Every kid goes through a phase — dinosaurs, unicorns, trucks, space. For my little cousin, it was narwhals. Not just a passing interest either. I’m talking hardcore narwhal fan status. Picture narwhal drawings, narwhal pajamas, and narwhal facts casually dropped into conversations like, “Did you know their tusk is actually a tooth?” Yes, I did… now.
When her birthday rolled around, I thought, “Easy. I’ll grab her a narwhal toy and we’re good.” But here’s the thing — narwhals aren’t exactly lining the toy store shelves. Not even the magical land of the internet had many options at the time. Most were out of stock, overly expensive, or just plain odd.
So we got creative.
After some casual wandering through either Walmart or the dollar store (honestly can’t remember which), we found a plain blue whale figurine. Close enough, right? Well, not yet. With a little bit of imagination — and a power drill — that whale became the next best thing. We carefully drilled a hole right in the center of its head, gently twisted in a birthday candle, and just like that… DIY narwhal!
We stuck it on top of the cake, lit the candle, and sang Happy Birthday. Her eyes lit up like we’d brought a real narwhal into the kitchen. Mission accomplished.
Was it a little weird? Yes. Was it totally worth it? Absolutely.
Sometimes the best gifts aren’t the ones you buy — they’re the ones you create, however strange or scrappy they may be.
