This weekend our town's chamber of commerce put on an event in our downtown. The event caught my eye because it was pirate-themed, and Tommy's favorite book from this week's library run is "Pirates Don't Change Diapers." The promotional material promised both a pirate ship and family fun. We are a family, and we like fun, so we decided to go. We missed the big party on Friday, because it started at 8:30 (whoever decided that family fun should begin at 8:30 apparently meant "family fun for teenagers"). We figured that the fun should be equally good on Saturday, so after breakfast we loaded up the stroller and set off.
The event was set up with a treasure map, and the goal was to go to each business and get a stamp, or mark, or sticker from that business for your map. Most of the businesses were handing out prizes or coupons or having raffles as well. Once you completed the map you could turn it in for the big drawing. Our first few stops were great. We got coupons and chocolate coins (side note, I know these are made out of terrible chocolate, but for some reason I still really like them- same with advent calendar candy). The pirate theme was only somewhat in evidence, but Tommy was having fun. Then things got progressively more lame. The "pirate ship" was really a bar shaped like a ship. A BAR. How family friendly. There were no pirates. We went to the place where there was supposed to be live music and hot dogs, only to find out that nothing started until two. Hmmmm, naptime. Definitely not planned by a mom. As we progressed with our treasure hunt we realized that the day was not going to be as fun as we thought. But, we were halfway done, and at that point we figured things could only get better. The stops were a mixed bag. Some of the shops had very friendly owners who were clearly invested in trying to make the day festive and fun, others not so much. The highlight for T was getting a foam sword and a paper hat from a hair salon that was fully in the spirit of things.
We ended up finishing our map more quickly than we thought and deciding that hanging out for free hotdogs and pushing back Tommy's nap was not worth it. So, we turned in our map, filled out the raffle card, and headed home. During the walk back we talked a little bit about how different the actual event was from what we expected based on the promotional literature, and I said something along the lines of: "Well, maybe we'll win something. That will salvage the day."
We went home, T took a nap. Jeff and I got ready to go out to dinner, and got T ready to spend time with some of his favorite people (and dogs). Jeff and I had an amazing evening catching up with friends and stuffing ourselves with delicious food. It was so much fun. We got home late, came in, and Jeff put Tommy in his crib. I noticed the light on the answering machine was blinking. I hit the button and hear: "This is so and so from the chamber of commerce. I'm calling to let you know that you won a flat screen HDTV in our drawing." I won! I jumped up and down, and I don't even really like TV. It was just so fun to win, especially after all that work, and feeling like I had ruined our Saturday morning by making us all go to a fairly boring event.
Woohoo for Pirate Booty!
The event was set up with a treasure map, and the goal was to go to each business and get a stamp, or mark, or sticker from that business for your map. Most of the businesses were handing out prizes or coupons or having raffles as well. Once you completed the map you could turn it in for the big drawing. Our first few stops were great. We got coupons and chocolate coins (side note, I know these are made out of terrible chocolate, but for some reason I still really like them- same with advent calendar candy). The pirate theme was only somewhat in evidence, but Tommy was having fun. Then things got progressively more lame. The "pirate ship" was really a bar shaped like a ship. A BAR. How family friendly. There were no pirates. We went to the place where there was supposed to be live music and hot dogs, only to find out that nothing started until two. Hmmmm, naptime. Definitely not planned by a mom. As we progressed with our treasure hunt we realized that the day was not going to be as fun as we thought. But, we were halfway done, and at that point we figured things could only get better. The stops were a mixed bag. Some of the shops had very friendly owners who were clearly invested in trying to make the day festive and fun, others not so much. The highlight for T was getting a foam sword and a paper hat from a hair salon that was fully in the spirit of things.
We ended up finishing our map more quickly than we thought and deciding that hanging out for free hotdogs and pushing back Tommy's nap was not worth it. So, we turned in our map, filled out the raffle card, and headed home. During the walk back we talked a little bit about how different the actual event was from what we expected based on the promotional literature, and I said something along the lines of: "Well, maybe we'll win something. That will salvage the day."
We went home, T took a nap. Jeff and I got ready to go out to dinner, and got T ready to spend time with some of his favorite people (and dogs). Jeff and I had an amazing evening catching up with friends and stuffing ourselves with delicious food. It was so much fun. We got home late, came in, and Jeff put Tommy in his crib. I noticed the light on the answering machine was blinking. I hit the button and hear: "This is so and so from the chamber of commerce. I'm calling to let you know that you won a flat screen HDTV in our drawing." I won! I jumped up and down, and I don't even really like TV. It was just so fun to win, especially after all that work, and feeling like I had ruined our Saturday morning by making us all go to a fairly boring event.
Woohoo for Pirate Booty!
Posts
3 comments:
I hate you. ;-)
Parenting. It's all about sticking it out . . . many rewards.
Our free TV hasn't shown up yet.
Where is the picture with Tommy in his pirate hat and yielding his sword?
I totally know what its like when you read about a place or event that sounds like something your kids will love, and it turns out to be totally lame! (Thats why I started my review blog about kid-friendly places in DuPage!) But you're lucky that you ended up getting a new TV out of the deal!
Post a Comment