So there’s hoarding where you can’t make a path through your house to get to the bathroom (I’m not there — yet) and then there’s the kind of hoarding where you find something super-cute and save it for a special occasion.

Such was the case with the pinwheel straws. I don’t know where or when I bought them, but there they were – stuffed in a cabinet, waiting for just the right event, the perfect celebration.

Since I’ve taken to “shopping in my house” lately, I decided to make a bold move. I stuck the pinwheel straws in the run-of-the-mill, every day straw jar and used them randomly in the girls’ morning and evening Carnation Instant Breakfast (a genius invention) shakes.

The girls loved it.

This weekend I used the last of them, and despite a pang or two, I’m glad. Now I can break out the straws decorated with even-cuter vintage-looking cardboard cutout animals that I’ve probably been hoarding even longer than I hoarded those damn pinwheel straws.

The best part: I spotted the vintage-y ones at Smeeks, so when they’re gone, I can get more if I really, really  need them. (Need — ha!)