We had a day with no plan, and a child with pretty rough looking hair, so I decided to try “Snip its”, the new kid friendly hair salon in the Whiteland Towne Center shopping plaza. This is a mom-born chain out of MA that gives Chuck E. Cheese a run for his money in catering to kids tastes in décor and ambiance.

Dr. Seuss-like sculptures surround brightly colored chairs with screens playing cartoons, all hyping the Snip its branded characters. I found the extreme branding a little startling, but my kids seemed happier than when we sat for 20 minutes in Great Clips waiting for our last cut. Our stylist was friendly and spoke directly to the kids, all the while heeding my numerous requests as she cleaned up my son’s hair to my liking. Even my daughter, who was not even getting a hair cut seemed entertained and happy to be there. Afterward they put some of his locks into a magic box that spouted out a toy surprise. Add a lollipop and we were happy to shell out the $15.95. I don’t know if I will fill up my punch card there but it made for a fun morning.

Afterward, we followed the other Snip its alumni down the sidewalk to the new Learning Express location. The deceptively narrow entrance doesn’t do justice to how large this toy store is. And they had all of the great stuff you can’t find at Toys R Us, plus a doll house and train table in back that kept us there for over an hour. I like stores you can really camp out in, and I found that the sheer fun of wandering through a toy store unencumbered did not leave me when I became a Mom, in fact it is even better now, seeing things from both sides.