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On Sunday morning, we woke up without a plan. No soccer, no play dates, nothing, we didn’t even need to go to Costco.
It was terrifying! This is a parenting worst-case scenario, how in the world do you fill an entire day, when you have nothing planned. There should be a play date “Bat Signal” that you can flip on and let other parents know you are looking to fill time.
As we began to panic, ripping through Facebook looking for any friend we might be able to IM I saw that some other people were taking their kids to Comic Con, in Rosemont.
It seemed to make great sense, since our son had been wearing a cape since 6:15AM, he would fit right in. I went to the Comic Con web page and found out that it was in fact “kids day,” after that we didn’t need any convincing it was Comic Con day.
Kids are free Comic Con kids day, but that’s just about the only kid friendly thing at the event. Parents are $60, for that price they are given the opportunity to constantly say “no you can’t buy a $1000 signed Batman mask and under no circumstances are we paying $30 for an autograph with Andrew McCarthy.” His career died along with Bernie.
There is a lot to buy, a lot. That’s basically what it is, rows and rows of stuff that will make your kids heads pop off with excitement and your bank account drain quicker than Superman’s powers after drinking a kryptonite smoothie.
My kids did get free capes, and there was a Passport scavenger hunt type thing, but after reaching several goals only to find nothing, they along with many other disappointed families gave up.
On to the celebrities, if that’s what you would call them. Kids Day, was filled with celebrities on shows and in movies that most parents wouldn’t let their kids watch in the first place. Morena Baccarina co-star on Homeland, “nope can’t watch it.” Zachary Qunito from the show Hero’s,” nope can’t watch it and it went off the air when you were still breast feeding.” Norman Reedus from Walking Dead. Sure, of course, then we can discuss what zombies are, how they eat humans and how yes you can sleep in my bed because you peed in yours! No way!
The tag line for Comic Con- Chicago is “Where Pop Culture Comes to Life.” A large amount of the celebrities were famous before the word “pop culture” had been invented. If they had rolled out Annoying Orange, then you would have a pop culture hero, though I still wouldn’t pay $30 for his autograph.
I understand charging 35 year old super fans $30 for an autograph and the opportunity to discuss episode #319, when the Hulk started using gel in his hair, but $30 for a kid to take a picture with Lou Ferrigno, not even Mark Ruffalo come on. They all get an appearance fee, let the kids have a friggin’ autograph. For the most part they have no clue who you are and will in all likelihood lose the thing before they get to the $7.00 hot dogs.
I’m not saying they need to march in Barney and the cast of Yo Gabba Gabba, but this was a sorry stab at entertaining kids and an easy way to make a final money grab at the end of a long weekend. Though I would pay $30 for a few minutes alone with the “Sprout chick, Nina”
What my kids did was shop and beg and get to run around in costumes for a little bit. Which isn’t very different than what we normally do on a Sunday, it’s just not in Rosemont.
Next year we will be skipping out on Comic Con kids day. For the money, there are literally hundreds of other things that are more entertaining for kids in the Chicagoland area.
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