What’s Got Designer Daddy Dancing? Baby Loves Disco!

TRUE STORY: Several months ago I was daydreaming about how awesome it would be to have a club geared towards gay parents. A place where Daddy & Papa, Mommy & Mama and their broods could meet friends, drink (responsibly, of course) and swap recipes for organic mac & cheese. There’d be a rec area for the kids to stack Legos, watch their stories or generally just tumble about. It would have a chill room to feed, change or put youngsters down for a nap. And of course there would be DANCING.

Then a couple of weeks ago, a friend texted me a link to something called Baby Loves Disco. My head just about exploded. A dance party? In a club? That we can take our kids to?!? Somebody read my mind and invented The World’s First Club for Gay Dads: Baby Loves Disco! I quickly banged around the internet, contacted BLD, and scored an interview… and a giveaway! (see below)

To clarify, Baby Loves Disco isn’t really (or at all) just for gay dads. In fact it’s been around since 2004, and for a long while was primarily populated by moms and their kids. But still, the best kid-friendly thing to come along in a long while, I’d wager.

I know Papa and I grow weary trying to think of fun, creative — and most importantly — energy-burning activities for JJ. I’ll admit a lot of weekends we’re exhausted, out of ideas and default to the same worn-out options as a lot of parents. Playground… museum… zoo… mall… SNORE. So yeah, we’ve got tickets for our first Baby Loves Disco party locked down. Did I mention a giveaway? (see below)
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BABY LOVES DISCO 101:

• The “Original Family Dance Party” for parents and kids ages 6 months to 7 years
• Held at top-notch nightclubs in six cities: New York, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Philly and back in DC after a 3-year hiatus!
• REAL DJs, REAL music* – from classic disco to modern Top 40 and dance music. No Barney, no Kidz Bop, no <shudder> Wiggles.
• Not just dancing. There’s also dance contests, crafts, kid-friendly spa services, goody bags, healthy snacks and juice boxes for the kids, and a cash bar for the adults.
• Chilled-out “crawl area” where the non-walkers can relax away from the all the dancing feet.
• And of course, changing stations

Check out the NYC party in action:

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THE GIVEAWAY:

Designer Daddy is here to HOOK. YOU. UP. I’m giving away a Family Pack of 4 Baby Loves Disco tickets, valued at $55! The tickets are good for any BLD party in any of the six cities listed above, for any remaining show in 2013. Visit BLD’s web site for dates and locations.

Date and location must be specified at time of winning notification. Contest ends Saturday, September 14 at midnight. NOTE: the first shows of the season are in DC and NYC on Sunday, September 15! But don’t worry, there are multiple shows in all cities. Now enter the Rafflecopter thingamajig below and dust off those boogie shoes!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Q&A WITH BLD’S CO-FOUNDER, ANDY HURWITZ:

Andy Blackman Hurwitz is a music producer, entertainment attorney, and an instructor at the University of The Arts in Philadelphia. He co-founded Baby Loves Disco in 2004 with professional dancer Heather Murphy Monteith. “Disco Daddy” is his nickname.

How has your family been involved in the business?

It’s totally a family-run business. My wife does the books and pays all the bills; my oldest son (Samson, 11) is a DJ and tours the country with BLD; my middle son (Charlie, 9) has been traveling with me hosting events since he was 4, and my baby (JJ, 5) thinks he owns the place anytime he shows up to a BLD. He’s the best dancer and our biggest fan! He’s going on his first business trip with daddy next month to Tampa. My family is absolutely why I keep doing this. Believe me, it’s not about the money!

How do you decide where to set up Baby Loves Disco?

The city has to match our vibe. You can’t force BLD in places that aren’t ready for it. That said, we’ve had some of our best events in the most obscure locations. But in general, we don’t pick where to go, where to go picks us. It’s one hundred percent based on a mom or dad that wants to have the event in their city. They reach out to us, we get to know each other, we run down the economics (which are far from sexy!) and if that doesn’t scare people off, we put it on them to find the ideal venue and partners. We need a local parent and community behind BLD. We were founded on “It takes a village to raise a child” and we really mean that. So when we get a ‘village’ reaching out to us… we always reciprocate.

What are the 3 most important things a dad or mom needs in order to get BLD to their town?

1. A venue. It’s not a profitable venture, so the location should have a presence in their community and a desire to give back. And of course the club has to be willing to work with kids.
2. The ability to network and drum up interest in their city.
3. Energy, creativity and an entrepreneurial spirit.

Much of the language on your website is mom-centric. Have you ever considered changing it to a generic “parents” or “mom AND dad”?

Ya know, that’s really an interesting point.  I probably haven’t changed the copy since we started 10 years ago. And really, 10 years ago, there were no proud daddies waving their flags high. It was 97% mommies running the show back then. But you’re absolutely right, today it’s more like 60/40 in favor of moms, with dads catching up quick. Good call – will change.

Is there anything you’d want to say to gay dads (and moms) to encourage them to come?

I know that there’s still so much ignorance out there in this country, and that people are oftentimes just straight up stupid, but at BLD nobody cares about your skin color, your religion or your sexuality.  In fact nobody cares about anything other than dancing and having a good time. It’s like being at a cool nightclub where everyone’s just free to be who they are, and I think that gay culture has always thrived on that freedom.

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DD NOTE: When you buy tickets online to any BLD event, enter promotion code BLDFEC and Baby Loves Disco will donate a portion of the sales to Family Equality Council, an advocate for the 3 million LGBT parents and their 6 million children in the US. How groovy is that?

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[Disclaimer: I was comped 4 tickets to a Baby Loves Disco event (which we will be using THIS WEEKEND!) in thanks for writing this blog post and promoting BLD events. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. All opinions are mine and/or JJ’s.]