Off Topic: Holiday Shopping Suggestion

I haven’t noticed an overabundance of room mothers in the regional political blogosphere, so I am taking advantage of my dual role here to make a suggestion and a product endorsement. For those of you going out tomorrow to start your holiday shopping, if the parent (more specifically the mother, although dads could use this as well, if they were so inclined) of school aged children is on your list, consider picking up or ordering a double decker cupcake carrier, capable of carrying 24 cupcakes. This is the one I received last year.

Why am I so excited about a piece of metal and plastic? More than once I have sat in a classroom or youth organization meeting and disappointed one of my children. One evening a child was talking about their parent’s career as the person who coordinates pizza delivery for a chain pizzeria. My kid looks over at me. I shrug. No one in our house does anything nearly as glamorous as that. At another event a child was describing their trip to Disney. My kid looks over at me. I got nothin’. We’ve never been there. Another child describes watching R rated movies at home. My kid looks over at me accusingly. They aren’t allowed to do that.

So I have to redeem myself and looking through the inventory of my known talents and abilities, there is not a whole lot there to impress a group of elementary school kids. But, hey, I can bake! Nothing pretty, nothing unusual, but sometimes the standbys are best. The first time I took the cupcake carrier out for a spin it was my turn to bring refreshments to a meeting of a club the youngest little Jane (YLJ) belongs to. We walked in and some asks “who brought snack?” YLJ said, in the smallest voice possible “my mom did.” I set the cupcake carrier down on the table and instantly the other moms came over for a look. I do my best Vanna White / Carol Merrill / Price is Right hand gestures. “Oooh,” the other moms said. YLJ says a little louder, “MY mom brought that.” The other moms start asking questions, does it really hold 24? Does the lid stay on? Don’t the ones on the bottom get crushed? YLJ says “MY MOM brought that!”

At the appropriate time I whip off the lid. A mom asked “Are those homemade?” When I was a girl homemade cupcakes involved flour and sugar. Nowadays all you have to do is open a box and mix in some water, oil, and eggs. You have a number of options. Some people swear by Duncan (Hines) but I’m a Betty (Crocker) gal myself. Betty has never steered me wrong. My personal favorites are the Butter Recipe mixes, either chocolate or vanilla, with Betty’s canned frosting. A sad comment but, hey, it’s good! (In my own defense, I do bake cookies and muffins from scratch.) What shoes are to most women, cupcake papers and sprinkles are to me. My kitchen cupboards hold about 9 variations of cupcake papers (including plain which are best for chocolate since patterns won’t show) and 17 kinds of sprinkles.

The kids come over to see what the fuss is about. They dig in. There are some “mmmms.” YLJ stands tall and says “MY MOM MADE THOSE!” The other moms are still looking over the cupcake carrier. Buy one of those for the room parent or PTA mom on your holiday list and she will be the queen, oh yes, she will!