Enjoy a silly night of homemade Valentine fun at your very own Cupid’s Crazy Cafe! Use our FREE printables to amp up the cuteness and enjoy some happy family bonding time.
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Valentine’s Day is such a fun holiday. I know it gets a bad rap from the singles crowd. But folks… there is so much to love in life! Celebrate it!
Our family loves to do countdowns, so we’ve decided to do a countdown to Valentine’s Day this year as well. (Stay tuned for our fun countdown printables.) And one of the things on our countdown is to enjoy a dinner at “Cupid’s CRAZY Cafe”!
What is “Cupid’s Crazy Cafe”?
Our family has enjoyed ‘going to’ Cupid’s Crazy Cafe each Valentine’s season for probably the last 5 or 6 years. My kids absolutely LOVE it. I almost didn’t do it one year (schedule’s were just a wee bit crazy), and I nearly had a revolt on my hands. 😂 Needless to say, we made sure to host our special night.
Cupid’s Crazy Cafe is not an actual restaurant. It’s just a fun night of silliness around the dinner table with your cute little family, enjoying a meal with a twist.
The crazy twist comes when each person tries to order their food from their menu. Instead of seeing food choices like “chicken” or “potatoes”, they see menu items such as ‘Baby Cakes’, and ‘Love Potion’, and ‘Honey Buns’! 🤣
“Why, yes waiter… I would like some ‘Sugar & Spice’ with a side of ‘Cutie Pie’ please.” 🤣
No one knows what they’re actually ordering! You may end up getting a cupcake for your appetizer and some peas for your dessert! And darn that luck if you don’t end up getting a fork until the meal is almost over! 🤣
And to make things even sillier, I make sure to always talk in a horrible ‘French’ accent and have a towel draped over my arm like a fancy waiter at a restaurant.
How to create your own “Cupid’s Crazy Cafe”
To host your own Cupid’s Crazy Cafe, you basically just:
- Choose a meal you want to serve your family,
- Print out the Cupid’s Crazy Cafe printable pack and fill out the Key Code to fit with your meal items,
- Set up a fun Valentine’s table environment, including a menu and pen at each place setting,
- And then serve your family their fun Valentine’s meal.
What to serve at “Cupid’s Crazy Cafe”
What kinds of foods should you serve at this crazy cafe?? Well folks, that is completely up to you!
But let me offer some friendly advice: go simple.
We have done Little Caesar’s Pizza for more years than I care to admit because it’s easier to not have to cook an actual meal and then set up and host everything as well. I want the actual dinner to be crazy… but not my sanity. 🤪
It could be totally fun to center your meal around a theme. Maybe everything is Italian food. Maybe all the food is red (or has something red in it). Maybe all the foods are appetizer/finger foods. Maybe all the food is breakfast food! (That would add an extra upside down twist to things. 😂)
But again, I recommend choosing items that are easy to make/prep, can be done ahead of time, or can be bought ready-made from the store.
That being said, there are EIGHT spots for items on the menu. I don’t know about you… but I don’t often cook a meal with 8 foods included. (As in… I never do. 😂)
BUT, you don’t have to include only food items in your menu. Think outside the box!
Your menu could include items such as: 1) pizza, 2) salad, 3) salad dressing, 4) drink, 5) ice, 6) carrot sticks, 7) dessert, and 8) a fork. Ta-da! Eight items. And really, it’s just a dinner of pizza, salad, carrots, and a dessert.
Napkins also make a good menu item when you’re needing a stretch. 😉
So don’t make it more difficult than it needs to be. The night is all about having FUN and getting some good laughter in with the little people you love the most.
Helpful Hints for serving up the food
Organize Yourself
So y’all, it’s gonna get a wee bit hectic for the poor waiter (which is likely YOU) when it comes time to serve the food.
Depending upon how many people are at your fun little Cafe, you may have quite a bit of juggling to do in order to get everyone their silly menu items. That being said, it would be definitely be wise to organize yourself in advance so that you can minimize the chaos.
Set up a little ‘serving station’ for yourself (somewhere tucked away out of general sight) where you can have everything laid out. Then use the little ‘identifier cards’ included in the printable to mark what each menu item is.
For example, if your ‘Sugar Muffins’ are really salad dressing, then tape the ‘sugar muffin’ identifier card to the salad dressing. If the forks are ‘Sweet Peas’, then place the sweet pea card in front of the pile of forks.
That way when it’s time to serve someone some ‘Hugs & Kisses’ and ‘Baby Cake’, you don’t have to check the Key Code each time to see what that’s really supposed to be. You just find the identifier card and grab one of what it represents. Savvy?
Serve the Meal in Courses
It’s also a fun idea to serve the meal in ‘Courses’ (i.e. appetizers, main course, and dessert).
Not only does this give you a chance to stay on top of ‘all the things’, but it also enhances the silliness as people have to wait extra long for some of their items.
I recommend serving the first two items that people select (1 & 2) as their ‘Appetizer’. Then serve items 3-6 as the ‘Main Course’. And items 7 & 8 can be their dessert.
I don’t wait too long between courses, though. Usually 5 minutes or so. They’re often actually needing something that won’t come until the end (i.e. their fork 🤣) so I try to keep things moving along for the most part. lol.
Recruit Help
This activity would also be super fun to do with a large group. But if you’re going big, you also want to get help. Have several people in charge of serving to make the evening go smooth.
How to Use your “Cupid’s Crazy Cafe” Printable
After downloading your Cupid’s Crazy Cafe printable, you’ll want to print it out. The menu is found on pages 1 and 2, and should be printed front to back. (You get two menus per page.) Print enough menus so that every person has their own. (Reusable Tip: If you want to use these menus year after year, you can also laminate them and use dry erase markers.)
You only need to print one of the Key Code (page 3). This page is the ‘master key’ for the host and it de-mystifies what each menu item actually is.
And you only need one copy printed of page 4… the identified card page. We’ve already discussed what these do, but don’t underestimate their awesome power to save your sanity. You can thank me later. 😉
And that’s it, folks. The rest is in your hands to create a fun environment that will start the memories rolling for years to come.
I can already guarantee you that my kids will be hosting “Cupid’s CRAZY Cafe” for their own kids someday. It’s just become a treasured part of our family Valentine traditions that will be carried on and on.
Enjoy your memories, and have a Happy Valentine’s y’all!
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Great idea. It’s very creative.
Thanks Allison!:)
I just sent this to my sister. I know my niece will love this!
Awww, thanks Ashley! It’s definitely a lot of fun for the kiddos! 🙂
Love this! Such a cute idea, and so fun.
This is such a fun idea for Valentine’s Day. I will save and try next year when our kids are a bit older. Absolutely adorable!
Awesome Sarah! Ya, I think the silliness of it is a bit lost on the wee littles. I remember one time when my youngest was in tears because for his “dessert” he had ordered something like peas. He thought he wasn’t going to get a real dessert and was crushed. It took quite a bit of convincing for him to realize that peas weren’t his ACTUAL dessert.