Saving Halloween, One Chaotic Dinner At A Time

October 5, 2018

This post is sponsored by Red Baron but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

I already talked this week about how feeding young children can feel like a battle. And today I’m hear again to extend the conversation. As a mom to a 4 year old, 2 year old, and a 4 month old, life is crazy-chaotic anyway, and once dinnertime rolls around, I sometimes feel like I can’t go on. A touch dramatic, maybe, but you other mommas get me. My husband is currently working a job where he is gone most nights, so dinnertime can often land squarely on my shoulders – the making, the feeding (aka pleading with my preschooler and my toddler to please take at least one bite!!), and then of course the cleaning up.

And nothing is crazy like a holiday, especially one like Halloween! Halloween is always chaotic at my house. I’m trying to get dinner ready, my husband usually comes home a little later than we’d like, the kids just want to wear their costumes and go trick or treating and it’s time to get out the door! Luckily, we always have some Red Baron pizza on hand, so it’s an easy choice to make that! It’s so easy to pop in the oven, and it makes me calmer, the kids want to eat it, and we’re all happy!

Here are a couple of tips I want to share with you when you are facing a crazy Halloween day and need some help saving dinnertime (and your sanity!). I hope they help you as much as they’ve helped me!

Have A List of Easy, Liked Meals

I keep a list of easy meals that we all like on my fridge, in case I ever *ahem* forget about making dinner. Ha! They are dinners that I generally always have the ingredients for (like spaghetti and meatballs or Italian chicken) and I love that they are easy, no-nonsense meals that I can throw together quickly.

Keep Freezer Meals Handy

I like to keep both homemade freezer meals and store-bought meals on hand for those crazy nights. My girlfriends and I get together twice a year or so to make freezer meals, to keep our homemade meals stoked up. And like I mentioned earlier, I like to grab different meals from the store like Red Baron pizza for nights I need something to just pop in the oven.

I swear to you, on Halloween the kids are so excited to go trick or treating – they act like they’re hyped up on sugar already (haha!), and the last thing they want to do is sit down to eat a meal. Thank goodness for Red Baron pizza!