Restaurant toys

Ok, I need some ideas for new, small toys to keep the boys busy in a restaurant in case we want to actually go out to eat sometime. We went out the other day and we had crayons and books...they were NOT at all interested and it was a miserable experience. What works for you if you go out occassionally?

Thanks!

 

Your boys are older than mine--we eat out once a week, and I just have been keeping the girls busy with pieces of bread, puffs, etc...until their food comes. That's been good--also, I have taken a piece of string, attached to a plastic baby spoon (which they love), and attach that to the highchair, so it never touches the floor. It keeps them busy as well.

I'd love to hear more ideas!

 

I take them out several times a week for lunch (usually by myself and with a friend and their baby)...Once they're in the high chairs, I have all my snacks ready, I give them bread from the bread basket, give them their lunch like mini-ritz and cheese...they are usually happy enough to eat and enjoy while I eat too!

 

For toys, we have a couple of different things that we rotate in and out of the diaper bag. We have a few "action figures", a few "little people" and the toy of the past few months, a small magnadoodle, which is awesome because it keeps Alice busy in the car too so less screaming and it was on clearance for $1.98 each.

 

I pack snacks,crayons,books,and little plastic farm animals.

 

We usually just use food....but we also use whatever is on the table - spoons, forks, sugar packages (although sometimes they chew on these, so we have to take them away), creamers...but now that I think about it, they probably aren't very clean...so may have to start packing a few toys ourselves!

 

We take the boys out at least 2-3 times a week for lunch or dinner. My kids are garbage disposal like eating machines so we don't really take toys - just make sure they have food. I bring snacks, or make sure we have bread or something up front if I know it is going to take a while for the food to come out. As long as they are eating they are content. And when they are full and we want to chat they generally just sit and people watch.

Other than toys that are prone to roll away I don't think you can go wrong with taking any toys they enjoy especially if it isn't something they see often. My kiddos would probably be pretty content with books. I found some pocket books (2x2x1/2") last week at the dollar store with their favorite animals (ducks, pigs, cows, and fish) in it that would probably keep my guys enterained for quite a while if they weren't interested in entertaining themselves.

 

The few times we went out we didn't bring toys... just snacks for them, and they were happy enough playing with the spoons/napkins etc.

 

We usually take snacks, books, and little toys to keep them occupied.

 

Wait. I'm shocked!! People go out? We have tried a few times...and failed miserably each time. We will get there one day I'm sure. I love the string on the spoon idea! I'm going to try that.

 

My kids are always good in the restaurant. I bring their food with me in a bag. We serve each course separately. So they eat veggies, then meat, then bread type thing, then fruit, and to make it last even longer we give cheerios or some type of cereal. Giving all of this pretty much takes us from looking at the menu to paying the bill. Of course I make sure the foods I bring are favorites they love to eat. Then they get to taste and eat some of whatever we have too. Toys are just going to get dropped or thrown on the filthy floor and you don't want to have to keep picking them up!