I'm so tired of the fighting and arguing when it comes to picking a place for dinner out. One kid wants pizza, the other a burger and as the parents, WE JUST WANT PEACE + QUIET AND A DRINK! Ultimately WE are the parents and WE have the final say. I mean, who's paying, right? Sometimes though we'd like their input, and allow them to get involved with deciding what they're hungry for, but WITHOUT the arguing. So my super smart hubby came up with this plan while watching the Elite Eight this year. When he suggested it, I immediately thought.....damn you're BRILLIANT! It's actually become a fun family activity we do before heading out to dinner. We call it the Pre-Game Warm Up.

Here's how it works....pick your families 8 favorite spots. Usually we all sit around and throw out suggestions. On a small pieces of paper, individually write out each restaurant. Fold them up and place in a bowl. Allow someone to pick out which restaurants will be matched up.

Then place the two picks to be paired up in the elite eight spots on the bracket print out, like the one I found online here. Next, call out the other two restaurants that will battle and so on.

Call out the two match-up's and ask each family member to choose one they feel like eating at. Then the next and so on, until you read aloud all 4 groups. The restaurant with the most votes moves on. IF there is a tie, we simply flip a coin and the winner moves on. We run into this from time to time with a family of 4. An odd numbered family shouldn't have this problem. It's pretty simple.

We usually let the youngest flip the coin. He digs that part.

Once you've all picked, and made your way across the bracket, you've got your WINNER! Hopefully with no pouting. So far this has worked like a charm. Just think of the decisions you could solve with this nifty game. It's solved the fighting and we no longer go to the same establishments. It's added variety and fun to our weekend family date nights. Hope you'll give a try with your team!

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LOCAL FAMILY DATE NIGHT FAVES

FOR THE WIN

LOCAL FAMILY DATE NIGHT FAVES