Many of us are bombarded with activities for our children: playdates, car games, board games and family nights. One recent gap for our family was exposed when eating out with our three children, ages 13, 10 and 7. The restaurant was busy, service was TERRIBLY slow, and none of us left the experience with the feeling that it was money well spent.

I've recently assembled a restaurant bag for our kids, which we now carry with us every time we eat out. The bag includes both quiet activities and family games. What we choose to dole out depends on the atmosphere and everyone's mood. Our kids get incredibly excited about family restaurant time now.

Your assembled "restaurant survival kit" may include:

a small backpack or drawstring bag to carry items in.
A deck of regular cards
A game card deck, such as Uno, Skip-Bo, Etc.
Travel games, such as checkers, chess, snakes and ladders, etc.
Activity pads with games like tic-tac-toe.
A package of crayons or colored pencils
Paper for drawing or coloring
A "Would you rather" type book- these books usually offer scenarios or choices such as, "would you rather be stranded on an island or in outer space?" Our family has had some phenomenal conversations out of these questions.
Mad Libs- always great for a pick me up!

Restaurant times don't have to be chaos, and electronic games aren't the only alternative!

Learn more about this author, Betsy Erwin.
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