How to dress kids for dinner?

We are cruising on the Carnival Dream in September. Our plan is to dine as an extended family during the early dining time period. We would like to take the children to the clubs around 7, so they will only be in the dining room with us for about an hour. How do you dress them? Our children usually wear boutique clothes (shorts and shirts), but I wondered if that was ok or if I had to dress them "up" at night?

What do others do?

That is fin

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On Carnival, that's fine for young kids. They don't enforce a dress code.

We are cruising on the Carnival Dream in September. Our plan is to dine as an extended family during the early dining time period. We would like to take the children to the clubs around 7, so they will only be in the dining room with us for about an hour. How do you dress them? Our children usually wear boutique clothes (shorts and shirts), but I wondered if that was ok or if I had to dress them "up" at night?

 

What do others do?

That's fine. And on "elegant" evening I stick my boys in a tie, dress shirt and kakhis; unless they are really little and still wearing the button top rompers.

We found it works great if you ask the wait staff to keep the kids a course ahead of you - get their entree when you are having appetizers. Also, if you have fixed seating don't hesitate to ask them to have a fruit plate and milk ready for your arrival. Something healthy to snack on other than bread is great. Then, they should be finishing dessert when you are finishing your entree (and this should time out about 7). Send one parent to sign them into camp while the other orders coffee and dessert. Worked like a charm for years! Of course at 12 and 18, they now "do their own thing" after dinner!

We didn't do anything special for DD (3 yrs old) on our last Carnival cruise. She ate every meal with us in the MDR. Mostly in shorts and t shirt. We dressed her up nice for the elegant nights but that was it. She would even take her shoes off and sit there in socks.

Make sure they give you the kids menu and some crayons. The menu is a colouring book! We got our kiddo to bring 2 toys to each meal, so she could play a bit by herself, or with us. We always got a booth, she sat on the inside and just switched sides depending on who would play with her or was eating.

Club carnival also has a colouring book for the kids which I brought along to meals, and it passed some time for us.

Have fun!

We found it works great if you ask the wait staff to keep the kids a course ahead of you - get their entree when you are having appetizers. Also, if you have fixed seating don't hesitate to ask them to have a fruit plate and milk ready for your arrival. Something healthy to snack on other than bread is great. Then, they should be finishing dessert when you are finishing your entree (and this should time out about 7). Send one parent to sign them into camp while the other orders coffee and dessert. Worked like a charm for years! Of course at 12 and 18, they now "do their own thing" after dinner!

This is exactly what we are planning to do! Thanks!

They can wear whatever, although we did dress them up a little for formal nights

Maybe my kids are odd, but they always look forward to following the dress code (even if it is not enforced). My son (now 8 cruising since 2) has a very strong understanding of what is acceptable for formal nights versus casual nights. He picks out his own clothes to pack and is usually bang on.

My daughter (now 10, cruising since 3) loves cruising mostly because its a non-stop fashion show for her. From young, she has always had plenty of party dresses to choose from. She saves her best dresses for formal night, but loves dressing up.

My kids have always eaten MDR dinners with us. They go to the kid's club after dinner (they will often change back into shorts and t-shirts). I allow my daughter to bring her ipod to dinner, but it is only to take pictures of food. She cant use her ipod to play with. We talk about the day, what was fun, we did, what is going on at home, and what we have to look forward to the next day. We try and keep each other engaged in conversation through dinner. When they were younger, we would play word games - or trivia - just asking each other questions. We play the alphabet game - A,B,C ... with each letter trying to name a city, country, or animal or food. We quiz them on the world geography or history. My kids do taekwondo, so some nights we will quiz them on their tkd theory.

When my kids were done they used to work on their vacation journals and write about their day, but they haven't done that for a few trips now. Video journals are fun too - to tape your kids talking about their day.

Our dd is more like Queens' kids. She loves getting dressed up for dinner. It's nothing super fancy and it's a little easier with girls, but she wears a dress and ruffle sox with dress shoes or sandals. Of course, she always want her hair done too with a bow or headband. Her first cruise was at 22 months and she's five now and has been on six cruises. She's always eaten her entire meals with us in the dining room and then goes to the kids' club. I have noticed that she behaves better when she's dressed up for dinner than when she's more casual.

That said, if you want to wear shorts and shirts I don't think they turn kids away for that. It's more what you have in their wardrobes and what they will wear.

They can wear whatever but had fun dressing up our toddler

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Well...since my original post...we have now acquired 6 coordinating twin dress sets that we totally could have lived without!

I'll specify that "shorts and shirts" for us are button-down shirts/dress shorts for our son and Matilda Jane/Well Dressed Wolf-type clothing for our daughter (and a few coordinating smocked sets)...so not exactly Carters. Our son refuses to wear t-shirts lately, so he's pretty preppy on a daily basis! Our daughter hates bows and frilly socks, but she loves nice sandals and will wear a bow with a dress without too much drama if the dress twirls. Since we are cruising Carnival though, I believe we would be dress code compliant in shorts/shirts anyway other than the two formal-style nights.

Our children are well-behaved in restaurants, but I'm still likely going to let them sneak to the clubs around 7 if they would like. We eat together 6-7 nights a week, so skipping a few minutes isn't a deal-breaker and would kind of be a treat for them since we don't allow them out of their seats during dinner until everyone...including adults at long-lasting restaurant meals...is finished eating and talking (on a daily basis).

Thanks everyone for your advice. I'll try to come back and post when we return!

Have a great time! Love the comment about the twirly dress. That's how my dd rates a dress. I think what you described would pass for kids on formal night on Carnival. Maybe I'm wrong since we haven't been on Carnival since dd was born but my guess is it hasn't gotten more fancy.

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We are cruising on the Carnival Dream in September. Our plan is to dine as an extended family during the early dining time period. We would like to take the children to the clubs around 7, so they will only be in the dining room with us for about an hour. How do you dress them? Our children usually wear boutique clothes (shorts and shirts), but I wondered if that was ok or if I had to dress them "up" at night?

 

What do others do?

No worries.

You may want to introduce them to something more formal on formal nights, but that's up to you.

No worries.

 

You may want to introduce them to something more formal on formal nights, but that's up to you.

I updated above...they will be over-dressed most nights and nicely-dressed on formal night (dress for her and pants/bowtie/dress shirt for him). We are set!