We love cooking during the holidays, but sometimes it’s nice to take the family out for a  meal in a lovely restaurant. We recently enjoyed a holiday feast at Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills! Here are some tips for making the meal a success and ensuring that everyone, including the youngest members of your group, has a great time!

Go early! As many of you already know, if you are planning a dinner out with small children, make sure dinner starts early. Little M definitely enjoys his meal more when we are able to eat at a reasonable hour.

Make it fun for the kids. We took a walk through the hotel before dinner. While it is always beautiful, it is dazzling around the holidays and we spent ages wandering around, looking at the tree, writing letters to Santa and looking at the holiday decorations. We even had a little time to explore outside.

Take along supplies. And by that I mean, toys, crayons, books, whatever you need. Little ones need some help to get through a long meal and having a few special toys in your bag can buy you some time until the food arrives.

Indulge. We had a feast, in the truest sense of the word, at Four Seasons Los Angeles. Chef Ashley James prepared an elaborate holiday meal including maple and cinnamon glazed turkey with gravy, roasted Brussels sprouts, butternut squash puree, Chef Ashley’s orange cranberry relish, and rosemary sourdough sage onion and lemon stuffing!

Splurge. It’s the holidays. Go ahead, enjoy that extra cookie and let the kids have a taste of something special. Little M couldn’t get enough of the macaron Christmas tree tower! We loved the holiday cookies and traditional British mince pies.

Best of all? No cleanup when the meal is over! Ah, now that’s what I call a holiday feast!

For more about our feast, including Chef Ashley’s recipe for cranberry orange relish, read our story on the Four Seasons Family Travel blog.