King of the Store

When Turkey was small I signed him up for the birthday program at Toy's R Us.  It's a cute little program, a few days before your child's birthday a card comes in the mail for them from Geoffrey the Giraffe and in the card is a $3 gift card.  Then when you get to the store you tell the employee at the front desk that it's the child's birthday and they get a crown and a balloon (free).

The first year I took him to do this I felt a little silly because he was still riding in the cart and the crown was way too floppy to look "regal".  However since that first year it's been a tradition he looks forward to.  And luckily this year he got 2 cards, and thus 2 gift cards.

Tonight armed with his 2 gift cards (hey, $6 is a lot when you're turning 8) and his birthday money (he had his friend's party a couple weeks ago) off we went.

Turkey was BEYOND excited to be there.  He was on top of the world and could hardly contain himself while I got his brother out of the car and into the carriage... so Husband walked him in... up to the front desk Turkey marched and proudly reported that it was his birthday (OK, so it's on Tuesday but really...) and he got his crown and balloon and off we went to shop...

Well OK, me and the boys went one way and Husband went the other to get Turkey's gift from us (parents also get a $5 off $25 birthday coupon as part of the program)...

Turkey looked over the shelves with care, calculated, and re-calculated the prices on items he wanted....

And then over the loud speaker it came... the employee at the front desk was announcing it was Turkey's birthday and welcomed others to wish him happy birthday if they saw him (which they did).  Turkey stood there beaming, listening to his name being said over the intercom.

In the end he selected three packs of Pokemon Black and White and two 6-Series Lego mini-figures.  In his mind the best way to spend around $25 of his own money and a Sunday night.