I shouldn’t shop with Mark. Not that he isn’t behaving. Well, sometimes he isn’t, but most of the time he is happy to follow me around. No, it’s just that visiting stores out of boredom isn’t good for my wallet—every time, I end up spending money on things I wouldn’t normally buy.
That time, we were at Toys “R” Us. Don’t ask me why, I thought it would be entertaining to check out the toys. Chasing Mark around the store turned out to be a pain in the butt and I wished we had gone to Winners’ instead—he is much less interested in fashion than in bikes and Elmo talking books.
I had to buy something. I just had to. I looked for a bubble mixture like we had when we were kids. Remember these little containers with a wand and a loop? Well, apparently, according to a Toys “R” Us employee, they “don’t make those anymore because kids could drink the mixture.” She shot me a dirty look as well as if I was trying to poison Mark. (I later found out this was complete BS—not the first time a Toys “R” Us employee tries to guilt trip me…)
So I bought the next best thing, the Sizzlin’ Cool Exstream Bubbles. Don’t get fooled by the cool name, it’s just a “bubble gun” that promised to shoot “thousands of bubbles in minutes.” Clearly, that was before my morning coffee. I refuse to buy anything that looks like a gun and I don’t normally spend $10 on gizmos.
But I bought the “gun.”
Once home, as I was about to show Mark the magic of bubbles, I realized the “gun” needed batteries to work.
I was pissed off, as I absolutely loathe toys that need batteries. I’m not very environment-friendly (cloth diapers? No thanks!) but batteries pollute and are expensive.
So the gun stayed in the hallway until I finally found two batteries and the right screwdriver to open the battery compartment.
It shot bubbles. Kind of. Crappy toy if you ask me, but the look on Mark’s face chasing after bubbles was worth the $10.
Now, next time, I’ll make the soapy mixture and the wand myself.
Je vois que les bulles amusent aussi bien les grands que les petits! 😉
Bisous 🙂
Je suis une grande enfant 😆
The look on his face in that second to last picture! I loved bubbles as a child:) can’t believe toys r us told you that – I always use bubbles with children at school, normally from dollarama!
Yep, next time that’s where I will get my supplies.
We love bubbles too !! And michoco says bub instead of ” bulles” when he wants to play with it. Is he english spoken ???!! I have found a little ice-cream fashionned tank so hopefully no gun for us !!! I hope I will be able to keep him away from gun toys for a very long time… still soap in mummy’s eyes ( because of homemade bubbles !) is a strong weapon…
Ugh, didn’t think of the soap-in-the-eye issue. I’m sure it will happen to me too!
Thank goodness what the employee said about the wands isn’t true! How odd that she made that up though…
People here love to guilt trip you and they use “safety first” a lot.
Bubbles !!!!! (so the kid in me say !) Mark looks so happy 🙂
I think it is BS about the drink bubble mixture ! I saw it the last time at the Toy R Us at Billings Bridge. Plus when we used it when we were kids, we did not drink it and we turned out fine.
P.S.= Toys R Us is not safe for anybody !! G and i bought stuff there too last week lol
I know, my fault, I shouldn’t have trusted the salesperson. But shopping with Mark is… exhausting.
I understand 🙂
Can you imagine you’ll be the one making bubbles with baby soon?
I prefer the old way too. I mean, part of the fun is blowing on the wand to make your own bubbles.
I hate any kind of guilt-tripping parent advertising. I remember there was even one at Roissy entitled, “What are going to tell him if you decide not to invest in Poland?” You’ve got to be kidding me! Using a close-up shot of a kid to try and get people to make investments in Poland? That is just so wrong. I hate how the media plays with parents.
Amen to that! There is an interesting article in this month’s issue of Psychologie Magazine (the French version, saw it at Chapters) on why society always tends to blame mothers for just about everything.
Youhou ! Bubbles !
But batteries for firing bubbles, how crappy is that ? It looks complicated for the task. And even if kids try to drink the soap, it is not very toxic, and they probably only try once, so, what the point ?
I know! I wouldn’t have suspected this crap needed batteries.
I bought this for my daughter in Malaysia, around RM10 (around 2.5€). She loved it especially she could play with her cousins. I started seeing this in Nantes during the Carnival, but have not seen it yet in the local supermarkets.
Oh, the carnival… I miss confettis 🙂
Turns out it’s rather difficult to make your soapy lotion nowadays since the anti-grease product they add to dish-washing soap prevents the bubbles from forming.
Interesting, I hadn’t realized!
We’re having our youngest daughter’s birthday party here in a couple of weeks, and we want to do bubbles in the backyard, and I had a terrible time finding the traditional giant bottle of bubble soap that I buy every year (Miracle Bubbles, I think it is called). Usually you’re tripping over the stuff at the grocery store, walmart, and dollarama – but no one had any. I finally found a couple of lonely bottles (no doubt left over from last year) at the Toys R Us in Stittsville, but now I’m worried that this is the last of the bunch. I’ve tried making my own in the past and it just isn’t the same!
That’s weird! You’d think it’s summer toy 101, right?
Lynn, I have a friend who bought the traditional giant bottle from Costco. She said she also saw some at Dolorama and Loblaws.
Thank you for the tip:!