Mother-Daughter Bonding: Carnival-Style

May 9, 2014

While I do love the fairly quiet together mother-daughter bonding time before she heads off to school, I consider this problematic for a few reasons:

1. I’m not so keen on a preschooler in eyeshadow and a red lip

2. She messes up my deftly organized drawers!

3. Inevitably, my denying her the chance to wear glittery glosses or shimmery shadows makes makeup feel like something illicit, and perhaps gives it more power than it ought to. She gets whiny when all I’ll allow is a dab of lip balm on her pucker!

That’s just one of the reasons why I’m excited to take Mia to the carnival style-celebration at the Old Navy flagship store in New York City on Saturday, where, amongst other things, she can get her face painted to her heart’s content. And besides that, there will be carnival games, a prize booth, balloon artists, arts and crafts, a photo backdrop station (where you and your kids can get your photo taken against a carnival backdrop), cotton candy, popcorn, and hot dogs.

The cotton candy alone would probably be a big enough draw for my little sugar fiend. But I’m most excited to stock up on tons of spring clothes, some at only $10! That’s right — there’s a big sale for me to enjoy while Mia is getting her fill of carnival-type treats.

Here are the details, if you have a little one who might like to take part in the fun:

Saturday, May 10, from noon to 4 p.m.

Old Navy, 610 Avenue of the Americas at 18th Street, 2nd Floor

*This post was sponsored by Old Navy

Liz Krieger is a wife, mother, writer in Brooklyn, New York. She's been a magazine editor for over 15 years, having worked at publications including Health, Self, More, Real Simple, Allure, Good Housekeeping, and Parents magazine. She has written for publications including Bazaar, WebMD Magazine, Women's Health, and O, the Oprah magazine. She's the mother of two lovely little girls, and when not chasing after clumps of cat hair (thanks to the two orange tabby cats who sleep near her head), she can be found avoiding to cook, attempting to regain some semblance of core muscles, listening to podcasts while jogging around Prospect Park, and reading really, really fast. Special skills and interests: Figuring out how to have a clean, organized home without actually having to clean or organize, seething at various Real Housewives, varsity-level lint rolling, and the ability to eat an entire pineapple in one sitting.