This has been one of my most requested posts and I’m so glad to share it with you. Today I will be sharing how to eat out with kids and enjoy it, seriously! Before we had Lizzie, eating out was one of our favorite things to do. It’s one of the reasons why we love living in Chicago. Once Lizzie arrived we weren’t ready to give up eating out and didn’t feel like we had to.
I’ll be completely honest. Eating out with a toddler is work. We haven’t gotten to the stage of self entertainment for a large portion of the meal yet, but we work our way through the meal and take small victories. However, we continue to go out to eat no matter how much work it is for two reasons.
- We love eating out
- We want Lizzie to understand how to eat out and be well behaved and practice makes perfect
How To Eat Out With Kids
Eating out with a toddler could be considered an Olympic sport because it takes patience, precision and practice. I am no expert, but I know what works for us. I hope that by sharing my tips on how to eat out with kids you will find something that is useful for your routine.
Before I dive into the specifics on how to eat out with kids, I want to share our number one rule of what not to do. Under no circumstances do we let Lizzie watch a mobile device at dinner, ever. We have a strict no mobile device rule in our house and try every possible way to limit screen time, including TV. You can read more about screen time in our house here.
I firmly believe that children should know how to sit through a meal at a restaurant and hold a conversation. However, getting there takes practice and you have to work hard with your child to achieve that. I have a few tricks up my sleeve to get through a full meal though.
Snacks
It’s all about the snacks, all day everyday! And eating out with a kid is no exception, you have to have snacks on hand. Eating at a restaurant requires a lot of waiting and snacks keep kids occupied. I use this snack trio container to keep a variety of dry snacks on hand. I also use reusable bags with a variety of snacks in each bag. Our go-to snacks are:
- Oyster Crackers
- Goldfish
- Wheat Thins
- Graham Crackers
- Apple Sauce Pouches (Aldi has our favorite ones)
- Cereal Bars
Drinks
Equally as important as snacks are the drinks. If the restaurant offers a kids cup we always take it. Drinking out of a straw is super exciting for kids. We also bring one of our many water bottles with us. Right now Lizzie loves this one and this one. Another tip is to have the waiter fill your kids water bottle too. When we get fresh water, Lizzie gets fresh water. She seems to get a kick out of being included in the service.
Toys
I have a specific group of toys that we use at a restaurant. They are not noisy and are easy to use when sitting. Stretching out the toys is key, I don’t break them out right when we sit down, I wait until Lizzie starts to get antsy. Here are the toys that work well for Lizzie at restaurants.
- Paper and Crayons
- Paperback Books
- Writing Tablet
- Magentiles
- Fidget Toys
- Little Travelers Magnet Dolls
Walks
It’s hard to sit still for a long period of time whether you are a kid or an adult. Furthermore, sometimes stretching your legs helps a bit. If a meal is taking a long time we walk Lizzie around. We will take turns and walk her around the restaurant, hotel or outside. We pick places to eat that are accommodating to this activity. It’s also easier in the warmer months to walk up and down the block if you are sitting outside and waiting for food.
Conversation
This might be shocking, but we hold full conversations with Lizzie while eating out. While Mike and I love to talk we also include Lizzie. We will ask her about her day, ask her what her favorite things are, recall recent experiences, and ask her about what she ordered to eat. This keeps her attention and we love seeing her little mind work.
Where To Eat
When it comes to picking a restaurant type we really don’t have one. We live in a big city so we have a nice variety of casual to fancy options. While the fancier restaurants are geared toward adults if you go earlier enough (which we always do) they are kid friendly. My favorite spots are hotels restaurants, and they have always been my favorite. They usually have a lot of action, like live music, space to run and stairs. We recently went to Adorn at the Four Seasons for brunch and had a lovely afternoon.
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