A few months ago we went to Target for our weekly shopping spree. As we entered the store, my daughter complained of being hungry. I told her we could surely find her a snack in the store. I thought we’d hit the carb-loading aisle for some Goldfish crackers or Ritz Bits. She had another idea: “Mom, they have a restaurant here!”

I was slightly taken aback by this statement because this was the first time I’d been pushed out of my normal boundaries to think of the Target snack bar as a “restaurant.” But I couldn’t argue with her; it has food, tables and a drink machine. Yep, that’s a restaurant. Toddlers have a knack for shaking up all your pre-parenthood beliefs. So destination Target snack bar it was.

It was a culinary delight for my girl. The same light-eater who has to be cajoled to finish even half of a PB&J managed to down an entire personal-pan-size pizza and drink an entire watermelon-flavored ICEE. Next, she asked to borrow my Razor phone to photograph the table, the ICEE machine and her empty pizza box. Her excitement couldn’t be contained. She had to bring home pictures of “this wonderful restaurant” for her daddy to see.

Since that day we’ve managed to hit half of the Target snack bars in our county…and some of them multiple times. My daughter always orders the same thing, the only variation sometimes being the flavor of her ICEE. Toddlers and repetition seem to go hand in hand. Have any other parents out there read Goodnight Moon, oh, 1,000 times? Then you know what I’m talking about.

When I told some of the neighborhood moms about our snack bar jag, one of them brilliantly suggested having my daughter’s upcoming third birthday party there. Genius! No inflatable bounce houses or tacky Dora the Explorer decorations for us! No, we’re going all out: a birthday party…at the Target snack bar! This will definitely trump those McDonald’s parties of my youth.

What parent of a toddler wouldn’t be excited to receive a beautiful party invitation in the mail engraved with that ubiquitous and highly recognizable red bulls-eye? Party attire? Red polo shirts and khakis, of course. Party time? Lunchtime because there will be personal-pan pizzas and ICEEs for all!

And there is certainly no lack of resources for party games and activities. A storewide scavenger hunt will be the first order of business. Some of the random things on my list include finding one Isaac Mizrahi blazer in eggplant (think the color of Barney, kids); one pack of antibacterial hand wipes (these may come in handy later, during dessert) and a DVD copy of Curious George’s Rocket Ride (a huge hit at our house). A talking Diego doll? That’s too easy. Next we’re on to a good old-fashioned pillow fight in the domestics department and at least a half-hour’s worth of dress-up play in the clothing department.

And then we’ll send all of my daughter’s dear friends on their way with a sugar high after escorting them down the packaged baked goods aisle for a trans-fat-filled dessert of their choice. We were going to go traditional with a birthday cake and all, but we’ll have to go with packaged goodies; management frowns on birthday cake candles. (I checked ahead regarding the store’s open-flame policy.)

But aside from all of this obvious fun for the little ones, the best part of my party idea is that parents can complete their weekly shopping trip to Target while their kids are entertained and supervised by the party hosts. It’s brilliant! The only thing that could top this is if the birthday girl had a December birthday; parents would really appreciate being able to put a dent in their holiday shopping during the birthday festivities.

I know this all might sound a bit crazy at first, but please don’t be too hoity-toity and scoff at this party idea just yet. If you give it some thought, it might start to sound sensible and actually quite appealing. Did I tell you about the fabulous chicken and goat cheese salad the snack bar has now?