Our Good Luck dinner

Two years ago on leap day, my sister gave me a call. She said she had been trying to think of something fun to do for leap day dinner, but had not been able to come up with anything. She even checked the internet and couldn't find a great idea. She said she knew I must have come up with an exciting idea she could borrow. I was flattered she thought so, but unfortunately, that was not the case. So very quickly, I started to brainstorm and out came an idea that both of us tried (with great success) on leap day.

First, I have to say that it was inspired by my friend, Jana, (thanks Jana!) and something hilarious she does with her family when dinner is leftovers. It involves a dice and I laughed a lot when I read her idea. And although she inspired this good idea, I changed it quite a bit to fit with our leap day dinner. And after doing it once, we changed my original idea even more to work that much better. And it was decided we loved it so much, we couldn't wait for four years before we could do it again.

And our annual St. Patrick's Day Good Luck Dinner was born.

Here are the details:

First, I asked the kids to decorated 24 paper lunch bags with a St. Patrick's Day theme.

Next, you either make or buy one main dish item for each member of your family, one side dish item for each member of your family, one drink for each member of the family and one dessert for each member of the family.  (Hence the reason we needed 24 bags the first year we tried it. Six people that ate regular food in our family, times four food items per person. This year we will need 28 bags.)  

Then the fun starts.

I put each of the main dish items in a lunch bag, fold it over and staple it.  Then I do the same with the remaining individual food items. (Note: make sure and keep the categories of food together and separated from the other categories or there will be confusion later.)

When everything is bagged up and closed, invite the family in.

And grab a dice.

Each member of the family rolls the dice to determine who will go first, second, third, etc.  If two people tie, they have a spin off to determine which one goes before the other when their turn arrives.  When you have the order, put the six (or whatever number you have in your family) main dishes on the table.  

Now, anyone played the white elephant game?  Same rules.

For those that have not...

The first person gets to choose any bag they want. They open it up and everyone gets to be excited and/or jealous of their sandwich or burrito or something more fancy if you have more time. Their turn is over. The person that is second now gets a turn. They have two options. They can pick a new lunch bag and open it up to have for their own, or they can take the first person's meal if they really want that for dinner. If they take away the first person's meal, the first person gets to pick another bag and open it up for all to see. And it continues this way until the last person gets their turn.  Obviously, being last is usually the best because you can take a food item from anyone else in the group or pick the last bag and open it up.  

When everyone has a main dish, time to move on to the side dishes. But first, you have to roll the dice again to get a new order, because who wants to go in the same order four times? Repeat with the drink and the dessert (although, we waited until everyone had eaten their main meal before we had the dessert round).

Honestly friends, it was fun. Really fun! I have to credit my husband with the great idea of running it like a white elephant or ornament exchange. We originally just used to dice to spin for our meal and it wasn't nearly as exciting and hilarious.

(Another note: While there may be times that this would be funny with crazy food that not everyone would love, I didn't figure this was the time. I only bought things that each family member would be happy with and feel excited to eat. After all, this is a Good Luck Dinner.)

So, if you have a little extra time on your hands, give it a try this coming St. Patrick's' Day (or the night before as we will be doing, since St. Patrick's Day falls on Sunday and we don't shop on Sunday).  I tell you, my kids still can't quit talking about it.

I'd love to know if you have any questions or thoughts or need any clarification. Or...if you give it a try and want to share how it worked, that would be fabulous!  And for those that think they have to make four or five or eight different meals to make it work, not true. Go to your favorite sandwich shop or fast food restaurant or grocery store and get creative. That is a big part of the fun, having something you wouldn't normally eat most other day of the year.

Okay, friends, good luck on your own Good Luck Dinner. May it be fun, fabulous, hilarious and delicious!