How to make a restaurant survival kit? Our must-haves for eating out with our toddler.

We love eating out and trying new restaurants, its always been my husband’s and my thing to do over the weekend. I would plan and he would pay!

Then baby came along and going to restaurants slowed down  but we still did a fair amount of eating out, all planned around the breastfeed and nap time, it worked until she become a mobile toddler and then refused to sit in her high chair for more than a minute…I have one of those hyper toddlers (mind you not due to sugar but purely due to the love of life and curiosity). Going to restaurants slowly became my not so favorite thing to do and I thought to myself, there has to be a way to get around this so I started researching and talking to other mums which resulted in putting together the PERFECT FOR MY TODDLER restaurant kit to survive eating out (it also helps when visiting family and friends).

THOUGHT PROCESS INTO PUTTING TOGETHER YOUR KIT:

1. Keep the toddler entertained so we could enjoy our meal together. Find something they love doing while not on the move.
2. Make it educational to enhance developmental milestones. Eye hand co-ordination, match the sticker to the picture etc.
3. Multiple play combinations with minimal items.
4. Keep the kit small so its easy to carry around.

WHAT DID I PUT IN THE SURVIVAL KIT?

1. Firstly I identified the bag to carry the items. We are using a PEPPA PIG backpack gifted to us by my cousin. Its ideal because our toddler feels like she is contributing to the whole process as she carries it by herself. Also, the unzipping, unpacking and repacking the bag is an activity in itself.
2. Sticker book which I purchased from Mr Price home. It has pictures and comes with a range of stickers that can be stuck and peeled off and stuck again.So entertaining…
3. Blank paper and crayons. A colouring book also can be used if you can find a small compact book or tear of the pages and carry the pages. We carry our own crayons because they are non toxic, fewer germs and are generally better quality than the ones at some restaurants.
4. Small blocks of lego/duplo and some duplo small animals.

I must admit that it works for us 8/10 times, there are times we have to resort to putting on a movie on our cellphone but it works majority of the time. The bag is always packed and only taken out when we go to the restaurant, this way it keeps it interesting and new for her. This kit has made it more manageable eating out.

WHAT YOU WOULD PUT IN YOUR RESTAURANT KIT FOR YOUR TODDLER? Please share/comment as I am always interested to improve and hear your ideas.

HAPPY DINING!!!

Below I have shared everything I did when planning my baby girl’s cake smash photoshoot!

My baby girl’s (Mckenzie Rose) first birthday was SUPER special as it is an important milestone.We therefore decided to celebrate it by having a cake smash shoot. My husband and I thought it would be a picture-perfect way to record the memories of turning ONE! FUN, CAREFREE and TASTY…

I decided to write this post to help other parents plan a cake smash within a cost friendly budget.Here is how I went about planning it to minimize the costs and still get a kaleidoscope of amazing pictures.

LOOKING FOR THE IDEAL PHOTOGRAPHER FOR YOUR BABY AND YOUR BUDGET

You will want to find the best fit photographer for your baby’s personality and for your purse. Start looking early, this will allow you to do your research based on reviews, having the opportunity to engage with the photographer a few times before the date (this will allow you to gauge if he or she is a good fit for your baby’s personality) and you will have more choice in terms of the rates charged.The final criteria is to look for a photographer that has the camera equipment required for high quality pictures.

My photographer was SAM PIYAR PHOTOGRAPHY (the best in the industry in my opinion), also known as NIKS PHOTOGRAPHY. She was amazing with my strong willed toddler and her pricing was highly competitive. I got enough time with her, an A5 photobook and a disc of stills.

Watch this space…we will soon be doing a collab!!

DÉCOR FOR THE PHOTOSHOOT

Some photographers have their own props, however I wanted a more personal touch so I decided to get my own décor. I recycled the décor for the first birthday party. This saved us a small fortune when compared to some of the quotes I received before deciding to do my own décor.This is how I did it, I decided on the colour scheme and the look and feel. Once this was done, it was easy sailing. I made a trip to the china mall in Johannesburg (you can look for your closet one) and purchased 90% of the décor I needed.

The pink rug was purchased from Mr Price Home, which I now use in her playroom. The milestone board was designed by a web designer called Selson Muniappen and the printing was done by a printing company based in KZN called CANVAS Print Co. I also used the milestone board for her first birthday and is now a keepsake.

Both Selson and CANVAS Print Co were amazing service providers.

All this cost me approx. R1300 and I am left with a keepsake and décor for her playroom.

Décor alone was R500.

LOOKING FOR THE IDEAL CAKE

So I looked and looked and looked…long story short, it was just too expensive to be smashed and thrown away as my shoot was outdoors. We made our own cake with the help of my future sister-in-law. I bought the meringues and decorated. If baking is not your forte, don’t worry, buy a box of cake mixture, mix according to the instructions, bake and decorate as you wish. An even better option is buy a pre-made cake from the store, add some extra icing to chocolate balls, chocolate bars and meringues andstick to the cake based on how you would like to decorate it.

The cake we baked and pictured below cost me less than R100.

BABY FASHION FOR THE CAKE SMASH

Fashion is essential for the photoshoot. Buy something that looks good and cleans well because when your baby gets into the cake, you want to be able to clean it up easily.

Also do your family and prop pictures before the actual SMASH THE CAKE!

Outfit was R350.

GETTING YOUR BABY READY FOR SMASHING THE CAKE

We were initially abit disappointed because Mckenzie did not get right into the cake, she touched it with her little fingers one finger at a time. We literally had to take her hands and push it into the cake to get the “show started”, she just needed a little encouragement and then there was no turning back.

In hindsight, we could have prepped her with a practice session, buy a cupcake and then sit with your baby and play with the cupcake; get him/her to get used to the texture of the icing and get some on their cheek, nose and lips.

The total cost of the smash cake shoot (being mindful that I recycled the décor; I am going to exclude the milestone board and the rug as I would have purchased regardless of the shoot) was a GRAND TOTAL of R2450, call it R2500 (inclusive of fuel). I compared prices and I came out spending half of what I would have spent had I not followed the tips above.

I hope this helps and HAPPY CAKE SMASHING!!!