Field note: adapted from the Korean diary entry I published on 23 March 2024, describing our first baby-fair visit earlier that year. We paid for every item ourselves. Organisers, layouts, parking arrangements and prices change, so the figures below describe 2024 only; COEX's current parking guide is linked in the sources.
Before I was pregnant I had never thought about baby fairs. They belong to the category of events you only hear about when they suddenly become relevant, like wedding expos. Once I was expecting, the appeal was obvious: a hall full of the things I was about to need, where I could touch them instead of guessing from photographs.
The experienced mothers in my group chat were blunt. If I was going to make the trip at all, I should go to COEX in Seoul, because that venue draws the most exhibitors. Anything smaller was not worth the journey.
Choosing a Saturday, and Regretting It Immediately
A weekday would have been quieter. I chose Saturday anyway, because someone had to carry things and I did not want that person to be a pregnant me. We avoid driving into Seoul at weekends when we can, and a weekend at COEX is exactly the traffic I try not to think about. The exhibition was the easy part; getting a car near it was the problem.
The Parking Decision
We had two ideas: book valet parking through Kakao T, or park at the department store beside COEX. In 2024 the valet option was about 15,000 won with five hours of parking. We chose the department store, waited less than I feared, ate bibimbap in the basement and used the store's parking validation at the time.
That sequence mattered mostly because I had become hungry and irritable in the car. My husband looked at the situation and decided that feeding me before entering a sales hall was the safest plan.
The Crowd Starts at the Door
The first thing inside the entrance was the stroller and car-seat section, and it was packed. That makes sense: they are expensive, unavoidable, and the sort of purchase parents research properly, so those booths absorb enormous numbers of people.
We skipped the entire row. I had already decided against a full-size or convertible stroller and planned to use a combined stroller–car seat, so there was nothing there for me. Walking past the busiest area and starting from the far end was the best decision of the day.
Touching Was More Useful Than the Price Tags
My first surprise was that a fair price was not automatically the lowest price. Online flash deals could be cheaper, and a baby superstore we visited the next day beat some of the offers. The fair was useful for a different reason: we could handle things, compare them side by side and leave a booth when the explanation did not match what we needed.
The free-gift mythology also failed me. I received one handkerchief after an outcall-massage consultation and one diaper from an event coupon. That was it.
The Baby Carrier Was Worth Trying in Person
The carrier was the one item where attending genuinely changed the outcome. Staff have the fathers try carriers on rather than the pregnant mothers, and they kept offering me a chair. I was barely showing, so being seated felt absurd, but I understood the intention.
I already had a bad back, so support mattered. My husband tried three or four models and said one felt as if it held his waist better. It was also the cheapest of that small group on the day.
Because the booth sat inside the door and was heavily crowded, the owner gathered everyone into one group and demonstrated at once. My husband was picked as the model, wore a pink carrier in front of a small audience, and got 5,000 won off as a "model fee." I have not let him forget it.
We bought the all-in-one model with an integrated hip seat and drool pads. The booth said it could be used from the newborn stage; that was their claim, not a safety rule, so any parent considering a carrier should check the maker's current age and weight instructions.
Cloths, Detergent, and the Small Things
For muslin and gauze cloths I avoided the famous, crowded, expensive brand and picked whichever felt softest. That was a bath set from a smaller brand: thirty embossed and gauze cloths, five cloth nappies and two bamboo bath towels.
My one regret is the ratio: I chose ten gauze and twenty embossed, and wished afterwards I had reversed it. Embossed cloths also arrive free with almost every clothing gift, so I gained fifteen more than I bought.
I also picked a scented detergent from a smaller booth. It was another purchase made by handling and smelling the product rather than by finding the lowest possible price.
The Total, and the High Chair
The recorded total was 353,100 won: 240,000 for the carrier, 73,500 for the bath set and 39,600 for the detergent. Those three figures add to the total exactly. I also bought maternity items, but I never recorded their cost and they are not included here. At the time I could not see the point of either the belly band or the nursing bras.
I still count the day as a win because we came close to buying a high chair my husband had become attached to after one demonstration. He kept asking whether we needed it. We did not buy it. That is how my first baby fair ended: not with the list I should have made, but with the expensive thing we successfully left in the hall.
Sources checked
Last reviewed August 29, 2026.
- Original Korean diary – our first baby fair at COEX — Banggujin Naver Blog
- Current parking information — COEX
Schedules, prices and operating rules can change. Where a detail is time-sensitive, the linked operator remains the final authority.
