Rubber Band Hysteria... Seriously??

If you're a parent of kids in preschool through high school (!!!), you've most likely seen some animal-shaped rubber bands floating around your house, and you probably didn't pay much attention. Well, snap out of it and get with the program, because your home has officially been Silly Banded! Yes, I think we have reached a point where we can convert the phrase "Silly Bandz" into a verb. The trend appears to be moving up the Eastern Seaboard. A Facebook friend in South Carolina reported that the riots have apparently subsided as evidenced by the overflowing Silly Bandz supply at the local Walgreens, whereas another friend from Maryland has not yet heard of them. Here in Northern Virginia, the epidemic seems to be at its peak. I am talking about stores around the region being emptied of Silly Bandz inventory in mere minutes. It's the equivalent of parents cleaning up the bread, milk and toilet paper aisles in the grocery store when they hear that a few flakes of snowfall are on the way, but hey, everybody needs to wipe, right? And if we run out of food, we can subsist for a few more days on... bread and milk. Anyhoo... I first found out about Silly Bandz at Caitlin's soccer practice. Or maybe it was right before soccer practice when I was picking the girls up from after-school care. It's all a blur. One minute they were showing me some kind-of-cool-looking animal-shaped rubber bands that double as a bracelet and the next minute I start to notice kids all over the game fields comparing collections and trading them. These bartering activities were taking place in the back of an SUV (tailgating style) and on the bleachers by the baseball field. I didn't think too much of it at the time. How naive of me! Of course Nicole's 10th birthday slumber party was coming up in a couple of days, and we had already planned to get "squishies" (don't ask) from Cici's pizza to hand out as favors. "Can we pass out Silly Bandz too?" Nicole asked. "Sure, why not? They're kind of cute," I replied. How hard can it be, I thought. Some other parents on the soccer fields had told me what stores were carrying the Silly Bandz, so I figured I must be all set. Little did I know what I had committed myself to. The Friday before the party, I drove with Caitlin to Five Below to purchase the Silly Bandz. Here's how it went down. Me: "Do you have any of those rubber bands shaped like animals?" (At this point in the adventure, I didn't yet know the actual name of the product). Five Below Employee: "No, we sold out of those in like 20 minutes. We'll have some more next week." Oh-kaaaaaay. Fortunately, I saw a Hallmark in the same shopping center, so Caitlin and I drove over to there to assess the situation. Conversation #2 went something like this. Me: "Do you have any of those rubber bands shaped l-" Hallmark Employee (interrupting): "NO! We are sold out!" Another shopper: "You're like the third person who has been in here asking for those since I've been here, and I've only been here for like 10 minutes." Well then. I had a car full of stuff from Costco that needed to be brought home and put in the refrigerator, so we called off the search and went home. The party wasn't until 5:00 the next day. Surely I could find some of these things before then. I went home and posted a desperate plea on Facebook. Many friends responded with helpful tips. Try Walgreens! Try Go Bananas (a local toy store)! I spent part of Nicole's soccer game calling around to various retailers on my cell phone. Me: "Do you have any of those rubber bands shaped like animals?" Walgreens employee: "No, we're sold out." Me: "Do you have any of those rubber bands shaped like animals?" Go Bananas employee: "Yes, we do!" Me: "THANK GOD!! Does it seem like they are going to be gone soon? Is there a riot in your store?" Go Bananas employee: "No, there is no riot." Me: "I'll be right there!" At the conclusion of the soccer game, I asked Cole to take the kids so I could complete my Mission. I hightailed it to Go Bananas and was surprised to see plenty of "those rubber bands shaped like animals" in stock. It was at this time that I learned that they are actually called Silly Bandz. I have never been so happy to see some stupid rubber bands in my entire life. I paid $10 for 2 packs of 24 and triumphantly returned home. A couple of hours later, the partygoers arrived with their squishy and Silly Bandz collections to trade, and trade they did. These girls literally spent hours comparing their collections and bartering! So there you have it. My first Silly Bandz adventure had a happy ending, which is more than I can say about the second one that ended with one of the girls losing their allowance for the week. However, that's another post for another time, because I'm getting carpal tunnel syndrome now. The End!