Food and Fun

Any event serving food is a highlight for me! My palate is well-rounded and I adore variety. I’m willing to try anything once (with the exception of pork products). Philly certainly has its share of Halal restaurants and I’ll be the first to say I’ve checked out quite a few. Unfortunately, many to none have “Kids Eat Free” day like so many restaurants in Philly. So I narrowed my choices to vegan or vegetarian options to hit up. My sons' all time favorite place is IKEA! Yes, IKEA the furniture store. The reason why this place became my sons’ favorite place is because of Smaland! Smaland is a play area in IKEA where smaller children can play for at least an hour (hour and a half with an IKEA Family Card) for FREE! Its a courtesy to IKEA shoppers. Smaland's main attraction along with movies, toys, dress-up, and more is the giant ball-pit! We discovered Smaland many years ago after my countless times of shopping there. The store is HUGE and children are only entertained but so long riding on the flat bed carts. Once we discovered it IKEA was a weekly event. There are several IKEAS located in and near Philadelphia. South Philadelphia and Conshohoken was our go to stores, I would drop them off in Smaland and go upstairs to the restaurant for about 20 minutes of me time while I sip on my FREE coffee or tea (one of the perks of having an IKEA Family Card.) Now here is the catch...YOU WILL SPEND MONEY IN IKEA. Not necessarily a bad thing because the store has everything you need for your home. I really love shopping there. But it may defeat the purpose of being frugal. Any who...after shopping I would check out, purchase 3 of their yummy $1 ice cream cones, and pick up the lil men. We would head home and all is well. BUT WAIT!!! During our weekly visit, a Smaland staff informed me of "KIDS EAT FREE Tuesdays." Could this be true? I was a little skeptical of eating Sweden food but hey, its worth a look. I checked it out in the restaurant upstairs after signing the lil men into Smaland. It was true; 2 FREE kids meals for every 1 adult meal purchase (kids 12 and under can choose a combo meal). Well let me tell you, I shopped, signed out the lil men, and headed upstairs. i felt safe with the fish so I tried the salmon. HELLO....IKEA's Salmon dish with the vegetable medallion and vegetables is scrumptious! And it was only $6.99 with the drink! LOVE!!! The lil men ate the Vegetable balls, mashed potatoes, and their tasty lingonberry jam. After early dinner, I purchased ice cream cones, and we headed home with our weekly play day officially changing to Tuesdays! Side note...thier breakfast is also very good ranging from $1-$3.

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