I wrote 4 Brilliant Tips For When Eating out with Kids because, well….if you’ve got kids you know the scene. You go into a restaurant and get seated, and before you’ve had a chance to read two words on the menu the kids start. The baby begins reaching for everything on the table so you move everything out of their reach. Another child starts chiming in with what they want to eat, and a third has to go to the bathroom.
You take the kid to the bathroom and get back to the table and sit down but now the baby wants to nurse because the smell of food is making them hungry.
As you’re nursing the waiter brings the drinks and the baby want’s to see what the commotion is about. Waiter places your water in front of you. Normally this is a perfectly logical place to put a drink- but the problem is you are trying to take your nursing cover off while still holding the (irritable) baby (who’s just recently learned to grasp items) and before you can blink he/she grabs the edge of the glass and now you are both wearing ice water. Baby is screaming and you feel like everyone in the restaurant must be looking at your circus by now.
Waiter apologizes profusely and goes to get you a new drink while you go back to the bathroom (or car to change the baby).
You get back and decide it’s the baby’s turn to sit with daddy so you can look at the menu.
You open the menu.
Right about then the waiter comes to take your order-but you haven’t even had a chance to figure out what you want! So you tell the kids and hubby to go first.
Child # 2 tells the waiter they want a pizza. No problem, except you are you are at El Maguey’s. So instead of flash figuring out what you want to eat you explain this isn’t Olive Garden, pizza is an Italian cuisine and that you are at a Mexican restaurant, and you ask your kid if they want a taco instead.
Blank stare. Kid doesn’t get it. “Can I have SPAGHETTI!?”
After asking a couple dozen questions kid finally decides a taco is what they want after all, but they don’t want lettuce, tomatoes, olives or guacamole.
Waiter moves on to kid 2. They don’t know what they want because they didn’t read the kid menu….because they can’t read yet. So you repeat the same process with them that you finished with the first child.
Next, hubby orders and now the waiter is looking at you. You order the first thing you see on the menu because you don’t want to hold things up-after all these kids are going to start getting really hungry soon and that’s when the real fun begins!
By the time the food comes out the baby is super fussy, so you and your hubby take turns taking a bite and bouncing the baby.
Then, the bill comes. EYIYIYI! $20.00-and that’s just in JUICE!
I know what you are thinking, and you are right, eating out when you have kids can be a HUGE hassle!
I do believe I’ve cracked the code as much as it can be cracked though, and I’ve got some tips that can make eating out again enjoyable-even if you have a gaggle of kids!
4 Brilliant Tips For When Eating out with Kids
As a family of 8 on a single income, eating out isn’t something we are able to do very often. It is something we do enjoy every once in awhile. If I hadn’t learned these tips over the past 15 years at this motherhood gig I wouldn’t enjoy it at all!
Here are 4 Brilliant Tips For When Eating out with Kids I’ve learned that make eating out with kids a success.
Look Up the Menu Online Before You Go to the Restaurant
Most restaurants have online menu’s. You can look it up and ask each child what they want before you even leave the house, and write it down. You can even do this for yourself because you and I both know you’ll be spending most your time taking kids to the bathroom and back until the food comes to the table anyways.
To avoid having kids change their mind while at the restaurant, you could simply tell the waiter to hold back the menus when they seat you and let them know you already decided and just give them the list.
Look Up Restaurants That Have Kids Eat Free Days
I didn’t know this was a thing until a couple years ago, but there are restaurants that have specific specials on specific days of the week. Chances are it will be easier on your pocket book to look it up and see which of your local restaurants have days with specials and find out if they have any kids eat free days. If you have a big family you might find that only a certain number of kids can eat free (generally the limit is 2), but still that would be helpful!
Some restraunts with kid’s eat free days include;
Practice Table Manners At Home
Talk to your kids at home about the do’s and don’ts of restaurant etiquette at home. Do practice runs at the dinner table and have talks about bad and good behavior at restaurants.
Be sure to tell them that when they are waiting for their food that it can be “no fun”, but brainstorm some activities you can do while they are waiting.
Don’t Use the Kids Menu for the Kids
If you have more than 2 kids to buy for you might not want to use the kids menu. It may be more economical to buy an adult meal and split it between two or three kids. Goodness knows they don’t eat most the food anyways.
I hope 4 Brilliant Tips For When Eating out with Kids has give you some fresh idea’s on how to make your next dinner outing a good one! Have you tried any of these tips before? Do you have tips of your own to share that make dinner out with kids a success? Please share for me and others in the comments section below!
I like your idea to practice manners at home. I’d like to find a restaurant with Chinese-style food to take my kids to. This advice should help the experience be enjoyable!
My wife and I would like to take our kids out to eat this weekend. I like the tip you shared about looking up the menu online before going to the restaurant. I will have to find a menu that my kids can look like so that they won’t take too long to order once we get to the restaurant.