Jennifer Garner Served Her Kids Burgers In The Car To Curb Quarantine Boredom

Keeping kids busy and entertained during quarantine hasn’t been the easiest task, but one celeb mom has handled the boredom in her home with a fun and creative idea. In a recent interview with People, Jennifer Garner talked about hosting restaurant nights for her kids during the pandemic to make it feel like they were having a night out on the town.

In an effort to have a little fun during quarantine, Garner has been putting in some serious hours for her three kids — 15-year-old daughter Violet, 12-year-old daughter Seraphina, and 9-year-old son Sam — who she shares with ex-husband Ben Affleck. She started out making silly videos with her kids, but as she told People, “they got tired of” them pretty quickly. Still, she persevered in trying to create “adventures where there are none” for her kids, all of whom were learning remotely after the coronavirus pandemic hit last year.

Eventually she landed on a great idea: hosting themed restaurant nights. And boy did she ever lean into this idea with aplomb. “First I was the American hostess and then I was the French waiter. And I kept changing clothes like Mrs. Doubtfire,” she told the magazine. “We did a beach shack and a deli in New York. We did one roller-rink restaurant where the kids were in the car and I bought the little trays that hooked onto the windows and made burgers. You just want to have a night of fun every now and then."

Garner isn’t the only celeb parent who has been trying to recreate that oh-so-specific restaurant vibe in the safety of their own home for their family. Neil Patrick Harris told Romper in a January interview that he and his husband have had a “themed night for dinner” for their kids “to differentiate the days so that they don't all wind up blurring together."

It’s not just celebs; one family working from home in the mountains of Georgia built a restaurant booth in their house to still make memories together. “We wanted to create the same kind of atmosphere where both girls can hang out and we can eat together as a family,” mom of two Lucy Small told Romper.

As for Garner, she has been doing her best to find ways to bond with her kids during the pandemic. Whether she is watching an episode a day of The Office (and crying her eyes out over the finale), or even sharing her fears about how “depressing” COVID-19 might be for her kids, the one constant has been that she’s there for them. Preferably in roller skates, serving them burgers in the car like an old-timey diner. This idea is genius.