Parents' Night Out

A few weeks ago I was approached by a few of the kids here at CLP about helping them out on a Friday night. They decided they wanted to give their parents (and a few other families' parents) a night out so the parents could hang out together. After much brainstorming, we ended up helping them cook dinner for their parents. We split the kids between two houses-young kids at one house to be babysit by a few singles and the oldest 5 at another house with two other teammates and myself. The kids had sent out invitations to their parents telling them formal attire required but not much more than that. It was supposedly all a surprise to the parents. Lisa, Mandy and I rounded up the kids and started assigning jobs: set table, make brownies, clean salad veggies, chop veggies, butter and garlic bread, boil noodles and sauce for pasta. They were so fun to watch (think 2 girls and 3 boys around 10-12 years old).

cleaning up

chopping veggies

serving dinner

When the parents came over (dressed very nicely) the kids all took their jobs as matri'd, hosts, and waiters. They brought their parents all the dishes and refilled drinks. After the parents started eating the kids got to make themselves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Eventually, we served dessert, did dishes and put them away and then sent the parents back to another house to continue playing Wii and other games. We all then retired to the little kid house to help the by then very tired babysitters (10 little kids there under age of 8 or 9). We enjoyed the end of Mary Poppins and then enjoyed even more when the parents came to fetch their kids. It was quite the success of a night. The highlight still being when the kids welcomed their parents to dinner by saying "Welcome to the House of Love."

watching Mary Poppins