Just when I thought you couldn't, you disappoint me even more - Pottery Barn

 Before I was a parent I never gave much thought to which stores catered to us city folks and which targeted the more suburban crowd.  I shopped where I shopped (and frankly not much of anywhere) and never gave it much thought.  Then I had a baby.  Suddenly I had to pick and acquire and receive SO MUCH NEW STUFF.  For being so tiny, babies come with a ton of things, even if you are like me and really try and stick to the practical necessities.  

Adorable 3 piece $20 Carter's FULL costume

When we had our first child, we registered for the things we thought we needed.  The first lesson we learned is that when you have a baby suddenly everyone wants to get you things (this completely shocked me, but frankly since then when my friends have had babies I totally understood other people's impulses).  Some of those gift givers look at your registry and some give you whatever they feel like.  This is how we found ourselves in possession of our very first Pottery Barn Kids gift certificate and I found myself on my very first trip to that store.  It did not go well.  Everything in the store is demarcated by a hard gender line (because girls don't like Star Wars... or something).  Everything is huge.  Everything is expensive.  We looked and looked and ended up walking out with a toy and book, both of which are widely available in any store, because nothing that was specifically PBK in any way appealed to us or would fit into our apartment.

PBK's picture of a $40 half costume

 Fast forward 2 years, and we found ourselves in possession of yet another PBK certificate post the arrival of a second baby.  I looked and looked on their website (not even wanting to waste my time with a trip to the store).  Nothing appealed to me.  Then Halloween rolls around and I thought "A costume!! Sure it's frivolous, but what better way to spend some free money!"  So here's the thing.... When my daughter was a baby we got her a $20 Carter's ladybug costume for Halloween (pictured above, modeled by my daughter).  It consisted of 3 pieces - a 1 piece vest and hood, a shirt, and pants.  It was the pinnacle of cuteness.  

What I actually received from PBK - sigh

I looked at PBK's website and saw this picture of a fish costume.  Ok, so I didn't read very carefully to note that it only came with a hat and a "jumpsuit" (is this a common way to refer to a vest? just say vest damn it!).  But the picture of perfectly matched arms and legs, not to mention the hefty $40 price tag, implied to me that I was about to receive an actual FULL costume.  Instead all I got was this - a vest and a hat.

Pottery Barn, thy name is disappointment, with a hint of fraud.