Sesame Street Live: The Fantastic, The Expensive and The Blue Poop

Last Saturday, on June 23, we drove a couple of hours to go see Sesame Street Live: Elmo Makes Music.  I bought the tickets a few months ago and it is the one thing we had planned this summer that was for just the four of us.  We were all so excited to go see some of our favorite friends from Sesame Street.

The Play Zone opened up an hour before the actual show, and we got there just when it started.  I highly, highly recommend arriving an hour early so you can play on the sets and take pictures.  Also, some of the characters come out and do a few mini-shows right in front of the kids.

Maggie got high-fives from all the characters and full on hugs from some of them.  She was smiling, laughing, dancing and clapping.  It was a magical experience for her, and it may have brought a tear or two to my eye. The actors were really good at approaching all the kids who wanted to interact.  There was a teenage boy there who was special, and he knew all the words to every song.  Every character made sure to go over to him and give him a high five or hug.  This may have brought like 10 tears to my eye. And maybe to Mark's, too.

We told our kids before the show that they could each pick out one souvenir, and they both chose these spinning light up things that they love.  They were $15 each, but they are high quality and still play with them, so I feel like it was just the right special thing to remember the day by.

The show was perfect.  The songs were catchy, familiar and well-written, the sets were awesome and it was just a lot of fun. Maggie loved every minute of it, but Liam got a little weary of it by the end. I enjoyed it, and I felt so blessed to be able to share such a great experience with my kids.

 There was an intermission after 45 minutes. At the intermission, a vendor appeared with Elmo head balloons and I heard a lot of tears around me when parents discovered they cost $10 each and had to say no (my friend, Kelly had gone to the show in a different town and had prepared me for it.)  There were even more tears when those who did buy them were asked to keep them under their seat for the second half. I could just feel the frustration in the arena.

And now onto the "blue poop" part of this discussion. TMI warning, okay? Seriously, I am about to talk a lot about poop.

See these slurpee-looking things?  Well, a vendor appeared about 15 minutes before the start of the show, and he was hawking these blue drinks and red drinks. Of course, the kids were begging for one and we hadn't had a treat yet. So, Maggie chose the blue flavor (color?) and Mark bought two for us to all share.

 As soon as he came back with them, I realized they weren't drinks slurpee-like, but actually rock hard and served with only a flimsy straw. They were messy and hard to eat, but these three shared the two drinks between them after I opted out.  I mentioned how crazy dark they looked once we were closer, and suddenly the kids and Mark had blue all over them.  Their mouths, hands and faces were dark, dark blue.

I was annoyed at the crazy amount of dye, but honestly didn't think too much about it.  I kind of just shrugged it off.  But then, the dye stayed on Mark's face all day, until he finally scrubbed it and scrubbed it.  When we changed Liam's diapers, his poop was black and we were freaked out until we realized what it was.  But, the real kicker? Maggie used the bathroom a full 24 hours after eating one of these, and she forgot to flush (as four year-olds sometimes do.) I went in the bathroom an hour or two later, and her poop was still there and it was blue.  And worse, all the water in the bowl was blue, too!

Mark told me his stomach hurt a little on and off during the day following and he, too, was off.  The kids never complained about stomachaches or anything like that, though.

It took two days before they were all "back to normal."

I am just annoyed that Sesame Street would be part of selling these to kids.  Why sell a product that is obviously just full of dye?  I know that I willingly purchased these for my kids, but Sesame Street doesn't make it easy on parents when vendors keep popping up everywhere.  I wanted to give them a treat, but I just felt guilty for days about what I put in their bodies.  It changed my impression about Sesame Street a little bit, and somehow I felt like the trust I had in their brand was altered.  

I know every corporation is out to make a buck, but I wish Sesame Street and the Vee corporation (the company who runs the live shows) also took the step to show that they care about kids' health. How about selling lemonade or real fruit punch? I mean, this is Sesame Street, and the core audience is young children. Obviously, I learned my lesson and I will be thinking about the amount of dye in foods a lot more.  It is sad, though, that Sesame Street taught me that lesson (and not with a song and dance.)

Overall, we had a fantastic time and I would definitely recommend it to other families.  But, be prepared to have to say no to your children a lot. And don't eat the blue snow cones, unless you want to dye your kids' insides.

UPDATE: I sent a link to this post to Sesame Street and the Vee Corporation  (along with a letter) and received a great response. To see what they felt about all this, check out this post.