Baby Loves Disco.
Basically it’s like going to a club except it’s during the day and with your kids. The club is the same except everything is childproof. There’s real music, real DJs, a cash bar, etc. For the kids there are different stations (face painting, doing hair, clowns and circus freaks) and all the juice they can drink. There’s a food court of little kid-friendly snacks. We have an amazing security system and the venue is sealed and child-proofed and it’s refreshing that the parents can just let their kids run around and not get hurt. It’s more or less exactly the same as Shampoo but with kids and during the day. There’s a chill-out zone with puzzles and coloring books, and a crawl zone with kids who need to crawl. It’s for kids, but not in a dumb-downed kind of way.
The target is kids 7-and-under, and kids can have a good time doing anything — they love to dance. So we cater to parents.
Where did the idea come from?
We started at Fluid 7-8 years ago. Heather Murphy who is a professional dancer with Headlong Dance Studio had her first kid and everyone would come to her house and she sorta had these informal wine and dancing parties where everyone would come and dance and bring their kids. It eventually got too big for her house, so she asked if she could use the Fluid space during the day when it was closed. She had a party there and people found out about it and the second one sold out, so we ended up moving to Shampoo.
Since we started this whole thing we’ve really expanded and we have a national tour we’re constantly doing. While we’re in Philly, the tour will be in Florida … Georgia? I’m not even sure, but we’re at Shampoo every month(ish). We’re sponsored by H&M so it kinda allows us to do a lot of these events for free.
I see online a lot of the BLD events happen in malls, how does it differ when you have them in actual clubs?
It is the same in the sense that it’s just dancing, but the main difference is that those events are free and without getting on a soapbox, we see the economy and how its effected a lot of people, I wanna say to have the event for free is really special, but it’s a little different. It’s a nightclub vs. a mall or a military base. We do club events in Chicago, NY, San Francisco, and LA, and we stop at clubs when we can, but the other 6 days a week we do free events. The club events are what is sexy and exciting, because the parents don’t get to go out much, and even if they aren’t drinking, the concept that at any point they could puts a little relaxation in the air.
Some people might think “The last place I want to be is a nightclub where there is loud music and a ton of children all over the place.” How would you sell them on the event?
The concept is that there are other kids, but they’re your friends’ kids and your family’s kids. If you have young kids, you’re not really seeing other people, and you don’t get to see your friends. Shampoo is central for people coming from the city, outside the city, Jersey, etc. so it’s a good meeting point and it’s a great way to go out and hang with your friends and not have to hire a babysitter. It’s different than being at a Wiggles concert or the park. The vibe is different. The difference is, yeah the kids are there, but you can also take a shot of Jack Daniels and dance with your wife, and the kids will be fine.
Tickets and more information for this Sunday’s edition of Baby Loves Disco are available here, and BLD returns to Shampoo in December.
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