It is a common scene that plays out for most parents.
You are at a restaurant, it is taking forever to get your food and your little one is barely hanging on.
You sense that a meltdown is right on the horizon and what do you do?
For us, usually giving her one of our iPhones in a pinch will work out, but sometimes you want to have something else in your arsenal.
Enter “The Restaurant Busy Bag.”
It is a really simple bag that has some of our daughter’s favorite things to do in it.
The bag itself is an overnight makeup bag from Walmart. It was under $15 and came with a bunch of little bottles that we can use to take on a trip.
One of the features that I really like with this bag, that a lot of other makeup bags have, is that when you open it, it unzips all the way and opens flat on the table.
What you put in the bag is up to you and what entertains your Mousekatot.
If your kiddo loves to color and use stickers, you will want to take a lot at Michael’s craft store or the dollar area at Target for these little activity sets.
They come with a little coloring book, a pack of crayons and a sticker sheet for just a dollar! It is a really nice steal. They have a variety of character options.
Lily loves these books that she calls “short books.” They are the beginning to read books that you can pick up at a bookstore, Amazon or any department store.
We also have a Halloween Cherrios play book that has gaps that kids can fill in with the cereal. (We love Halloween all year. That is why we still have a Halloween book in the bag and it is February.)
The final thing that we like to bring is some kind of toys or figures to play with.
Right now we are feeling My Little Ponies so they made their way into our busy bag.
I really like these figures because they are big and they are less likely to get lost in a restaurant.
Also, remember that the more you take the more you have a chance to lose.
So as you see, you can put anything that you like in the bag. The most important thing to remember is to choose things that your kiddo likes.
What are your tips for keeping the meltdown at bay when you go out to a restaurant? Leave your comments below.
Mousekatots 
Love this! We have random toys and books in the diaper bag, but my two year old is over playing with them with 20 seconds. Something like this would be great for her. She would definitely take ownership of it. Thanks for the idea!
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