25-cent cookies and her own uniform: 4-year-old in SC gets epic Aldi-themed birthday
Saylor Singleton loves Aldi.
“She’s always asking to go — always filling our cart with things we don’t need,” mom Meaghan Singleton told McClatchy News.
So when it came time to plan her 4th birthday, Singleton said she jokingly asked her daughter “What about an ALDI party?”
Saylor was overjoyed at the prospect.
The family of seven is stationed out of Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, South Carolina, Singleton said. She throws all five of her kids — Saylor is number four — themed birthday parties.
“The problem was, there wasn’t any Aldi birthday’s out there,” she said. “So we had to get creative.”
She spent an entire night thinking of all things ALDI she could incorporate into the party — quarters to use on shopping carts, reusable bags, empty boxes and everything you never needed on the ALDI Finds aisle.
“It was so much fun to put together and low cost,” Singleton said.
All in, she told ScarryMommy.com she spent about $150 on the party.
ALDI — a German discount supermarket chain — requires shoppers to deposit a quarter for use of a shopping cart, which they get back when they return the cart. They also don’t provide plastic bags at checkout, offering cardboard trays instead to help reduce the environmental impact.
There’s anything from sneakers and leggings to origami craft books and frozen waffle fries in the discounted ALDI Finds aisle — which has its own Facebook group affectionately nicknamed “ALDI Aisle of Shame.”
Singleton found a home for all of it in Saylor’s party.
She went to their local ALDI for inspiration and created signs that mimic the hanging placards shoppers see when they enter the store — including one that said: “The people have spoken: Saylor voted cutest birthday girl 4 years running.”
ALDI boasts a similar sign that reads: “The people have spoken: ALDI voted value leader 7 years running.”
There was a makeshift conveyor belt, 25-cent “cart cookies,” cardboard trays filled with snacks and ALDI Finds cupcakes.
Saylor attended clad in her very own ALDI uniform.
To commemorate the occasion, Singleton said they also had a family friend, who owns Webb Trio Photography in Columbia, South Carolina, come take pictures of the birthday girl in-uniform at the store.
The 4-year-old couldn’t get enough of the party. “She ran around saying ‘I love Aldi,’” Singleton told Insider.
The supermarket even sent her a birthday gift after word spread on social media.
Saylor’s siblings have a birthday next month.
“I’m currently making the invitations for my twins whose birthday is in March,” Singleton told McClatchy. “It’s never ending here!”
