Sitting down to a dinner with the entire family is a great way to stay connected with your children (and also a way for siblings to keep in touch with each other). There are a few strategies that I follow with my three children to keep things fun and stress free:

Stop the short order cook syndrome. It might have been easy to acquiesce to a picky eater with one child, but once they get older or you add more kids to the mix, you are setting yourself up for many an evening spent on too much preparing and not enough enjoying dinner. Make one dinner (maybe allow for slight variations like a red and a white sauce served with the pasta) and serve it all at once to all family members. Everyone may not like everything, but they can just eat more of a different course to fill up.

Keep it positive. We used to do the ‘Best/Worst’ game where we all said the best and worst parts of our day, but I found that we spend a lot of time complaining and not focusing on the positive. Who wants to sit around the dinner table and listen to how awful everyone’s day was? Not me.

Get some conversation starters. There are many different variations like cards or books, but the premise is to ask an interesting question which will get conversation flowing. We have a variety of these in our house and our daughters love them, we actually end up at the table long after dinner ends once we bring them out. There are a variety of question you can find online as well just by searching for ‘Family Conversation Starters’. There is a great document here.

If it is entirely impossible to eat dinner as a family due to activities/work/school functions, then gather everyone to eat breakfast together.

It is proven that children who eat together as a family eat healthier, are less likely to be overweight, less likely to use drugs and alcohol and do better in school. It is just a great habit to start now that will keep your family close and create memories to last a lifetime.

MomActive is budget conscious and loves a good deal. When I was asked if our readers would be interested in hearing about how to put together a meal from Save A Lot for under $20 I immediately though “absolutely!  If your family is watching budgets as closely as mine is, you’ll be pleased to know that your holiday meal doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg!

Take a look at what $19.31 would get you at Save A Lot:

9 lb Sugardale Shank Portion Ham

2 Lbs Fresh Jumbo Sweet Potatoes

Fresh Express Garden Salad Mix

16 ounce bottle Portman’s Salad Dressing

2 Cans Wylwood Canned Vegetables (corn, peas or green beans)

20 ounce can of Libby’s Pineapple

So-Cheezy Shells and Cheddar

Grissom’s Brown & Serve Rolls

Mrs. Smith’s Apple or Cherry Pie

(** we recognize that there are a few choices on here that MomActive wouldn’t ordinarily recommend but it’s a holiday and we’re splurging a bit!)

Two lucky readers will win a complete holiday dinner from Save A Lot!  For those who don’t win, Save A Lot has offered a coupon for $5 off your next purchase of $20 or more.  With this savings the above meal could be purchased for under $15.

click this image to print your $5 coupon!

TWO MomActive readers will win a $20 gift card from Save A Lot to cover the cost of their holiday dinner!  Winners will be announced on Friday 12/18/09

To Enter (please leave a comment for each entry):

1. Leave a comment and tell us how you plan to spend your holidays

2. Subscribe to MomActive blog feed HERE

3. Fan MomActive on Facebook HERE

4. Sign up for the MomActive Forum HERE and introduce yourself!

5. Follow @momactive on Twitter and Tweet about this giveaway

Dinner is on us!  Enter to win a Free Holiday Dinner #momactive http://bit.ly/7Ub0NJ