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!
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
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!
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Jessi is the creative mind behind The Coffee Mom, a popular blog that combines parenting advice, travel tips, and a love for all things Disney. As a trusted Disney influencer and passionate storyteller, Jessi’s authentic insights and relatable content resonate with readers worldwide.
This is so fun. I have many neices and nephews and can’t wait to give them this fun gift. They are going to love it.
What a neat idea! These busy bags are so handy and great for parents taking their restless kids to restaurants 😀
I used to make these for my kids when they were small. They helped out a ton, that’s for sure.
What a great idea for taking the kids out to eat. I need to share this with my daughter.
I absolutely love this idea! I’m going to be doing this for my son as we don’t like to give him electronics and want him to be kept busy with other things.
This is a excellent Idea for going out with children to any restaurant. It makes them busy and get them distracted.
looks great! I will totally try it making for my nieces. love the idea
My kids are a lot bigger now so they even pay for their own food. Haha! Anyway, I know those busy bags would have been ideal for my daughter because she is an artist at heart. I must say they were well behaved at restaurants as far as I can remember.
Great tips! We always make sure to include Wikki Stix and chalkboard crayons / chalkboard mats in our busy bag for traveling and going to restaurants. Though, we haven’t done either of these things in months 🙁
This is such an interesting idea. I am not a mom so I didn’t think that you could pack a restaurant bag so that you can have a nice dinner in peace.
Oh that is a great idea. Mine will love that.
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..🙂
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.
Such a neat idea, thank for sharing this hack!!
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
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