Does anyone know of any Chicago kid-friendly restaurants or activities? Preferably with special discounts / specials days during the week--I think my kids are bored to tears of Navy Pier and the Children's museum. I want to start bringing my kids to a "special treat" night out. Maybe it's mom guilt from working, but I feel like Friday Family game night isn't enough, and with the cold weather I want do something a little special one night out of the week.
Thank you everyone! We have tried more variety and the kids love it! So far we have done the Shedd and Marcellos (really great place & the food is kid-friendly) and I am on Kidwinks in the Kids-Eat-Free Calendar right now planning out our next outing... I think my husband is a little jealous, maybe I'll clue him in and he can join us one night :)
We will visit Navy Pier when the weather gets warmer in a couple of months. In the meantime, we have plenty to choose from.
You might want to try The Kids Table. Its a cooking school for kids and families. Every other Fri night they do a Family class where everyone works together to make the meal and the eat. I haven't done it yet because my kid isn't two yet and that is the minimum for participation. Here is a link.
http://www.kids-table.com/classesforfamilies.php
Hi JB-
On kidwinks you can type in what you want to do and on what date and in what town and up pops all the places with that criteria. My friend introuduced me to it. You can also search for coupons. http://www.kidwinks.com/search/index.asp
Here's another great site that does the same thing:
http://www.oakleesguide.com/index.html
Oaklee has booklets in doctors' offices and libraries too. (but you can print the coupons from your computer.)
I really suggest checking into these sites. They are wonderful. I didn't know about kidwinks when my kids were little, but I did use Oaklee's guide so much! They gave me so many ideas that I would not have known otherwise. It kept my kids happy and me too because I was getting out to different places with them.
Have fun and stay warm!
J.
Hi Joy,
I'll second the vote for www.kidwinks.com, since it's my website! In the restaurants section, you can use our Kids Eat Free Calendar to click on any day and find out where kids eat free (or cheaply, or have entertainers like magicians); the Events section has our Events calendar, where you can click on a day and find out what special events are occurring; our Ongoing Activities section has categories along the left where you can get ideas of thing to do (Indoor vs. Outdoor Activities; bowling, swimming, mini golf, museums, libraries, sledding, ice skating, etc.). Kidwinks members (membership is free) can then sort any of those search results in order of distance from their house.
Hope this helps!
J.
I would highly recommend Marcello's. We usually get pizza for take out or delivery from there, but today we actually dined in, and I was VERY impressed. It was kid-friendly atmosphere without being overrun by noisy kids, which I really liked. Also, when we were seated, my kids were given a package containing crayons, activity pages and door hangers to decorate. Needless to say, they had a blast doing that. Also, they have the kids' meals, which were $6.95 and included a beverage- milk, juice or soda, a side dish, an 8-inch pizza, and dessert. Well worth it! And they have a few different locations.
http://www.marcellos.com/
Enjoy!
I don't know if this is what you would like, but I live in Andersonville and love Ranalli's of Andersonville, 1512 W. Berwyn, between Clark and Ashland (a very short block there), ###-###-####. I don't have young kids but believe they will give them crayons and have a children's menu, if memory serves. The area is also interesting with all kinds of stores including Women and Children First which is right across the street. Has to be cheaper than Navy Pier! Good luck.
Take advantage of all of Chicago's museums- we're lucky to have them! The Art Institute has a great new children's area- it's beautiful and offers fun programs for kids of all ages. Kids are free under the age of 12 or 14. The Museum of Science and Industry is a favorite for kids- a lot of my friends who grew up in Chicago still recall how they loved to go as kids. This is a great time of year to go outdoor skating- the Park District rinks are free if you have your own skates.
If visiting the Museum of Science and Industry- I recommend heading over to the Medici. It's close by and you'll find it family friendly and they have great milk shakes!
Molly's Cupcakes on Clark in Lincoln Park is great. It is a Cafe with great kid friendly treats (including dirt - icecream with oreos and gummy worms). The seats at the bar are oversized wooden swings, and they have lots of boardgames to play as well. It is a great special treat after a day out or just a quick hour or so...
Try Rainforest Cafe. : )
I don't know about restaurants, but as for activities:
The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum (www.naturemuseum.org) in Lincoln Park has suggested donation days on Thurdays.
Also, the aquarium www.sheddaquarium.org is having free general admission on several Mondays and Tuesdays in January (and I think other months). I'm pretty sure it's the 11th, 12th, and 25th & 26th of Jan.
I would also check out your local library -- www.chipublib.org -- a lot of the branches have activities for kids and families.
Best,
R.
