HRM Parent Blog

I was one of about 30 lucky local blogging-type people invited by the Downtown Halifax Business Commission to participate in their new Big Day Downtown promotion. A simple idea - give $100 each to a bunch of bloggers, set them free on downtown to spend as they like, and ask them to blog about their experiences. A lovely idea. And $100 for me to spend! Yay!

I wasn't sure quite how to spend it at first - a problem of too many ideas, not too little. I was quite tempted to spend it on a night out with friends - mommy friends unite! Then I thought of a romantic evening out with my husband - not too many of those coming our way after baby arrives in a few months, after all. Or perhaps I should stock up on Christmas presents? I already shop at DeSerres and the Discovery Shop on Barrington for a fair amount for presents for kids. Maybe I should explore downtown for other kid-friendly Christmas presents? Or take an afternoon by myself and spend the $100 on me me me?! Trust me, it was tempting. *Very* tempting. In the end, I opted for a family day with Richard and Alex. Yes, I really do deserve my good mom medal now, don't you think?

The afternoon started with us getting off the bus downtown and Alex immediately announcing he had to use the bathroom. Ah, the joys of kids. So I sent Richard and Alex off to Scotia Square for their handy bathroom facilities while I took my time to browse in Biscuit. It's definitely one of my favourite stores downtown - lots of fun browsing through all the unique items! I almost bought Alex a collection of stick-on moustaches, but decided to hold off buying anything at that point. (I think I need to go back and get them - they'd be a great stocking stuffer!) After bathroom break, we headed to Strange Adventures for Alex to get a comic book. He picked out a Spiderman comic - a real treasure, from his perspective. Next on our agenda was a quick trip to the Discovery Shop to search for Lego, but sadly they didn't have any in stock. (I say 'sadly' but I don't actually mean it - I think Alex has enough Lego at the moment and the next purchase would make a good Christmas gift, so it suited me just fine that we couldn't find any. I mean, when did this day turn into a 'buy Alex anything he wants downtown' day? Jeez. Whoops. Did I just lose my good mom medal?!)

We headed down to the waterfront to find Maps and Ducks, which seems to be called Maps & More now (or did I just make up their old name?), and they'd also moved to Summit Place - a bit confusing for a moment, but we found it. We splurged on a big 40"x57" laminated world map, which came to a bit more than $40. I love it. I've been wanting a big map for ages, and I'm justifying it by calling it part of Alex's homeschool education, heh. That's geography sorted for the year then, right?

Next up, time to cool off with an ice-cream from Cows. Technically Alex and I had sorbet - he's allergic to dairy, so finding a non-dairy cold treat for him when out and about always makes for a happy boy. The line-up was long, but it moved pretty quickly, and it was definitely worth the wait.

To spend what was left of the $100 we decided to go crazy and take a ride on Theodore Tugboat. It's not cheap, that's for sure, but at least we had our handy ABC Family Card to get 25% off a family pass - yay! (Hey, I like to get deals even when it's not my own money I'm spending!) Theodore took us on a nice tour of the harbour and it was an enjoyable way to spend an hour. I do hope the tour guide gets paid well - there was only one child other than Alex but still she went all out acting as if the boat was filled with kids, instead of mildly amused adults. I suspect we were a bit of a tough crowd.

After Theodore we headed to the pirate playground outside the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic for some free downtown family fun. Alex played with a few other kids while Richard and I sat back and relaxed. I had heard months ago that this playground was going to be replaced but so far it's still there and the kids still love it. Works for me!

All in all, a great family day downtown. Thanks to the Downtown Halifax Business Commission for the opportunity! If you'd like your own Big Day Downtown, follow Downtown Halifax on Twitter and Facebook to find out how you can win one. Good luck!