$100 Olive Garden gift card giveaway!

Well, that got your attention, didn’t it? Do you love Olive Garden as much as we do? With 5 kids, we hardly ever go out to eat. It costs a small fortune, and honestly, it just makes more sense for us to stay at home and order pizza. When the opportunity came through BlogHer for us all to go to Olive Garden, we were super excited. My kids: “You mean a real restaurant?”

I love that Olive Garden is very family-friendly but nice enough to feel “special.”

What should we eat??

Thank goodness for fun children’s menus to keep little ones entertained while we’re waiting for the best part: salad and breadsticks!!

Another trick I learned from my skinny friends: when the meal comes, ask for a box right away. Divide your portion in half and put half in the box so you won’t be tempted to eat the whole gosh darn thing. I loved the feeling of being satisfied, not stuffed.

I’m gonna use that trick again! I ordered the Grilled Shrimp Caprese and loved it. My husband really liked his Chicken Scampi.

This isn't the school’s chocolate milk! They said it was like melted creamsicles :) I love restaurants that give kids cups with lids. Do you think it’s more for the moms or the clean-up staff? Probably both, huh?

The pizza was a big hit from the children’s menu and so was the ravioli.

We ALL had leftovers, so thank you, Olive Garden, for lunch on Saturday as well!

Do you know what I did though?? I was so good about setting half my dinner aside, and guess who forgot her box on the table?

I was so ready the next day; my mouth was watering for Shrimp Caprese, and I started opening all the boxes and was SO sad. Don’t forget your box on the table, even though your 3 year old is throwing a tantrum, and you're trying to quickly distract him out to the parking lot.

If this post made you hungry, then you should check out Olive Garden's new 3 Course Italian Dinner special. For $12.95 you get three courses, the first course is soup or salad, followed by a choice of one of five new entrees and the third course is one of five Dolcini desserts! Check out the details here.

What could be better than enjoying a dinner out? Enjoying it for free, of course! Olive Garden and BlogHer are giving one lucky reader a $100 Olive Garden gift card. To be entered for a chance to win, just make our mouth water and tell us: what is your favorite thing to eat at Olive Garden?

Good Luck!

Rules:

No duplicate comments.

This sweepstakes runs from 1/23/12 - 3/18/12.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a) Leave a comment (see question above in bold)

b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older.

Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.

You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

Also, visit the Olive Garden page on BlogHer.com to check out the other blogger reviews and more chances to win!