Saturday, April 10, 2010

Buy Me Some Peanuts, Crackerjacks, and EVERYTHING ELSE!


Soon, we'll take you out to the ballgame, biscuit.  Soon.

I hate shopping at Babies [backwards] R Us.  It's too big, expensive, poorly organized, and offers miserable customer service and dirty bathrooms.  I try to only buy things there that I can only easily get there, like a new organic mattress pad (ironically packaged in non-recyclable, heavy plastic that offgasses more than I do on chili night) because I ruined Livy's last one in the dryer.  And that's when I saw this hat.



Damn you, Babies [backwards] R Us!  Livy tips her hat, and I tip my king to you.  Check and mate.

Better alternatives if you're in the Seattle, specifically Ballard/Greenwood/Phinney area:

Me 'N Moms - Consignment shops with everything available under the sun

Childish Things - Consignment shop with great clothing and baby slings

Rising Stars - Consignment shop with some new, swanky, local, organic-type thingies.  It's small and looks like selection is low, but I always find something wonderful when we're there.

Top Ten Toys - My favorite toy store ever.  This store specializes in high-quality educational and creative play toys.  Merchandise tie-ins, aggressive advertising, and the stench of cheap, molded plastic is pleasantly, wonderfully absent.  It's everything that the [backwards] R Us stores could never be.

Clover Toys - This shop is a little more expensive than I generally prefer, but it's so beautifully curated that it's worth the trip.  I find that their baby selection is a little skimpy, but when Livy's older we're destined to drop some serious coin here on big-kid toys.

Secret Garden Bookshop - A delightful store whose offerings are geared mostly toward kids, but we almost always end up buying grown-up books there, too.  It's both charming and well-stocked with interesting and unusual titles.

With these plus the Goodwill on 65th and 8th and the Value Village on Holman Road, I'm ashamed of having bought Livy's cap at B[b]RU.  But, in the end, we're all glad I bought it somewhere.


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