Not too long ago, I blogged that I’m going to spend more money to enjoy life a little more (“Spending More Money For a Better Life, Part 1 of 2” & “Spending More Money For a Better Life, Part 2 of 2“).  In those posts, I mentioned that I was going to increase my monthly spending by an average of $100 ($200 per summer months and less than $100 per winter and fall months). 

While, I mentioned how I was going to spend more on golfing with my son, I didn’t really mention what I was planning on doing with my daugher.  First, I plan on golfing with her eventually, but for now she need to develop her golf swing.  For now we’ll just take her to the driving range until she can hit the ball at least 50 or better yet 100 yards.

So until she’s bigger, I decided to try and create something special with her, and that’s what we did tonight.  My plan was to take her to a nicer restaurant and then to Starbucks for an evening of kid’s hot chocolate and reading.

So here are the details…  First I let her decide which restaurant to go to (expecting Olive Garden or Red Lobster), her choice was Burger King.  The Burger King in our area has a very nice play area, with plenty of kids.  So while not ideal for me, she enjoyed it and I read my book that I brought for Starbucks.  It wasn’t as good of an experience as we hoped it would be, because a dad was their with his 4 year old son (who continuously screamed at the top of his lungs).  The 4 year old kept following my daughter bothering her.  She decided to play with the Lego like blocks instead.  So this part of the evening was fair…

Next we headed to Starbucks!  I ordered a Grande Latte for me and a Kid’s Hot Chocolate for my daughter.  The Kid drinks at Starbucks are only $1.19, so that isn’t too bad.  I then let her pick where she wanted to sit.  We went tried two indoor tables before finally ending up sitting outside on a table my daughter chose.  After she ate the whip cream and chocolate syrup off of the hot chocolate, we started to drink our drinks and read our books.

Time magically slipped by and before I know it, it was 9:00pm (later than I hoped to be out).  So we headed home, she got ready for bed, and I made up and told her the typical Friday night bedtime story.

Overall, a near perfect night out and my daugher had a great time!  Well worth the cost (actually at a bargain price)!

-MR