Category Archives: Potpourri

No gift bag left behind?

Posted on May 15, 2012 | 8 comments

Back when my eldest was a toddler and took no interest in her birthday party beyond the cake, I vowed I would never adopt what I viewed as unsavoury kids’ birthday party practices. Namely:

  1. Outsourcing
  2. Inviting a number of children greater than my child’s age
  3. Gift bags

This past Friday, at our daughter’s seventh birthday celebration, I realized I have broken all of my party promises. We let Avery invite nine friends to a gymnastics bithday party at the Flip Factory and handed out goody bags when it was over. These slips aren’t really a big deal since outsourcing a party is arguably easier than hosting it in-house (the entertainment is taken care of and the mess is minimized). And really, what’s a couple more friends when there’s a huge gym to run around in?

Gymnastics for an hour followed by pizza, cake, presents and gift bags.

Which brings us to gift bags. Even though a parenting trend prediction for 2012 suggested gift bags were on the way out, it’s daunting to defy party tradition and forego the little party thank-yous, especially when six- and seven-year-old girls covet them. So I stocked up on craft graft from Michaels and Jolly Ranchers from Dollarama and put together what I thought was a pretty kick-ass gift bag:

If China didn’t exist, neither would gift bags.

And yet. One little girl left her gift bag behind. Did she deem the contents unworthy? Had she and her parents vowed to eschew the tradition of gross birthday over-consumption by just saying no to the loot bag? Or did she simply forget to take her gift bag home with her?

Gift bag left behind.

I’ll never know the reason the yellow bag stayed at the Flip Factory that evening. But I like to think that, in Grade 1, my daughter’s friend took a look inside and thought, “Do I really need some lame Made-in-China crafts and teeth-rotting candy?” And then left the gift bag behind.

Should gift bags go the way of the dinosaurs or should we embrace them? Thoughts?

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My daughter’s bucket list: exotic travel, animals and Disneyland

Posted on May 2, 2012 | 4 comments

When we were in Ixtapa, Mexico over spring break my husband got to check off an item from his bucket list: parasailing. This got our daughter asking, “What’s a bucket list?” We explained it’s a list of things you want to do or try or see before you die.

Avery got pretty excited and started writing her own bucket list, with pink magic marker:

Kids can have bucket lists too. And they dream of doing a lot more than just eating Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries for every meal and moving to Hawaii.

I know it’s hard to read and the spelling is somewhat appalling (she is only in Grade 1 … still, maybe we should switch to a private school?) but here are some highlights (it continued on the back of the page):

  1. Hot air balloon
  2. Visit Antarctica
  3. Get a dog
  4. Visit a castle
  5. Raft through the Grand Canyon with my family
  6. Go to Mexico and dance on the table
  7. Visit a jungle in South America
  8. Ride a camel
  9. Get my ears pierced
  10. Go to China and eat dim sum
  11. Go to Disneyland
  12. Go to Africa
  13. Drive a car
  14. Climb a mountain (the highest one)

I am pleased there are so many travel-related items on her list, though I have to wonder how much was influenced by Blake, who kept suggesting ideas as he sipped on Coronitas. One of them (No. 6) was something he did back in university, which resulted in stitches at a Mazatlan clinic after he fell off the table and cut open his head (Avery loves this story). And I’m not sure when Avery decided to climb Mount Everest, but I guess it shows she has ambition and a love of the mountains.

When I was six I’m pretty sure I would have written down things like, “Lose a tooth and see the Tooth Fairy,” or, “Invite Elizabeth over to play.” It goes to show how today’s youth are being shaped by their parents’ tastes and TV preferences (exotic travel and The Amazing Race).

A recent “bucket list” story in the Globe and Mail listed 50 things a kid should do before they turn 12. Many of the items were simple things like “Climb a tree,” “Camp out in the wild,” “Bury someone in the sand” and “Climb a huge hill” — activities that should, arguably, be a part of childhood without having to legislate them onto a bucket list. But the point of the story is that many kids aren’t getting enough back-to-nature time. They’re stuck behind screens playing Angry Birds instead of feeding a real bird seeds from the palm of their hand.

Avery checks off No. 18 from the story's list: "Balance on a fallen tree."

So, even though Avery’s bucket list items are quite a bit more complicated than those in the Globe, I take comfort in the fact that she’s likely to climb a tree (in the South American jungle), camp out in the wild (in Africa), bury her brother in the sand (in Ixtapa — cross that off the list) and climb a huge hill (does Mount Everest count?). The only trick will be accomplishing these feats before she turns 12.

Do you — or your kids — have a bucket list? What’s on it?

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Penguin Plunge at the Calgary Zoo

Posted on May 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

The Penguin Plunge has been open at the Calgary Zoo since February 17. Since I consider waiting in a two-hour-long line with my children to be way more painful than a bikini wax, we delayed until this past weekend to visit the black and white feathered swimmers in their new Antarctic-like home.

The penguins are perfectly suited for life in Calgary as they come from a frigid polar land.

Our strategy worked. After arriving right when the zoo gates opened at 9 a.m. — and getting to see a flock of the Humboldt penguins in their outdoor enclosure — we only had to wait for 30 minutes to go inside the new exhibit. Because The Boy gets restless in these types of queuing situations, I walked Bennett down to the bridge after explaining we’d have to immediately turn around and march back up to the Penguin Plunge again. At which point he screamed, “I don’t want to see the penguins!!” (Because were so close to the hippos at that point.) Sigh.

I dragged him back right as a zoo lady began explaining the rules, including, “Don’t pet the penguins even though they’ll be really close,” and “Don’t lift your kid up over your head to see the penguins because he might fall into frigid water filled with penguin poop,” and “If a penguin catapults itself out of the water, over the glass and onto the concrete floor, don’t attempt to pick it up.” Wow, what hijinks might occur inside? It sounded exciting!

Bennett loved watching the penguins swim but sadly didn't get to pet or swim with one. Avery was somewhat turned off by the strong poop smell.

Upon entering the inside space I didn’t know where to look first. A walkway takes visitors between two large pools surrounded by faux snow-capped rock outcrops that are crowded with waddling penguins. We saw king, rockhopper and gentoo penguins diving from the rocks into the water, where they swam with grace and a speed that almost makes you dizzy. Huge panes of glass allow kids and adults to see their antics underwater. It’s an amazingly well-done exhibit and your allotted time (15 minutes) goes by fast. The zoo lady was right: the flightless birds are so close you can touch them. Well, my husband did, anyway. “Petting a penguin is on my bucket list,” he said, somewhat defensively.

Bennett really could have reached over and petted one of them but he listened to the zoo lady and refrained from breaking the rules.

Both kids loved watching the penguins though Avery was weirdly preoccupied with making sure I got a picture of her next to the fake penguins on the way out.

Here she is with four faux penguins.

Overall a great experience. We’ll be back little penguins, because I’ve added a new item to my bucket list!

Have you been the the Penguin Plunge at the Calgary Zoo? Did you pet them or witness one jumping over the glass? Or, did your kid fall in to the water??

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