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Fun & Festive Kiddie Table |
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For the 12-and-under set, the utterance of two little words can effectively ruin a holiday dinner before it starts: kiddie table. Most of us have been there, relegated against our will to a rickety card table on mismatched, under-sized chairs with siblings and cousins who were far too young and annoying to share a meal with us. We begged our mothers, and now our children beg us to sit at the big table.
This year, avoid the begging and pleading and whining by trying some of these tips to make a fun and festive kiddie table where your kids will want to sit. Little ones are easier to please, so keep the oldest children in mind when choosing dinnerware, decorations and activities.
Pint-sized Picassos
Keep kids entertained by setting up art
projects at the kiddie table. Then, use those
completed art projects as wall decorations or
centerpieces for the dinner. This is a great
way to make kids feel like an integral part of
the festivities each year.
Local mom Laura Gaddis has three active children to keep entertained: Ethan, 10, Parker, 7, and Turner, 5. “We have done a couple of cute candy topiaries with the kids before,” Gaddis said. “We usually make three in different sizes and use them as our centerpieces for the table. The kids love doing this!”
Kids also love to bake. Erin Redden, mom to Maddie, 10, and Hugh, 6, suggests baking a gingerbread house to decorate with the kids. “Use a gingerbread house as the centerpiece and at each place setting put a boy or girl gingerbread cookie as name plates,” she said. After dinner while the adults linger at the big table, set icing and sprinkles and Red Hots on the kiddie table so the children can decorate their own cookie.
Dish it out
Make the kiddie table inviting for children
by giving them their own set of dishware
(unbreakable or disposable) with
holiday patterns and colors appropriate for
the occasion. Not only will this communicate
to the kids that you really took the time
to do something special for them, but it also
significantly lowers the risk of grandma’s
antique china slipping out of little hands and
shattering on the floor.
Charlotte Bowman, mom of James, 5, and Fletcher, 2, wants to try an idea her aunt gave her for reusing old holiday cards. “Instead of tossing them, she cut them up and pieced the pictures and quotes together into six large rectangle-shaped collages,” Charlotte explained. “She then covered them with clear contact paper and, voila! She had six Christmas placemats for the children’s table.”
Help them help you
If you’re not ready for older kids and
preteens to move to the adult table, give
them responsibilities that make them feel
needed at the kiddie table. For example,
older children can oversee art projects, keep
water glasses full or make sure little ones
have washed their hands before eating.
Customize
Kids will be more likely to want to sit at the kiddie table if they feel like it was specially
designed for them. In addition to kid-focused
décor and art projects, give them a
table that’s just their size. If the age range is
wide, consider a smaller table for the littlest
ones and a bigger table for the older kids.
Visitors welcome
A kiddie table is a great way for kids to
bond with each other, but to make sure
they get to spend quality time with older
relatives, too, set up one extra chair at
the children’s table where adults can sit
and spend time with little ones
throughout the meal.
With a little extra work and a good idea or two, you can easily create a kiddie table all the children will enjoy. A word of caution, however: if it looks like too much fun, the adults may start begging to sit there, too.
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