Seeking to break the mold of traditional book tours, Amy Tara Koch, author of Bump It Up: Transforming Your Pregnancy Into a Style Statement, created a nine-city tour of pampering cocktail parties for her target readers: women who are currently pregnant, have been pregnant, or are considering having a child. 

“I wanted to design my book tour to be a prego-pampering soiree so it’s more of an experience than just having someone sign a book,” said Koch, who has also hosted parties in Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, and at Miami’s W South Beach in March, hosted by Kourtney Kardashian.

Thursday’s party at the W Fort Lauderdale marked the sixth stop on the tour and had about 140 women in attendance. Koch secured 11 pregnancy and motherhood-related sponsors to provide activities and education at the party. Bliss spa representatives provided hand and neck massages and set up an oxygen bar for guests to sample. Lancôme also provided a faux glow bar offering makeup applications to imitate the purported pregnancy glow women experience, though Koch says it's just good makeup.

About halfway through the two-hour event, Koch read an except from her book and hosted a fashion presentation of her dos and don'ts of pregnancy style. A raffle included prizes such as a Britax stroller and car seat, Baby Bjorn baby carrier, and other pregnancy and baby accessories.

The hotel provided pregnancy-craving-inspired passed hors d’oeuvres that combined salty and sweet options like spring rolls, coconut shrimp, and a dessert buffet of fresh fruit, marshmallows, caramel corn, and melted chocolate and caramel sauce for dipping. Stella’s Sweet Shoppe also supplied mini cupcakes for dessert. Additionally, Koch partnered with La Croix sparkling water to create a virgin mojito for the expectant mothers in attendance.