About a month ago I asked Iris what kind of theme she wanted for her fourth birthday party… Frozen, Hello Kitty, Star Wars, etc. Her answer? CVS. Yes, as in the second largest pharmacy chain, just behind Walgreens. If you follow me on Instagram you are probably well aware of her love for the store. What you might not know is why the heck our kid loves it so much. Let’s take a look back, shall we?
Here we are making her wildest dreams come true.
A good mail day for Iris Gill!
How to make Iris your best friend.
Here’s a video of Iris in her happy place.
It all started nearly two years ago when construction began on our city’s very first CVS Pharmacy. The site happens to be directly on our path to Iris’ school, so we drive past the location at least twice a day. Being that she was only three when it opened, she watched the progress of the structure being built for nearly half of her life, so naturally it was a big deal when the store finally opened. When Iris first got to step inside the brand new CVS, she was not disappointed. She discovered all the snacks, drinks, toys, chap-stick, and band-aids that her little heart could ever desire.
The store has been open for nearly a year now and stopping in to pick up a sweet treat or a strawberry milk is at least a weekly occurrence for us. There are tears when we drive by and don’t stop, and there are cheers when we do. This girl’s love for CVS is pure and true – so loyal that I recently asked Iris where she’d rather go – CVS or Disneyworld. Her response? “CVS and Disneyworld.” Don’t you dare make a girl choose.
So when your kid puts CVS on the same level as Disneyworld, you embrace it. When they ask for a CVS birthday party, you throw it. One day it won’t be so simple to make her happy, so for now I take her to CVS when we have a few extra minutes to spare and try my best to make her birthday party special, as tricky as it may be (after all, there are no Pinterest boards for this, folks).
But when CVS headquarters heard about Iris’ party, they sent us tons of snacks, favors, and party supplies to celebrate. How cool is that? And when we told the local store manager about what kind of party we were having, he was so sweet to donate some CVS-brand water bottles to add to the goodie bags. Not to mention that her year was MADE when they flashed a big “Happy Birthday” message to Iris up on the big sign out front.
To celebrate CVS style, we gathered at our favorite local park with some of our favorite people. Here are a few photos from our day.
Birthday Girl
Best thing ever.
Party time!
Gotta keep the adults entertained.
Don’t worry. These were Tic Tac favors for the grown-ups only!
Gold Emblem™ snacks (a CVS exclusive) sent directly from their headquarters!
Goodie bags!
A big thank you to all of our friends who celebrated and happily played along (apparently so many people bought her a birthday gift from our local CVS that all the employees knew about the party). And thank you to CVS who helped make Iris’ fourth birthday so special. By the way, this is in no way sponsored by CVS. Just 100% true love.
As a 20 year old who also shares a passion for drug stores I am pretty jealous of this shindig! Haha the party looks phenomenal you did an amazing job! And I just wanted to say your Instagram puts a smile on my face on the daily iris is just too hilarious😄
You win at life. And motherhood. And life. 👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻
Amazing, Sarah. Just amazing. <3
Well this is the cutest
This is so creative! And awesome. You did a great job! I agree with Bev, you win at life!
I read the article about this from Buzzfeed! I thought it was so super cute and I had to come over to your blog to read more. This was such an awesome concept and you’re such an awesome mom!
Seriously obsessed!! You are a great mommy and your girl is gorgeous!!
You are so adorable, and I just love your passion for CVS! My husband works for the CVS warehouse :)looks like you had an awesome birthday. Woo Hoo for CVS!!!
Hi Sarah,
Can we use these pictures and your story about Iris’ birthday on the news this morning, on Fox 61, in Hartford, CT? Thank you!!
You got this dude to tear up. Cheers to you as a mom and cheers to Iris!
I guess her first high school job will be at CVS and she will go to college to become a CVS pharmacist! Can’t wait for the CVS homecoming and prom dresses and the CVS Wedding!
Happy Birthday!
As an employee of CVS’s corporate offices, it brightened my day when I opened up our intranet and saw this story! Thanks to you and Iris for putting a smile on my face today
Cheers to her for being so incredibly unique and cheers to you for being an awesome (and ridiculously creative) mom.
What a cool mom! Happy birthday Iris!
Awesome!! Such a cutie and I totally get Iris’ love for CVS. Pharmacy stores are all magical and have some amazing things 😉
Absolutely awesome that CVS was so supportive. That’s a 1 of a kind party and I’m happy they helped! Happy birthday, Iris!
Cute girl…however the pill bottle with tic-tacs in it in my OPINION is way off base. Did you think about kids picking up their parents’ medications and thinking that they were TicTacs? Obviously not…..I think this was a big LACK of judgement on your part as a parent.
I share the great appreciation for CVS; I have written the corporate office to say what a great job my local employees are doing here in San Francisco California. And yes, you are an awesome mother, you should be very pleased with yourself, very pleased. I am of the opinion that nothing is more important than being a good parent; you are making the world a better place.
Thank you
Adorable story! I can relate, as I have a five year old daughter who loves Walgreens. Blessings to you and your family!
Love it! As a mom who has sent overboard to make sure the child has the party to remember I know how this feels! So happy you pulled this off! I was the mom always doing theme parties at schools and bringing in donated items from stores and restaurants! Keep up the awesome Momtacular job!
Please let Jaqueline know that the pill bottles were for adults ONLY.
She had to be a hater, every group has one.
She thought you used poor judgment with the pill bottles being included.
Parents should keep meds OUT OF CHILDRENS REACH.
I think you did great!
Am I the only one missing the Kanye West–CVS connection?
Hi, I saw this story about cvs from a link shared on Facebook by Britney Spears so I looked up your blog. I think you done so well with the cvs themed party! I understand why your daughter loves it. Whenever we visit the U.S.A we always go to cvs, I love it too. They sell everything I wish we had them here in the UK 😃 I’ve always found the staff to be super helpful too especially when we last visited nyc and my husband got sick. So glad your daughter enjoyed her party and well done 😃
You did an awesome thing honoring your daughter’s desire. Would love to know the Kanye connection!
The party looks like it was a blast. As someone whose father worked for CVS his entire career, I commend your daughter on her excellent taste in drugstores. God bless four year olds and their obsessions.
I love this story. This is so cute and creative. I love all of your party favors and personal touches! I may do have a DSW themed party!
This is amazing! You did a great job, Sarah!!
Happy Birthday, Iris 🎂
This is amazing! We also have an Iris G (Grace), who celebrated her second birthday. Found your amazing party while searching for Iris parties.
party supplies
Nice Blog! We have read a few of the interesting content on your website now, and we really like your style. Thanks a million and please keep it up the effective work.
Hello,
That’s really amazing photo you are looking so pretty and nice.