We’re moms, so we get it… just figuring out what quick-n-easy dish to cook up for family dinners is challenging enough – much less bringing some excitement to the dinner table. Here, a few of our favorite ideas for spicing things up. Tailor the ideas to suit your time line, budget, and the ages of your kids. And by all means, make the kids part of the fun-planning process.
- Paper Play Take a cue from bistros and casual family-style restaurants by covering the table with a roll of art paper. Then place cups of crayons on the table and let everyone dig in with some doodling while they dine.
- Customized Cuisine Cook up a feast that each member of the family can customize to their own liking. Start with plain cheese quesadillas, bowls of pasta, or individual pizzas – then fill the table with bowls of roasted veggies, grated cheese, crumbled bacon, toasted pine nuts, fresh herbs, and other goodies so each person can have a blast creating their own mouthwatering masterpiece.
- Game On Q&A or word games can jazz up tired dinner conversation – whether it’s having everyone name three famous people they’d love to have to dinner, making up a crazy story together (going around the table, each person says one line), or sharing flash cards of foreign words.
- Make A Menu Print out a menu of the evening’s dinner selections – easy to do using your computer. You can get a bit fancy if you like, adding graphics or splitting the meal into several “courses,” restaurant-style. What better way to fancify your family dinner when it’s feeling a little dull?
- Wine & Dine Serve juice out of recycled wine bottles -- Martinelli's-style. Wash old wine bottles and save the corks then fill them with apple or grape juice. You can even print out your own family “wine labels” off the computer. Kids will love it!
- Get Foiled Give each child a piece of aluminum foil and let them mold cool shapes, flowers or animals – a fun way to keep them entertained and bring a little creativity to the dinner table.
- Paint Your Plate Spend a family day together at a paint-your-own pottery center, like Color Me Mine. Each person can decorate a dinner plate or bowl with his or her own unique design. Mealtime becomes so much more fun when it has a personal touch.
- Think Small Serve up a dinner made
entirely of finger foods and “mini” items – cocktail hotdogs and
meatballs, bite-size quiches, and tiny “trees” made from
broccoli.
- Eat Egg-cellent! Doing “breakfast for dinner” is a favorite pastime. Take it to a whole new level by experimenting with new takes on old standards. Sweet potato pancakes, garlic grits, and scrambled eggs with gruyere, anyone?
- Go Retro Spice up dinner-time with a dose of retro flair – fondue for all to dip into, some Motown music playing in the background (Aretha Franklin, The Supremes, Al Green), and for dessert, Oreos and milk!
