The Blogfathers

As we sat feeling a bit of cabin fever on the second day of our rainy weekend, Jen had an epiphony: Starbucks should have a play area. As you likely well know, it’s tough to have a VERY active kid and no where to go and no one to play with. We wanted to go to Starbucks or somewhere, but, really our options were limitted. Starbucks doesn’t accomodate kids well — and they shouldn’t. Sure, McDonalds has the playlands, but we’re not going to get Hayes into McDonalds this early on — plus I wasn’t in the mood for McDonalds.

But I was in the mood for Starbucks. I can always find something there that I can be in the mood for. I just need a reason and a wallet.

I mean, imagine this: it’s rainy, snowy, or otherwise a bad time to get the kid outside. There’s no one around for him/her to play with. S/he is litteraly crawling up the walls. What do you do? How about go to that great new Starbucks with the play area, sit in a comfy chair, have a latte and watch as your kid makes new friends — maybe even make some new friends of your own. You know, get some adult time while your kid gets some kid time.

Now I’m by no means suggesting that all Starbucks should have play areas. No, that would really suck for everyone involved. But, kid friendly Starbucks do make for a nifty extension of their branding. They could even partner with a well know educational brand like LeapFrog or PBS Kids. Then expand their menu to include a couple of kid friendly snacks and milk, give the parents a bunch of comfy chairs and then the play area to let the kids run for a while. Sure, we’d still have to do some management, but we could have some coffee and make friends at the same time. Think of it as an upscale McD’s playland with more yupified company and better coffee.

Plus, we’d spend money. Lots of money. Way more money than most of the people that currently camp out in the comfy chairs to work on their laptops and sip an empty espresso drink for four hours.

Then extend this, not only to the working parents who need a weekend break, but to the stay-at-home parents who need a break — every day. Money.

So, why isn’t Starbucks doing this? Why focus on producing movies when there is an easy brand extension that your minions would really dig?

It’s simple. It’ brillaint. (GREAT IDEA JEN!) And you know you’d go. Like the idea? Let’s give it a little blogosphere push and see if we can get something done! Oh, and when this thing happens, please, all I ask is for lifetime Starbucks for Jen and me. For, you know, the effort.

Spring Cleaning, Baby Benefits, Locations