FoS Teddy Bear Meet

Phew, life is sort of getting back to normal now. I have gone through basically all of this month (up until this very post) on stuff that I have scheduled a while back, so that this blog wouldn’t look deserted while I was moving. But now I’ve run out of pre-written content and am back online, as well as mostly settled in my new place – so let’s talk about the meet I went to literally the day before my moving out, shall we?

| Magic Tea Party Bears Paradise skirt | BtSSB shirring blouse | BtSSB Antique Ribbon shoes | Cutie Creator headdress | Dalao Home wig | Innocent World bag | BtSSB parasol (pictured below) | offbrand socks and necklace |

I brought the parasol for practical reasons as it was raining occasionally throughout the day. But I never actually needed it, so I was going to be damned if I didn't whip it out for at least one photo!

While the aegyo sal makeup is intentional, I probably was as tired as I looked there. Also, since I packed almost all my makeup, I borrowed heavily from my Mum for that authentic oldschool look lol.

As you gathered from the title, the theme was bears. The meet organiser also got this skirt and we decided to twin. It was her idea to style it in an oldschool way and while I never would’ve even thought of it, I loved the idea and the final look. It also helped that this was an outfit that required the absolute minimum of getting ready for, so I could basically pack everything and leave the barest minimum still out. My bare room really suited the ‘don’t mess with me’ vibe of oldschool poses, though it’s surprising how dark it turned out. It wasn’t any darker than usual, yet having my dark walls exposed, instead of covered in shit, absorbed this much more light that it made for darker pictures.

This meet was on the cards way before I even knew that I’d be moving. My Dad gave me the biggest side-eye when I told him that I still intended on going, because he wanted to drive me down that Saturday. But let’s be honest, I really needed this meet. I spent good 2 weeks prior to it in slacks, packing, prepping stuff, sorting things out and generally stressed – having a break, however short, restored a lot of my energy and made me feel like a person again. While I don’t necessarily wear frills every weekend, this 2 week absence of any kind of nice clothes really affected my mood and wellbeing, which just goes to show how big a part of my life lolita and J-fashion have become.

Anyhow, onto the meet itself! I knew that there was a Teddy Bear Shop in York, I was even vaguely aware that it had a café, yet somehow hadn’t actually stepped inside until that day. That was probably my subconscious trying to protect me, because all the bears inside were ridiculously adorable as well as definitely not for my pocket. I fell in love with one that turned out to be £70 – rest assured, I remained sensible and did not buy it.

This shop is hard to miss and tourists always take pictures with this bear.

The one on the right was too cute, I wish I could've bought it!

Some more touristy bears if you fancy. They look super cozy in these sweaters, I want sweater weather already (though I better be careful what I wish for).

Here's the deal with tourism in the UK: even in York, where you don't see policement dressed like this or beefeaters, you can still get basically every kind of London-specific souvenirs. Because tourists.

Since I arrived later than most of the other attendees, so that I could have some extra sleep in the morning, I browsed the shop with another lolita until the rest of our party turned up. That’s when we moved upstairs to the café part, where we were greeted by the table full of out goodie bags. I knew that these were happening, but I didn’t expect them to be this good or varied – there were some bits we all got (like the bear ears and pictures) and some that were unique to various people (especially the miscellaneous items like stationery and accessories). It also took me a while to realise that the i's had bears – a sentence which proved confusing when spoken out loud vs written down.

The goodie bags were a true labour of love and were beary much appreciated.

See what I mean? The i's had bears!

The contents of my goody bag. I still actually haven't properly unpacked it.

Our tea spread arrived fairly quickly after out drinks did. As usual these days, I left the scone out, fully knowing that I’d get too full from it. Everything else was delicious: I loved the open sandwiches and both cakes were just divine! I appreciate how they went with quality instead of quantity, two great cakes are way better that four average ones. Also, when the waitress brought the two vegan sets, the café earned big plus from me – they normally don’t serve vegan food, but for the two sets they collaborated with another café in York that does. Having seen people with dietary requirements be given meh options in the past as venues struggled with those requirements, it was refreshing to see them both admit that this wasn’t their strength and support another local business to deliver something of better quality. Very good!

Are you having tea if you don't photograph it?

Both of these were a solid 10/10!

The scone I didn't eat. I heard it was good and I trust people. Butter wrapped like a piece of
candy was a cute touch though.

These sandwiches were surprisingly filling and some of the nicer ones I've had, I approve.

Time went by really quickly there, as not only the tea spread was delicious and the chat great – we had plenty of games to keep us busy too! We started off with origami bears (I’m poor at origami, so I cut corners, other people’s looked more like the pictures), before playing pin the bow on Usakumya, followed later by a Guess the Bear game. Some were quite easy (like Rilakkuma), while others, well, were not – I had Angelic Pretty’s Porter Bear, which I recognised, but not remembered the name. It took some creative thinking to get people to piece the clues into that name, so well done.  There was even a best dressed competition, very rightfully won by Lucy, who was dressed in a handmade Rilakkuma-inspired JSK. It was super cute, so well made, she deserved that win!

That's what it was supposed to look like. Mine had a more square head because I got lost at that part, though no pictures of my creation were taken.

Usakumya had all the bows imaginable.

I will also subject you to this cursed image because I can.

100% well deserved Best Dressed win - and the sash matched the coord too!

Before leaving, we had to take advantage of our café floor being temporarily empty and take pictures there and then. Only later did we spot the ‘do not touch the display’ sign, but hey, nothing got damaged and no-one saw us, so it’s fine, right? This is also where my two polaroids were taken, I still need to display them somewhere. It also makes me want to get a polaroid camera, so that I could have more cute snaps like this and make them into a bigger display.

With my wonderful twin, she's a cutie and did so well organising this meet!

Picctures of pictures. That solo polaroid does look like it was actually taken in maybe the 1970's, doesn't it? In a weird way it makes me want to have a log cabin getaway, but to a log cabin that remains untouched since 1970's and has tacky decor.

After a group photo in front of the shop (where we stopped quite a bit of traffic for that snap), we headed to the Museum Gardens. Is it really a meet in York if you don’t go to see the owls there? After hanging out with owls, we went further in, away from the busy parts, to take some more pictures and just hang out. Although I didn’t want to stay too late, so that I’d have time for a bath and last minute packing back at home, I did end up staying later than the train I had originally booked. Truth be told, I just didn’t want that meet to end and have to go back to being a practically dressed slob, I wanted my kawaii break to last as long as possible.

This is Gizmo who was 4 months old and the tiniest bean ever (literally the size of a hand).
Gizmo was also grumpy and just wanted a nap, but them pesky people wouldn't allow that.

The creepy twins. Photo thanks to Rosie.

And what actual twins are usually like. Photo thanks to Rosie.

Only on our way back did we realise that we also had basically the same shoes (though tbh
the Bodyline ones were probably much more comfortable).

As this month’s Wunderwelt Libre theme is meetup reports, I have written about this meet over there too, give it a peek, please.