Parenthood
Dad builds daughter mini versions of Target & Starbucks so they can still ‘visit’ her favorite places
The officer daddy went above and beyond for his little girl. She even got a sign for employee of the month!
Marilyn Caylor
05.27.20

Being stuck at home during this crisis is giving all of us plenty of time to think about just how much we miss our favorite stores and coffee shops.

In fact, some people already started counting all the different ways they’ll be spending their “hard-earned” stimulus check money once businesses open up again.

But, what is a dad supposed to do in the meantime when his daughter is begging him to hit up her favorite shops like they used to?

Build her mini versions of Target and Starbucks right inside her playroom, of course!

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Places like Target and Starbucks have cult followings, and under different circumstances, you could bet every last cent of your $1200 government dole that people would be lining up outside the doors for a chance to get back inside.

But, of course, that’s just not going to happen. The world is a very changed place, and when businesses open their doors again, it’ll only be one tiny little crack at a time.

So one enterprising father, knowing just how much his daughter loves Target and Starbucks, got the bright idea to make mini versions of her two favorite stores so they could still do some “shopping” while stuck at home.

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When life gives you corona-lemons, then wave a big fat fairy wand over it and turn it into a brand name coffee-stand playset!

That’s exactly what Kern County Sheriff’s Deputy Diego Gonzalez did when he built a Target cash register and a Starbucks stand for his exquisitely adorable 2-year-old daughter Mila.

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The playset he built comes complete with real groceries, some must-have accessories, and even a coveted “employee-of-the-month” plaque!

And yes, it also comes with the obligatory bored employee slacking on the job, trying to take a selfie with a bag of Cheetos.

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Gonzalez told Insider that when the lockdown was getting underway, he noticed that his fiancée, Cindy Iribe, was making a lot of trips to Target.

“My daughter, who’s about to turn 2 years old, is practically addicted to the cake pops from the Starbucks inside our local Target. Every trip we take to Target, she’s pointing to the Starbucks saying, ‘Cake pops! Cake pops!'”

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The family used to visit Target regularly before the crisis struck, and he wanted to do something special for Mila until they could go on a real Target run.

“With the lockdown going on, we don’t take her to the stores anymore. We thought, ‘I bet Mila misses going to Starbucks to get her cake pop.’ So, we started thinking about building her a Target register and a Starbucks stand in her playroom.”

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Gonzalez wanted every detail to be perfect, so he asked his local Target if they’d be willing to donate a name tag and other items to his project.

“I said, ‘I know this may sound odd, but we’re doing a little project and was wondering if I could get a name tag by any chance?’ I showed her some photos of the progress we had made on the register and she said it was pretty cool, so she let us have one of the real Target name tags. We then customized it with Mila’s name.”

This fab dad even managed to snag an employee-of-the-month plaque, some plastic cake pops, a real Starbucks apron, and a miniature toy coffee maker to make the fake set look totally legit!

Insider/Diego Gonzalez
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Insider/Diego Gonzalez

As for the employee-of-the-month sign, Gonzalez and his fiancée took a bunch of photos of their daughter Mila, but she started “crying towards the end because she wasn’t wanting to be so photogenic.”

“Towards the end, we had a ton of photos and just a few of her crying. We decided to use one of those to show the real Mila on the employee of the month sign.”

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Gonzalez said that Mila helped him build both of the playsets, but when the project was nearing completion, he took over so the end result could be a surprise.

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He asked a local Starbucks for kid-sized cups and even managed to score some real aprons while he was there.

“I went back and showed them the Target register and the progress I had made on the Starbucks stand. They were so generous and said they could give me two aprons that are actually from Starbucks.”

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Whatever else he couldn’t find he bought off Amazon. He printed off some Starbucks logos and stuck them right onto the toys to make it look more realistic.

The final result was more than worth the wait!

“It was so cute to see her recognize it. I bought her little fake cake pops, and she was so excited. She was really surprised, which made it all that much better.”

Insider/Diego Gonzalez
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Insider/Diego Gonzalez

After all that hard work, daddy definitely deserved to take a nice little coffee break with his daughter.

“Seeing other people’s reactions saying, ‘That’s pretty cool, I want to do that for my kid,’ has been amazing.'”

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This project wasn’t just about building his daughter a Target and Starbucks. For Gonzalez, it was also about:

“Problem-solving, being creative, just using your mind, and all having input on it really does make that bond even stronger, because you’re doing it together as a family.”

This is one fun daddy-daughter bonding experience that is totally priceless!

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