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The Independent
22-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Here's where kids can eat for free this May half-term
With May half-term just around the corner, you might be on the lookout for fun family activities. There are few things as special as a delicious meal with your family, but costs can quickly add up. That's why we've compiled a list of the restaurants, cafes and supermarkets where your kids can eat for free during the school holidays. However, we use the term 'free' with some caution. Most locations require you to purchase an adult meal in order to get your child's meal for free. With this in mind, we've also done some digging to find out how much an adult meal costs so you can estimate your total bill. Whether it's a coffee break in the middle of your weekly shop or a lunchtime pizza treat, we've found a range of cuisines and options that suit different budgets. Keep reading for our pick of the best kids eat free offers this May half-term. Free piccolo meal at Pizza Express If your kids love pizza and pasta, you can get a free piccolo meal (aka the restaurant's kids' menu) when you order any main course from the standard menu. The offer runs from Monday 26 May to Sunday 1 June and kids will get dough balls to start, a pizza, pasta or salad as a main, plus a dessert and bambinoccino. Keep in mind that if you're going as a group, you'll only get one free kids' meal per adult at the table. A classic margherita at a Pizza Express in London costs £12.25, so you won't need to spend too much to make the most of the offer. Free kids buffet at Pizza Hut Pizza Hut's lunchtime deal includes one free kids' buffet when you spend £10 at the restaurant. Using the code KEF when you book will secure you the freebie, which you can use from Friday 23 May to Monday 2 June, up until 3pm each day. Kids can choose from unlimited pizza, pasta and salad options and for an extra £2 (using the code MOREKEF when you book), they'll get a bottomless soft drink and ice cream included. Children up to 12 years old can get three courses from Prezzo's kids menu for free, with the purchase of one adult main meal from Monday 26 May to Sunday 1 June. Kids can tuck into a starter, main and dessert with fried mozzarella, carbonara, pepperoni pizza, and lots more. A kids' meal at the Italian restaurant chain usually costs around £8.50, so you can make a decent saving with this offer. An adult meal will cost you £15 upwards, depending on the location. Whether it's a stack of pancakes for breakfast or a bowl of creamy mac and cheese for lunch, children can tuck into a free meal at Bill's this half-term. Up to two kids can eat for free if one adult orders any main, so this beats most restaurants, which offer one free kids' meal per adult. The offer is valid all day from Monday 26 May to Friday 6 June, excluding weekends. Adults can get avocado on sourdough for around £11.25 or a Greek salad for £13.95, so you're looking at spending around £20 as a group of three, once you add on a service charge. Free meal at Côte Brasserie French-inspired cuisine might not be top of your child's list, but Côte Brasserie has options for little gourmands, such as steak frites or French onion soup, as well as classic comforts like tomato pasta bake and burgers. Parents have from Monday 26 May to Saturday 1 June to redeem the offer and need to spend at least £20 to get the free two-course kids' meal. 60p meal at Asda cafes Asda has lowered the price of its kids' cafe meal deal from £1 to 60p, and you won't need to buy an adult meal or spend a certain amount to use the offer. Kids can choose from pasta with meatballs, chicken nuggets, fish fingers or pizza, and they'll receive a free piece of fruit with their hot meal. The offer is running for the whole of May, so it can be used over most of the half-term. You can spend as little as 65p on a piece of fresh fruit at a Tesco cafe or coffee shop this half-term, and you'll be able to claim one free kids' meal worth up to £4 when you use your Clubcard. Breakfast options for little ones include pancakes and beans on toast, while the lunch menu has fish fingers, chicken goujons and tomato pasta shells with garlic bread. The offer is valid from Monday 26 May to Friday 30 May, so it's perfect timing for half-term. When you spend £5 or more on an adult's meal at a Morrisons cafe this half-term, you'll also get a free kids' meal. If your child is picky, they can build their own breakfast or main meal, and they'll get a drink included too. The offer is available every day, not just during half-term, and is for children aged 16 years or younger. Take a break from garden centre shopping this half-term with Dobbies's offer. Kids can get a meal for just £1 when you buy a traditional adult breakfast or main course lunch option, both of which start from around £9. Kids can choose from cooked breakfasts, jacket potatoes, fish fingers, pasta and more. Some Dobbies restaurants have soft play areas, so you can relax while they play. If you're jetting off from Heathrow Airport this May half-term, there are restaurants across the airport's terminals where kids eat for free. When you spend £14.95 or more on an adult meal at a participating restaurant, such as Leon or Giraffe, you'll get one free meal from the restaurant's children's menu. You can claim a maximum of four free kids' meals per table, and the offer can be used all through half-term from Monday 26 May to Monday 2 June.
