Does your refrigerator ever get bombarded with left-overs? Do you have endless baggies of left-over food or plastic containers with small portions of meals in them? I know I tuck these "portions for one" in my refrigerator with all intentions of eating them for lunch - but sometimes days go by and there they sit.
One night, as I was thinking about dinner and if we should have an official YOYO night. (You're On Your Own - for dinner). I opened the refrigerator and saw all those baggies and plastic dishes so eager to be eaten.
I knew if we had YOYO night- the bowls of cereal would be eaten and not left-overs. So I grabbed my 5 year old and enlisted him in a new family game.
I told him- he was going to help me with dinner. (He wasn't very impressed.) I then explained, we were going to pretend to be a restaurant and he gets to name it! He picked, "USA" ( no doubt in honor of the Olympics) and I added the Cafe to make it more authentic. We made menu's for everyone with their entrée options, along with drinks and side dishes. My 5 year old was going to be the server and I the short order cook.
He eagerly set the table. We made paper hats. (two rectangles stapled on either end) and he pulled out our cookie sheet for his tray.
We had so much fun that night! The older boys wanted a turn to serve and after the first 2 orders, my 5 year old was ready for a break.
What I loved about the night was- it could have easily been a boring night of left-overs. But instead it was a really fun night playing and pretending together and we still ate left-overs!
Laura
(I'm not a photographer, sadly, and there were no GREAT pictures from that night. But I feel like I have to posts some pictures on my blog as "proof" we really do all my crazy ideas.)
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