Skip to Content

DIY Restaurant Busy Bags

Taking toddlers to restaurants can feel like walking into war! Everything is unpredictable, will they scream? Will they cry? No one knows! Most of us don’t want to just hand our kid a phone to keep them entertained at a restaurant, so what is a busy mom to do? DIY restaurant busy bags have saved my dinner quite a few times! With fun and inexpensive activities, these bags are a real dinner time lifesaver! 

Restaurant Busy Bags

Kids are so much fun, right! If your kids are anything like mine, they love going out to eat. As a family, we all enjoy going out to a local restaurant when we can, but honestly, the kids’ mood can be unpredictable. 

Sometimes the youngest wants to throw a fit! Then sometimes the oldest gets bored if she has to wait too long. I am not by any means against handing the kids a phone to entertain them if I need to, but I personally prefer not to if I can avoid it. 

I also know though, that kids don’t do well sitting for long periods of time. They get bored and that’s okay! Sometimes food takes longer to come out and I just need something to keep my tiny heathens busy while we wait. 

Kids’ menus are great with crayons and their little activities, but a lot of the time they just aren’t engaging enough.  So I decided to head down to my local Dollar Tree and make my kids some super simple restaurant busy bags. 

What to Put in a Kids’ Busy Bag

kids' busy bag with crayons and activities for a restaurant

I grabbed a few things to fill my kids’ busy bags.  My local Dollar Tree had everything I needed and then some.   The best part? Everything was $1 so I don’t feel terrible if something gets lost or broken or left on a restaurant table! 

  • Makeup Bag or any other zipper pouch. 
  • Crayons
  • Dollar Tree Activity Packs
  • Word Searches
  • Puzzles
  • Stickers

I recommend you just go take a walk around the Dollar Tree to see what you can find. The activity play packs are probably my favorite thing to grab to toss in our restaurant busy bags. They usually have a few crayons, a booklet, and some stickers. Most of them are fun character themes and they definitely keep the kids more occupied than regular kids’ menus. 

Honestly, this is so easy to do and extremely inexpensive!  If you have made any busy bags, I would love to see them! Tag me on Instagram so I can share your photos of your creations! 

Pin Me for Later

Go ahead, pin this image to save this post for future reference! 

Taking toddlers to restaurants can feel like walking into war! Everything is unpredictable, will they scream? Will they cry? No one knows! Most of us don't want to just hand our kid a phone to keep them entertained at a restaurant, so what is a busy mom to do? DIY restaurant busy bags have saved my dinner quite a few times! With fun and inexpensive activities, these bags are a real dinner time lifesaver! 

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Candy Rachelle

Wednesday 10th of June 2020

This is a really great idea! I wish I would have thought of doing something like this when my kids were younger!

Candy Rachelle Keeping Up With Candy www.keepingupwithcandy.com

Katie Lam

Tuesday 9th of June 2020

Such a neat idea, thank for sharing this hack!!

Levi Bastian Redcross

Tuesday 9th of June 2020

These are great!! Busy bags aren't something that I need quite yet. but when the time comes I'll be excited to implement this strategy.

WorldInEyes

Tuesday 9th of June 2020

Wow..this is really very interesting and much unique idea..Thanks for sharing this..i am sure will have much fun while making this DIY restaurant busy bag..🙂

Marta

Tuesday 9th of June 2020

Oh that is a great idea. Mine will love that.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.