After taking 2025 off due to scheduling conflicts, the Magical Media Retreat was back for its fourth year just a couple weeks ago! This year we switched things up and held our conference at the Knott’s Hotel. Keep reading to see why I think it was one of our best years yet!
Magical Media Retreat conference at the Knott’s Hotel
If you follow me on social media or you’ve been reading my blog for awhile then you’re probably familiar with the Magical Media Retreat. It’s a small-scale retreat I co-founded with two of my blogging friends, Jenny and Kim.
Think of it as a hybrid between a blogging conference and a women’s retreat. Basically, every woman who is a female entrepreneur and uses the internet is invited to attend! We’ve had bloggers and UGC creators and photographers among our attendees. So far, it’s been held in Orange County each year, but this year we moved it from Anaheim to Buena Park.
day one: conference sessions at the Knott’s Hotel
The first day started off with a headshot session by our event photographer, Amanda with Captivating By Amanda. While some attendees had a mini photoshoot in the hotel’s beautiful courtyard, Jenny, Kim, and I put the finishing touches on the conference room.
Honestly, there wasn’t much left for us to do because the team at the Knott’s Berry Farm hotel had set everything up so nicely! All it took was a couple of floral arrangements we had put together ourselves, and laying out the incredible swag from our retreat sponsors. Oh, and our signature photo backdrop we always have. The design of our backdrop changes slightly each year, but we’ve had our handmade “Magical Media Retreat” sign every year!
Our sessions started off with Stephanie from Somewhat Simple Living. She gave an incredible keynote session called, “Stop Copying, Start Connecting”. She also went over how she grew her account from 20k to 400k in about a year! I think a lot of people were motivated and inspired when Stephanie finished sharing her wisdom with us.
Jenny, Kim, and I all led sessions also. We spoke on pitching to companies, using A.I. effectively, and diversifying your income. It’s always so great to learn from each other and I appreciated the questions from attendees!
We also had two other guest presenters–Veena Crownholm, who also led us in a fun Easter craft; and Vanessa Quigley, the co-founder of Chatbooks. Chatbooks was our title sponsor for this year’s retreat and I loved hearing what she had to say! Interested in trying Chatbooks? I’m now an ambassador and my code LITTLEDOVE can get you 20% off!
After our conference sessions wrapped for the day we had another timeslot for headshots. This ended up being beneficial because the wind in the morning had been brutal! Many attendees chose to try again and that’s one of the great things about our small-scale retreat–there’s plenty of room to pivot when we need to!
group dinner at Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant
We always try to have a meal or group activity together during the conference. It gives everyone an opportunity to get to know each other better and ask more questions if they want to! Since we were at Knott’s this year we knew we had to have a group dinner at the iconic Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant. I had told everyone how large the portions are, but I still don’t think they were prepared!
day two: group day at Knott’s Berry Farm
This year conference tickets included a ticket to Knott’s Berry Farm–California’s first theme park! Many attendees this year were locals and chose to save their tickets for another day, but we did have a small group that met together Saturday morning to have some fun in the park together!
It was a warm and busy day in the park, but we still found time to ride a couple rides together and take plenty of more pictures with Amanda. Like last year at Disneyland, we had an in-park challenge where attendees could rack up points to earn a canvas Knott’s tote bag with some more goodies from sponsors.
sponsors of our Magical Media Retreat conference at the Knott’s Hotel
A lot of hard work goes into putting the Magical Media Retreat together, but none of it would be possible without out retreat sponsors! We put a lot of thought (and prayer) into which companies would be good to partner with for our retreat.
title sponsor of the 2026 Magical Media Retreat
As I mentioned, Chatbooks was this year’s title sponsor and I think it was the perfect partnership! Not only did they help make our retreat magical for our attendees, but every attendee is now a Chatbooks ambassador! I’ve already ordered my first three photo books–and it took me less than an hour!
gifting sponsors for the Magical Media Retreat
We were so excited to partner with Visit Buena Park for this year’s retreat and they set our attendees up with some great travel chargers and new tote bags, as well as a few other goodies. Beddy’s kept the travel-focused fun going by sending every attendee one of their on-the-go travel blankets. And Owala was generous enough to keep all our attendees well-hydrated on their adventures with brand new water bottles!
Both Primally Pure and Frownies sent products to help keep our attendees looking their best. And once we were ready for the day we could grab our new Miztique bags and be ready for whatever comes our way!
Our attendees also went home with some great new products they could enjoy for awhile. Crae sent everyone a hand towel and washcloth set–perfect to spruce up our kitchens this spring! The Op Games also sent enough card games for everyone to go home with a couple. And Pilot Pen sent everyone pens in a variety of fun colors so we could all start putting our thoughts on paper!
Lastly, all of our retreat attendees had plenty of snacks to keep them fueled thanks to Undercover Snacks, Crispy Green, and Love Corn.
Thank you to our wonderful sponsors & partners for our Magical Media Retreat:
All photos in this post were provided by our event photographer, Amanda of Captivating Photography by Amanda. She is located in the greater Anaheim area.
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Want to join us next year? Message one of us hosts and let us know!
