Dinner time can grow to be so monotonous. We are asked day after day,”What’s for dinner?”
We grow tired of preparing the same meals, or we simply struggle to get our family all around the table at the same time to eat.
Over the years, our family had normal everyday dinners, and we had some pretty, fun out-of-the-ordinary-dinners. Times where we ate our meal in a different environment or manner - that just added some much-needed laughter and bonding to our evening. Those evenings made some great memories for us. And it doesn’t always have to take a lot of work. You can still cook grilled cheese sandwiches - but if you eat them out back in a tent? So much better!
Here are a few ideas for you moms and dads. Hopefully, switching things up at your meal time once in a great while will become something your children adore and recall someday with great fondness.
*Have a picnic on the floor. INSIDE. Pull out a blanket, get out the paper plates and add the food! You can also have “set” questions everyone has to answer, if you want to add some family bonding time to the evening.
*Eat out on your deck or back porch. Use either a picnic table, or set up a card table and enjoy the fresh air.
*Eat on your roof, if your kids are older. We sat up on our back roof one evening and looked at the sky and the landscaping around us, while we ate sandwiches. It was beautiful.
*Have festive napkins, glasses or fancy straws. You can have a regular dinner at the table, but insert a super fancy straw in their cup, or napkins that are silly.
*Allow your family to use chopsticks only instead of silverware. Had a stressful week? This one is bound to cause some laughter at the table!
*Make a rule that no utensils can be used at all! Only hands. Have finger foods, drink soup out of the bowl, etc.
*Have everyone grab a TV tray and pick out a family movie to watch while eating dinner. (If you often eat in front of the television, this one won’t seem super out of the ordinary. Might switch things around and move to the table!)
*Switch places at the table. Everyone needs to sit somewhere other than their normal seat. It’s so simple - but it can really change things up.
*Make normal foods fun. Add green food coloring to water, stick a Hershey’s kiss inside of a napkin, etc.
*Build an indoor fort and then eat under it.
*Have the kids prepare the meal AND clean up! But let them choose the meal, or make it an easy one for them, so that they don’t get frustrated.
*Serve dessert FIRST!
*Let your kids drink meal or water out of fancy wine glasses. (You can often find plastic ones at the dollar store, too.)
*Light the candles! Who says candles are only for romantic dinners? They can really calm a frenzied, stressful day!
What are some of YOUR ideas? I’d love to hear!
