QOTW - Eating Out

The question of the week over at Multiples & More is "How do you handle taking your multiples out to restaurants?"


There is no doubt we eat out much less than we did before, but it is nice to get out every once in a while. We may get a little emotionally exhausted, but I get to avoid cleaning high chairs and sweeping the dining room for the third or fourth time in a day. After a few dining disasters and lots of learning as we go, I have developed a few strategies in making the most of our dining out experiences.


Our family's general rules for going out to eat with 3 small kids:


1. Pay first, then eat. We generally stay away from any place with a wait staff. That way when someone inevitably has a meltdown, we don't have to wait around for the check while wondering how many people we are annoying. Plus, it's usually cheaper - no worrying about how much tip to leave.


2. Bring the essentials. The must-haves for our family include hand sanitizer, wet wipes, and bibs. Also nice to have on hand are bagged snacks (cheerios, goldfish) and filled sippy cups. By bringing drinks for the kids we avoid spills and offset a little of the cost.


3. Be a team. This is essential, and also the reason I would rarely attempt taking the kids out to eat without my husband. Usually one of us will order and hold a baby, while the other secures a table and two high chairs with the other two kids in tow. David instinctively knows that when he gets up to refill his own drink, that means filling up everyone else's, picking up a stack of napkins and a few more utensils that have surely been dirtied or dropped on the floor. We both seem to have developed either a sixth sense or third eye that allows us to evade spills, falls, and tantrums (most of the time anyway).


4. Kids first. Usually the food is hot when you get it. So the first thing we do when food arrives is start pinching the babies' food into baby bite size pieces and laying it out to cool. Brooke usually doesn't need her food cut up, but we take the food out to let it cool for her. When the kids all have a few minutes of food in front of them, then we can start getting to our own meals.


5. All hands on deck. If we do go to a "nice" restaurant with the girls (meaning there is a waiter involved), we try to make sure the kids do not outnumber the adults. It's amazing how that third set of hands helps.


Now I am sure that you are just dying to go out to eat with us!