Moolah Monday - A GREAT Gift Idea

We were fortunate this year to have a big family Christmas.  Almost everyone from our immediate family came out for my graduation ceremony and we grabbed the opportunity to celebrate Christmas together a couple weeks early.  Super fun.  And a bit crazy.  But fun for sure.

At one point we sat around like I imagine most families do to open presents together.  As my husband, my sister and her husband, and I opened our gifts from my parents we each found an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of printed paper with information on it about a really nice restaurant.  My parents decided to purchase a gift voucher for the four of us to go out to eat dinner together at this nice restaurant in town.  She'd done some research to find a nice restaurant and then went to TRAVELZOO to purchase a voucher worth $200 that included appetizers, dinner, and dessert for 4 people.  Then, as our gift, she gave each of us a copy of the voucher with our name on it (and some clothes).

Last night we all went out on a nice date to a fancy restaurant.  We all got dressed up, hired babysitters, and drove downtown at night for a kid-free evening.  (read: Someone else put my kids to bed!).  We all agreed that the restaurant was not our type of restaurant because we didn't know what half of the things on the menu were and there weren't kids running all over the place (um..no kids at all).  It was such a treat.  It wasn't somewhere we would have ever gone if we hadn't had a gift voucher.  We wouldn't have taken time like that as adults together except for the gift.  All of it just wouldn't have happened at all.

It ended with a great dessert and lots of laughter, at least some of which was at our experience eating at that restaurant, like when we convinced our husbands to feed each other and let us take a picture of it or when I took a large bite of steak butter because I thought it was cheese.  (Bleh!).

I came home to all kids in bed (not necesarily their own, but hey, beggars can't be choosers!) and it was quiet.  Lovely!!!

If you're looking for a gift for foster parents (or any parents) this was a super gift.  As far as I can tell my parents probably paid $25 per person for the gift and received an additional $25 per person as a promotional value.  That is a reasonable price in my book but I'd venture to guess they have other deals to match your price range.  It forced us to go out together for free for us and relatively inexpensive for the gift-giver for a night-out we wouldn't have taken on our own.  So next time you're looking for a gift-this might be a good option for you.

Thanks Mom & Dad!

(This post is entirely my opinion and not sponsored in any way).