Save Money While Dining Out with Kids

If I had to count, I could probably count the number of times in a year that we went out to dinner when I was a kid. For good report cards, there was Pizza Hut. For Mother's Day, dad picked somewhere so mom wouldn't have to cook. And then maybe a few other random Sundays for dinner after church.

 

Flip the calendar to now, with me and my husband and our own children, and I would lose count how many times we eat out.  Although I enjoy cooking, given our schedule, sometimes it's more convenient to grab dinner out while we're in between activities or order in when the day's been too busy to cook a good meal.  But eating out with kids can get a redundant, a little lacking on the vegetables, and, yes, a bit expensive.

 

Here's a few ways we've found to make dining out with the family a balanced, more affordable, experience. 

  

Have the kids split an adult meal. This does requires two children to actually agree on something, which in itself can be a small miracle and may involve some bribery. However, the adult menu generally offers a greater meal selection and vegetables are more likely to be included.  Take a moment and do the quick math; I've found this is often cheaper than two kid's meal, or at least the same price for a better meal.

 

Split your meal with the kids. Some meals are too big even for an adult and these are perfect to share with a smaller person. Often when we go out for breakfast, I get an omelet that might come with a stack of pancakes.  And what are my kids going to order? A stack of pancakes.  They can have mine. 

 

Order a drink and an extra cup.  In some restaurants, even the "kid-size" is a 20-oz lemonade. Ask the waiter how big the drink is. If it's really huge, order one and have the kids share. Or better, let them drink water.

 

Know where the kids-night specials are.  Many restaurants designate Tuesdays or Wednesdays for their family nights with special prices and free kids meals or desserts.  A local diner makes it a big affair with clowns and face-painting.  And don't forget the carryout specials, too, which are great for a family on the go. One of local grocery stores (the kind with the deli and hot food) has pizza specials on Mondays . Located across the street from my son's swim practice, this is a perfect fit into our back-to-back schedule.

 

Order the adult portion.  Let them enjoy half their meal at the restaurant, then take half home for tomorrow's lunch or dinner.  Not cheaper at the moment, but a little costs savings and work savings over the two days. That counts, too.

 

Eat a little bit earlier, around happy hour. I know we don't generally think "happy hour" and "kids" but in addition to bar drinks, food items are often cheaper, too.  Consider the appetizer menu - for little kids you can sometimes make a whole meal right there. Chicken fingers/wings, flatbreads, and salads are often on there and generally what the kids are going to eat anyway.  Dinner at 5 is early for us, but we've found when we eat dinner earlier, we're not as nervous about the kids having an ice cream for dessert and being wired up for bedtime.

 

Ask for a kids portion. There are some restaurants that actually do have a kids menu, if you read the fine print on the back of the menu. If not, some will make a kids size (and charge you accordingly less), especially if the kids are real small. 

 

My last point, has nothing to do with cost, but instead the experience. Don't use the wait time to check your email or play Angry Birds or "like" your friend's posts on Facebook. Enjoy not having to cook or wash dishes, sit back, and check in with your family, look in their eyes, and have a conversation.

 

Cheers! 

Back to School on a Kids' Budget

It's August - time for that annual pilgrimage for back-to-school stuff. Notebooks, pencils, lunchboxes, shoes, clothes. It's a lot of stuff.  Instead of spreading all this shopping out over time, we jam-packed it into a couple days. Good idea or not?  I'm not sure, we'll see if the bank calls with a warning that some crazed person is running all over the county with my bank card.

This year, I gave the kids a budget for their shopping. Each was given a certain amount for all their stuff. All of it. From notebooks to erasers, t-shirts and jeans. Even the smoothie that they had to have while wandering thru the mall. I was only paying for underwear and shoes - one because I did not want them to decide they didn't need them, the other because they'd bust their whole budget getting them.  

You'd be amazed at the difference giving them a finite amount made. Last year and years previous, we argued over whether they really needed the super-duper zippered buttoned pocketed fancy-schmancy $25 3-ring binder. This year, they picked out a basic - but nice, colorful - binder and noticed the $2 off if you bring in an old binder to recycle (at Staples). No arguments.  As opposed to previously when everyone needed their own pack of 20 ink pens, they remembered the pile of pens all over the house, but for the feeling of brand new-ness, they could split a pack.

And recycling? We talked about the wastefulness of the pile of composition books they are required to bring to school each year. I flipped through my son's earlier this summer and in each of his five books, he used maybe 20 pages - maybe. The rest blank. And I've got to get some more this year. "Don't you think it would be a good idea to use these again, because you probably aren't going to use them up this year either?" I asked him.  He agreed that it would be a good idea and the school should make that a rule, because he didn't want to be the only one re-using his notebooks. Okay, I get that.  (Make a note to the principal.)

When we got to the clothes stores, we talked about whether they really wanted to buy a bunch of new shorts and t-shirts, when summer was dwindling down. What were they going to wear by the end of September?  Okay, there was still some begging for a very cute tank top, but they (okay, "she" but not calling anyone out) didn't win that battle.  It was almost comical how quickly they noticed the "text us and get a discount signs" at the various stores - and the cell phones popped out.

And another money saving thing? With each of them in line for their own transactions, we did in total save more money. One store we went to had a $10 off coupon - had I purchased all their stuff at once, like I usually do, I would've save $10. But they each paid for their own stuff, in essence, saving the family $40.  In the meantime, they've been working on their basic math skills - adding, subtracting, estimation, percentages.

But as far as kids' clothes fashion? Ugh. Some of the clothes out there has me wondering how old do designers think 8 years old are? Why does every girl top this season reach just above the belly button and have a lace back? And all the shoes have a heel, even the sneakers!  I'm seriously thinking about suggesting uniforms to the school system. How much easier to order a box of polos and khaki pants and skirts and be done.

I think we're all about done. We may need another pair of shoes or two, if we can find some that are not sequined and high heeled. (Hello - any shoe designers out there?)  Then on to the next phase - labeling everything so that it can be identified in the Lost & Found and packing it all up.

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