Twin 8-year-olds threw their birthday party at the hardware store

Twin sisters Eliza and Jade turned 8 in Seattle with a birthday party at Maple Leaf Ace Hardware, complete with 25 friends clocked in as employees for a day. The girls could have picked a bowling alley or an ice rink. They wanted the store they already loved. Their mom, Hillary, worked at that Ace about 20 years ago, and the family still drops by often. On those visits, the twins close store bins and tidy stray items off the floor. They take the work seriously, as if someone were paying them. "I really did not think that they would say yes," Hillary told Seattle's SPIRIT 105.3. John, the store's owner, said yes in a heartbeat. Guests got tiny aprons with personalized name tags, planted their own flower pots, and wired up small battery-powered fans. The party favors were sturdy Ace buckets packed with goodies. The dirt from the potting won over the doubters fast.