Flash backs of my childhood and the jelly bracelet craze came flying back recently thanks to Silly Bandz. Kids all around are begging parents to take them from store to store looking for these rubber bands that are shaped like butterflies, basketballs, elephants and more. As the mother of a son almost done with first grade, I was curious if he knew about them.

Yes, NHL had seen Silly Bandz on classmates and knew that his cousins had them at JSL’s birthday party. That was pretty much all he knew and cared about. I was relieved that I would not have to be one of those parents that went on a wild goose chase to find these greatly sought after items. This was the case until Friday.

Last Friday, after school, I took the boys to the store to get a few items. As we were finishing up our shopping, we ended up in a section that had all things for Toys Story 3. Suddenly, I was face-to-face with packages of Character Bandz. Yes, Disney has signed up with a company to made these bracelets in shapes from Toy Story 3, Cars, Disney Princesses and of course Mickey Mouse.

To buy to not to buy?

I sent out a few Tweets to see what to do. The boys were curious about them and I was not sure if we should buy them. There were three different sets of Toy Story 3. I must admit, I had no clue how many were in the package. In the end, the boys wanted something else that was much more expensive. I turned their attention to the Character Bandz. This is what we bought and took home to open:

When we opened them up, we found the five designs: Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jessie, Bullseye, and Rocket Ship. The package showed that there were four colors. Much to my relief, there was one of each color for the five designs. So for $4.00 we received 20 of the bracelets. I set them into piles and had the boys take turns selecting two from each of the characters.

Thank goodness, there were no real fights. They were both so happy to have them and put them on. Here are the boys modeling their Toy Story 3 Character Bandz.

What has been funny to me is that JSL is more interested in them. NHL wears them for a little while and then wants to put them away. To make sure they are not lost we have snack bags marked with their names. If they come off their wrist, they must go into the bag. So far so good. The best part, the boys are not begging for more. They seem content with these. Of course, they have not seen the other Disney character options yet either. I guess we shall see what happens if/when we ever see them.

So my questions this week:

1. What fad do you remember from your childhood?

2. Do you have any Silly/Character Bandz in your house? (Adults and not only kids are into them it seems)

Always curious to see what others have seen/heard by them during this latest craze.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #105