The Crazy Cafe

I saw this idea on The Idea Room blog & decided we would do it with the kids one night during Spring Break (hey, we are all about some FREE fun at our house!).  We called it "The Crazy Cafe".  So I printed up three menus and made a few changes to make it characters our kids enjoyed.

Then I welcomed the kids into "The Crazy Cafe" and told them all about where they were. I introduced myself as "Hollyrella" who always dreamed of going to Hollywood and being on American Idol but was stuck in the deep South running this Crazy Cafe.  I introduced them to my husband & their "waiter" LaRue".  

We made it to be a real redneck dive and we were complete backwoods redneck talking folks. We even got their names wrong. Wyatt we called "Quiet", Abbey was "Ah-he" and Sidney was "Sissy". We told them about the menu and explained that each character represented an item they would need for dinner but the trick was that they didn't know which character had what item.  All they could do was guess as they filled out the menu.  

Little did they know but here is how the characters matched up to dinner items:

A = French Fries

B = Hot Dog Bun

C = A Napkin

 D = A side of fresh sliced strawberries

E = A Spoon

F = A drink

G = A Hot Dog

H = Ice cream with a cookie

While we prepared their first course, we talked about ourselves & the "Cafe" and told them the history behind it.  Then we served the Appetizers. Wyatt had got lucky and choose dessert for his Appetizer (how cool is that....dessert before dinner and it was o.k.!).  

The girls had got part of their actual main dinner courses.  After they finished their appetizers, we cleared the table and served the main course.  Abbey wasn't too sure what to make of this crazy dinner and Sidney thought the whole experience was silly as ever!

Hollyrella sang for them and told them all about wanting to be on American Idol.  She serenaded them with "O Brother Where art Thou" songs and they scored her.  She was so excited to get an 8 from Quiet, but sadly, got a 3 from Sissy & a ZERO from Ah-he.  Her dreams of going to Hollywood were crushed.  But LaRue came along & reminded her how much she loves him and he couldn't leave his gator business to go to Hollywood anyway and they were a happy couple again.

Sorry for the blurry picture but one of the 6 yr old "guests" took the photo for us!  (ha)To make Hollyrella feel better, LaRue showed the guests his tattoo of Hollyrella that he had recently got (like 3 minutes before the Cafe opened) on his arm that showed how much he loved her. 

After all that fun, it was time for desserts.  Some of the guests were not real thrilled to see this come out as their dessert but they ate it happily and cleaned their plate in the end.

And like all restaurants, at the end of the meal, each guest was given a "ticket" to pay for their meal along with a small "mint"...well, an AirHead candy.  The ticket simply read:

THANK YOU FOR COMING TO THE CRAZY CAFE

Your total amount due is:

A hug & kiss for your Mom & Dad

After it was over, David & I cleaned up our faces, hair, kitchen, etc. and sat down in the living room and asked the kids "So, what do you guys want for supper?"  They laughed & said "we ate at The Crazy Cafe" and proceeded to tell us all about it and how much fun it was.  I think it was something they won't soon forget and it was a lot of fun for me & David too.  Our kids will only be little once so we want to enjoy every moment like this that we can now.  

If you want to host your own "Crazy Cafe", click here for details & a downloadable menu.