Spaghetti For Breakfast

How hard could it be to put together gift bags for six women?

It’s not like I haven’t put together gift - or ‘loot’ if you will - bags before. I have three kids. They’ve had birthday parties. In fact I put together the gift bags for Annabelle’s last birthday party in less than two minutes. The question was; would my friends be as happy as Annabelle’s friends to receive Tinker Bell tiaras, green sour-apple lip gloss, and Disney Fairies chocolate?

Well probably; but I decided to make the goodies a little more age appropriate anyway.

Why was I making the gift bags in the first place?

Three words - Girls’ Night Out. Wait - four more words - Sex and the City.

Heather, Susie, Tracey, Kathy, Melinda and I (along with thousands of other women across North America) made a plan to see the Sex and the City movie together this past weekend and then go to Susie’s house to talk really fast and laugh really loud for a long time.

In honour of the event I thought it would be fun to make special gift bags for each of us.

I knew immediately that there were two things I definitely wanted to include: a ‘Sex and the City Essentials’ DVD and a Faces #59 lipstick. The inclusion of the DVD speaks for itself.

The lipstick, as Susie and Kathy reminded us via e-mail recently, was a frosted light pink colour that we all wore during the 80s in high school. I thought it would be a perfect gift because nothing says aging gracefully like a group of 40-something women wearing frosted pink lipstick.

After checking online to see if the colour was still available - frosted light pink not being a shade that necessarily stands the test of time - I called the store in Mississauga to place my order.

“I was wondering if you had any #59 lipsticks in stock,” I asked. “I need six of them.”

“Sorry,” the very young sounding salesgirl answered. “We don’t make that lipstick anymore.”

“It’s listed on your website.”  

“Oh okay. What’s the number?”

“59.”

“I don’t think we have ten #69s left.”

“That’s alright. I was looking for #59. And I only need six of them. They’re a frosted pink colour.”

“Oh. I don’t think our #59 is called ‘Frosted Pink’. It says it’s called ‘Chickita’.”

“Could you put your mother on the phone please?”

Unless someone threw them at my head, I figured that acquiring the DVDs could only be easier.

Unfortunately I could only find three of them in town. But I was headed for Burlington where I was sure that it would be simple to find two or three more.

I pulled into the first video store that I spotted. As I scanned the DVDs a young clerk approached me.

“Do you need any help?”

“Thanks. I’m looking for Sex and the City.”

I swear to God he looked scared for a second.

“Is that a movie?”

When I said it was also a TV show he got the same confused look on his face that my kids get when I mention ‘Welcome Back Kotter’. (“What’s a Kotter Mom?”)

Although the five other stores I tried at least knew what I was talking about, none of them had any copies of the DVD that I wanted.

So in the end each of the ladies received a bottle of champagne, a purse-sized box of chocolates and a lipstick that made them scream with laughter before eagerly putting it on. We had a great time.

I think next time I’ll also include the Tinker Bell tiaras.