Everyday after school my girls beg me for a playdate with a friend, more often than not I have to answer no. I’m not fantastic with last-minute decisions and they have gymnastics and judo two nights a week. This week I shocked them, when they asked for the proverbial playdate I threw a shocker out at them, I love when I have a chance to surprise them.
I had decided to take them to Tim Hortons!!
For those of you who aren’t from Canada, Tim Hortons is a well-loved coffee shop which has beautiful donuts, sandwiches, soups and other baked goods.
On our way out of the school parking lot I asked my friend if she and her daughters would like to join us, she agreed and off we went for our Tim Hortons playdate. The squeals in our car were hitting decibels which I couldn’t have taken for long, as I pulled in the parking lot I was grateful we had a short drive. Frankly at this point I was feeling brilliant, there was no traffic which is saying a lot because normally this is a very busy location. There are grocery and retail stores around this free-standing Timmies so it’s often difficult to get into. To give you a hit of the popularity of Tim Hortons, we live in a town of approx. 30K people and there are 6 locations!
In we went and immediately I went from wanting just a coffee (did I mention how much I adore their coffee?) to being extremely hungry! The store does a GREAT job at advertising the choices of delicious foods available to say the least, I am truly a Tim Hortons lover so displays such as these really hit home with me.
The girls took a long time to choose their donuts, I am always more patient about this choice because I can understand how difficult it is!
Coffee is something which I love, it’s an experience which I enjoy and being able to sit with a friend and chat with our children at a table behind us was a treat! I take mine with two milk and one sweetener in efforts to reduce my fat intake, believe me I’d rather full fat cream! I asked the server what kinds of sweetener they had and was surprised to find there were only 2 choices.
Usually when at a restaurant there are many brands to choose from, the one I noticed missing was Equal. I seem to see it everywhere else. My father is a diabetic and our family tries to stay away from aspartame and we buy more than one kind so that we can give people a choice when they visit. These sweeteners all have very different tastes, I was surprised that I didn’t have a choice at Tim’s. I looked for a comment card to let them in on my thinking but couldn’t see one, maybe I’ll get the chance another day, Equal is in Canada now so it would be nice to have more choices.
This playdate was the best we’d had in ages, the bagel and coffee were fantastic as was the chat I got to have with my wonderful friend. As for the children, well suffice it to say I’m certain they would jump at the opportunity for a Tim Horton’s mini playdate anytime!
If you’re looking for a low-stress, enjoyable playdate I suggest taking the kids to Tim Hortons for sure.
We will be back again next week!
**This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias #CBias @EqualCanada #EqualCanada but ALL of the opinions are strictly my own.**
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My girls would love a date at Timmy’s!! I never thought of that, but what a great idea!
Julie… try stevia. I get it at Whole Foods or my local co-op. Plant extract that tastes sweet and has zero calories. We’ve been using it in our tea for years (along with 2 percent milk)… You can even bake with stevia.
Nothin better than taking a bunch of kids out for a donut date. x/G
This is a fun idea! I never thought of having a ‘mini playdate’ at Tim Horton’s. I’ve tried Stevia myself and as much as I love that it is a natural alternative sweetener, I’m not so keen on the taste.
Hmm,… I suddenly have a craving for coffee…