Telegraph
08-05-2025
- General
- Telegraph
I let my children watch screens in restaurants – don't lecture me if you don't have kids
It's a bad look when a teenager is glued to a screen during a meal out with their parents. A pre-schooler watching Peppa Pig in a high chair at Pizza Express is hardly great parenting optics, either. I know this, and yet my children – 12, six and three – often end up watching a tablet or my phone when we go out to a restaurant. It's a quick and easy way of making them sit still and be quiet in a public setting – yet I don't get any brownie points from the other diners. Someone at a nearby table will inevitably tut or roll their eyes – screens in restaurants are a parenting red flag. For instance, at a pub in Somerset during the Easter holidays, a couple in their 60s became so offended by my youngest watching an episode of PAW Patrol on my phone that they walked over to our table and berated me for 'rotting his brain'. 'You should be making conversation with him,' the woman said, before adding, helpfully: 'We bring books and games when we go out with our grandchildren.' Good luck with that, I thought. We'd been on a long, cold, wet walk and the children were tired and hungry. Also, I was quite enjoying chatting to my husband and Gemma, my 12-year-old, so I didn't mind the others being temporarily occupied. When we go out for meals it tends to be as a family – babysitters are so expensive these days. Can't we have a few moments when we're not entertaining the younger ones? I feel the same when I take them out for lunch with a friend, particularly one who doesn't have children. If the kids are watching something, we can catch up in peace. I really don't see the harm. You could argue that it's good manners not to let your young children dominate the meal. I know, I know. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that children under two should have no screen time, while those aged two to four should have no more than an hour a day. To be clear, my children never have screens at mealtimes at home, and I'm not one of those mums who lets my toddler gawp at my phone in their buggy while stuffing their face with raisins. I also know that there's a time and a place for screens in restaurants; not every meal warrants them and you definitely need to give your child headphones if they're watching something or gaming. Nothing annoys my husband more than a child on a nearby table watching something at top volume – probably because he can't help tuning in. We caved in to screens as the last resort. First, you try to encourage the child to sit quietly, chat, look at the menu. Then you might try colouring – many restaurants and pubs provide crayons and paper, or you'll have brought your own kit. But as every parent knows, colouring only lasts for so long, and food can take an age to arrive – and then be too hot for little ones to eat. When faced with the choice of a child kicking off or one happily entertained by Octonauts, I know which I'd choose. Yes, it can be difficult to get the phone away from them once you've given in, but I find once they start eating, they're usually happy to focus on their food. And if they make a fuss, let's just say I pick my battles. My parents don't bat an eyelid that I hand out the digital nanny in restaurants. They get it. Children are full-on and it's not as if the other diners would tolerate them tearing around the tables. But I know that several of my parents' friends shudder at the thought of screens during a meal out. They're smug to be the last generation to parent without screens; the ones who successfully navigated restaurants and long-haul flights without the luxury of Peppa Pig. 'We just had to get on with it,' they shrug sanctimoniously. 'Children read books, played outside or had an actual conversation.' Sure, but during the late-1980s when I was growing up, I don't remember eating out in restaurants that much. It wasn't a thing like it is now, just as no one took their children on holidays to Dubai or the Maldives. On the handful of occasions when we did go to Happy Eater (remember that?) or the local pub, it felt like a novelty. My sisters and I would be sent to the playground outside, where there would invariably be a treehouse filled with fag butts and beer cans and some derelict swings. I reckon my children are safer watching something on an iPad at the table than I ever was unsupervised in the playground at the local pub, which was beside a busy main road and on the edge of a car park. Or sitting alone in the car, which was the other place my sisters and I were allowed to go when we were bored during a meal out. See? Eighties parenting was equally questionable. When I see frazzled parents desperately trying to entertain their children during Saturday lunch in The Ivy, their Aperol spritzes getting knocked over and food and broken crayons scattering the floor, I think: give them a screen or go home. Don't believe anyone who tells you that if you start letting your children watch screens in restaurants you'll set a habit for life. In my experience, as a child gets older – seven, eight, nine – they've been in school long enough to know how to sit quietly and listen to a boring adult conversation. I'm teaching my 12-year-old, Gemma, that she must use her phone like a grown-up, which means that being on it during a family meal out in a restaurant is rude. But if she's been making an effort to chat, I don't mind her picking up her phone for a while. Particularly if I'm busy talking to the adults. I honestly don't see why screens in restaurants have to be a parenting litmus test. All of you judging me, I challenge you to take a pre-schooler out for lunch without an iPad. It's exhausting. You will spend the meal cleaning up and skivvying around after them. They'll want to get down but where will they go? Enjoy walking round and round the restaurant with them. It's a waste of time and money – you may as well stay at home. We all love going out to a restaurant, though. When I ask my children what they want to do at the weekend, they'll always say 'go out for lunch'. I truly believe this is because my husband and I relax and let our hair down when we go out, which means everyone has a good time. If it takes an iPad to help the mood, so be it.
