Sunday, August 26, 2007

ye olde gift shoppe

As you may have heard me mention, I am sick, sick, sick of the way people market to kids. Because when they do, the side effect is torture. TORTURE. It's hard enough to take a trip to the Air and Space Museum and discover they have not one, not two, but something like FOUR GIFT SHOPS on display along with the Voyager. (Well, it's four if you count the kiosks, which I do, because they are stocked with $4.00 astronaut ice cream and no 5-year-old can walk by astronaut ice cream without asking for some.) I got out with a NASA patch (the agreed-upon purchase for my son's bookbag), a space shuttle pen and my life.

But the rant continues because we just got back from putt-putt golfing at Mutiny Bay in the Outer Banks. To get either in or out, you had to pass through the Mutiny Bay Gift Shop. Pirate golf balls: $2 a piece. Pirate flags. Pirate ships. Pirate shot glasses. Pirate swords. Little pirates with guns. Big pirates with guns. Some of their stuff was actually priced pretty decently but I DON'T WANT STUFF. I WANT TO PAY MY $7.50 SO I CAN WATCH MY SON NINE-PUTT THE CANNON HOLE. IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK??? I got out with our golfing score card. And a few tears. No extra charge.