A Dinner date on the Beach for the little ones

We have a summer house that is located 2 miles from the beach. We have been to the beach about 4 times this summer. Yes, that's all. Why you ask? Because it's a schlep! There is so much to bring and lugging bags, chairs, umbrellas, etc. through the sand is NOT easy! I've tried and tried to come up with ways to limit the amount of items that I bring...and for starters, I cut down on the number of people that I go to the beach with. Less people, less stuff. It works! One of my favorite beach trips this summer was with these two little ones, Harlow + Luke. We decided to take them on a sunset run to the beach for a dinner date one night. Sounds totally dicey doesn't it? Well it was GREAT. Until "Sammy the Seagull" stole our food...but I'm not even going to get into that. Let me just tell you how we made this easy on ourselves... Here's a recap of how and what we packed: To eat: Had to think like a toddler...what do they like to eat? I packed: chicken cutlets cut into strips so they could easily eat with their hands, corn on the cob and watermelon. How to serve: Paper plates (shaped like watermelons of course). What to drink: Water. Let's not get crazy here. Mini bottles of water - easy does it. How to pack it all: In a watermelon cooler bag. Obviously. What are we sitting on? A plaid beach blanket of course. Who wants to lug the chairs? Not me! The toys! I almost forgot the toys. I put the kids in charge of packing the toys that they wanted. They each grabbed a beach shovel, couple of pails and couldn't have been more content digging up sand, looking for seashells and chasing the water. The kids were relaxed and playing footsies. Not sure how I feel about that but I do know it was a perfect beach date.