Dec 15 2008
Party Time at Famous Dave’s
Would you drive two hours for a free kids’ meal? Sounds silly, but sometimes the occasion is special enough to do it.
My six-year-old son recently won a coloring contest sponsored by Famous Dave’s in St. Cloud, Minnesota. As his prize, he was invited to a special gathering of the prize winners and their families, where they could meet Wilbur the Pig, play games, and get a free kids’ meal.
St. Cloud isn’t just-around-the-corner for us (he’d entered the contest while en route from North Dakota), but the date of the coloring contest party also coincided with his birthday, and since we like to do special things for the kids’ birthdays, this fit the bill. Besides, Famous Dave’s is one of our favorite restaurants, so any excuse to go there is a good one.
The weather was agreeable, so we headed to St. Cloud. We were greeted warmly at the door of Famous Dave’s and escorted to the “Bait & Tackle” room, which had been reserved for the gathering. Each family had their own table, but unlike the usual waiting game of being in a restaurant, this was a well-choreographed event.
Our server took our drink order, and then the kids were invited to play “pin the tail on Wilbur” and other party games. Return to the table, place dinner order, and more games until our food arrived. The kids hardly had time to color their contest entries for next time!
The staff were great with the kids, and the manager checked personally about a peanut-allergy question we had.
To top it all off, they brought sparkler sundaes out for the kids who were celebrating birthdays that week.
I imagine this is how they run birthday parties and other special events at the restaurant. It was well-organized, fun for the kids, and full of good food as always.
What a fun party! And congrats to your little artist!
I am forwarding your post to my DH. Famous Dave’s is his favorite restaurant, too, and we’ve been known to drive quite some distance to visit one… the closest one to us is in Gilroy, CA (where everything smells like garlic, but that’s another story…).
Personally, I LOVE the corn bread!
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Now that’s what I call a good-mom-effort! And how cool are those sparklers? I think I’d like that for my own birthday.
We’re usually not big fans of chains, but we do like Famous Dave’s. The BBQ is pretty decent…plus you can get your ribs dry and add any of a variety of sauces they keep on the tables if you wish (I like the Devil’s Spit and mustard-based Carolina style sauces).