Mommy-Son Date Ideas: The Denny’s Lunch Date #DennysDiners

It’s noon. Baseball camp just finished for the day and I have one sweaty, red-clay covered, melted-popsicle stained little boy on my hands. He’s hungry and we have the rest of the afternoon to ourselves. I look at the messy mess that belongs to me, and I say, “I’m hungry. What do you think about going on a date with Mommy to a restaurant?”

“YESSSS Mommy!”

My Little Made Man and I have been going on “dates” together since he was super young, I have made it a point to distinguish “date” time different from just time he was stuck with me. My hope was that our date time would become something he would associate as special, fun, one-on-one time between him and Mommy. I try my very, very best to be in the moment, put my phone away and focus only on him. Of course, my hope is that our dates will continue, evolve, ideally, into something that he will still look forward to once those looming pre-teen years hit. So far, it’s working. We have our different places kinda on rotation (a restaurant, the movies, etc.) but today, I knew where we were going. We were going to Denny’s.

So, recently Denny’s reached out to me and asked, “Would you be interested in becoming a Brand Ambassador for us?” Now let me tell you, in the blogging world, this is a BIG deal. A nationally known brand doesn’t ask just anyone to represent them via your blog space, they have to really, really like you. I was beyond flattered, but I wasn’t sure. I mean, I hadn’t been to Denny’s since a WMC 3am pancake breakfast party in Miami Beach circa 2002. Before that, I seem to recall that there were a lot of late night college runs. I knew my sweet little dad back home pesters his local Denny’s waitresses weekly, but what did I know about Denny’s?

Not enough, apparently. First of all, Denny’s is committed to kids and families. Their Kids Live Well approved Kids Menu is comprised of five main dish choices: Chicken Nuggets, Cheeseburger, Pizza, Spaghetti and Mac & Cheese. There are ELEVEN side dish choices that include: Grapes, Sweet Petite Corn, Apple Dunkers, French Fries, Steamed Broccoli, Goldfish Crackers  and more. The price for a child’s lunch or dinner meal (one main dish + one side) is an insane bargain at $3.29.

And they even make the ordering process fun. They’ve teamed up with National Geographic Kids to add fun facts and games to the menu to keep impatient little guests busy.

Denny’s $2,$4,$6,$8 Value Menu provides guest with plenty of budget-friendly dishes for the entire family. Their #FitFare menu items offer guest healthy eating choices lower in fat, calories and higher in protein and fiber. For the past three years, Denny’s and Share Our Strength have partnered together to help end childhood hunger in America. Denny’s has donated more than 1.4 MILLION DOLLARS to Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign. The Denny’s Tumblr page is absolutely hilarious. (Psst! Trust me, it’s worth the click. And as soon as I figure out how to include a GIF file to this page, you better believe I’m adding that guy with the egg on his abs, just sayin’.)

When I heard about all Denny’s was about, I was like, YES! I’m on board! And they gave me THIS to accessorize the site:

But TODAY was the true test. Today would be the Denny’s Lunch date with Mommy.

So my little dirty baller and I headed over to the Coral Gables location right across from the University of Miami. (Go Canes!) Our waiter, Terrell, was slammed. It was the height of the lunch rush and he was handling the masses like a charm.

To my left, an elderly woman held on to the arm of someone who I suppose was her daughter, or maybe a caregiver. As the woman ever so slowly made her way to her table, Terrell the waiter stopped what he was doing, looked her in the eyes and said, “Hello Miss. Pam.”

“Miss. Pam” looked at Terrell with a blank look. “How do you know my name?” she asked. The caregiver and Terrell exchanged knowing glances. Miss. Pam looked at the caregiver and said, “He knows my name! He remembers me!”

It was the kind of moment that anyone with half a heart just melted. As if Terrell the waiter needed any more brownie points, he was quick to give my Little Made Man an orange-topped cupcake cup instead of the brown one, just because the orange one was “cooler.”

With my love of everything avocado, I had to order the Avocado BLT from the limited time Monthly Features Menu and the LMM took his time picking out dinosaur chicken nuggets with a side of sweet petite corn, and, as a mommy son date treat (and only an additional $.89) a side of goldfish crackers. He loved the fact that he could pick out his own items using a crayon and the Kid’s Live Well approved-menu.

My Little Made Man and I sat in our Denny’s booth and talked about baseball, Lego castles, why rain was wet and his World Cup soccer sticker book.

For dessert, he decided that he wanted the Jr. Oreo Blender Blaster (a vanilla ice cream milkshake blended with OREO cookie pieces), which of course, I ordered him. So then I had a dirty, messy, but well-fed baseball camper ready to go home and move on to bath time. Thank you , Denny’s for providing the perfect back drop to a perfect Mommy-Son afternoon Lunch Date. It was just lovely.

#DennysDiners