Kid Friendly Restaurants and Parties

When you have children, if you want to go out for fine dining cuisine, you can almost forget about it if you have to take them with you. It especially applies if you have socially outgoing children, because you find yourself spending most of your time getting them to refrain from annoying others. How would you feel if you were sitting down to a nice piece of Fillet Mignon and an 8 year old sticks his finger in your food, and then says "Hello!"? Aidan has a habit of doing this, hence why he generally needs a minder. For today, it was Dad.

Last night, we had the good fortune to go to our friend Jo's birthday party. She organised an excellent event, and we had the benefit of only having to take the Appendage rather than the two older boys. We left them home alone. Ok, no we didn't. My parents came down and did the regularly fantastic job of babysitting they normally do, so we didn't have to worry about them. It wouldn't have mattered if we had taken them. Jo and her family threw a party that was both kid and adult friendly. There was plenty of social lubricant, but interspersed with this were kids/adult games like "Thong Chucking" and "Count the Banana's". A good and relaxing night.

Today, Mum and Dad shouted us to one of the local restaurants. We took them to the Belvedere Hotel, up on Woody Point. The hotel has a great view over Moreton Bay and into the Pine Rivers.


You can either sit inside or out, and the outside area - which is fully covered, has a fantastic play area set aside for kids. The meals are good, the staff friendly, and there are always a lot of families there as well. You never really have to worry about what your kids are getting up to, and the community atmosphere tends to mean that kids don't play up nearly as much as they would in a refined restaurant. They even have an Ice Cream carousel!


Its good that people with families still get the opportunity to go out and enjoy meals without having to worry about what other people think. I know that when we were young and single, if we went to somewhere swish, like say Sizzler, we were always horrified about children being there. Now we're on the opposite side of the salad bar!

Ciao for Now, Gastric Angry Dad.