On September 15th, 2018, my world was flipped upside down with the birth of Colin. We were both overjoyed and overwhelmed with his presence in our lives and starting this new journey of parenthood. Leaving the house, though difficult as it was with an infant, became a necessary part of keeping my sanity. I made the effort to get out the front door at least once a day, even if I just walked around the block. Soon, I expanded my ventures to visit local coffee shops and enjoyed talking briefly to the baristas, but I missed our regular afternoon happy hour gatherings with friends. As the first couple in our local friend group to have a kid, Dave and I quickly realized we didn’t know where we could take Colin and so the “let’s get a drink at X” texts were met with “check if they allow kids and maybe I’ll join next time.” In an effort to overcome this, I knew I had to create a list of go-to places to suggest.
As a brewery owner, I’ve spent a lot of time working with liquor licensing in Washington and figured I could find the information in their databases based on license types. But as I looked into it further, I realized that there is no simple way to look up where kids are allowed and where they aren’t. It turned out the “easiest” way for me to find the information was to go door-to-door, so that’s what I did. I took Colin on stroller walks around the city looking for No Minors signs or asking staff if kids were allowed, making a list in a little notepad that fit in my pocket.
For fun, I created the Instagram account @ColinsList with pictures of Colin next to my drink. The joy of visiting new places with Colin and the fun of taking pictures helped overcome the exhausting process of leaving the house with a baby. Colin’s List kept growing and I eventually entered the information into a GoogleDoc, sorted by neighborhoods, so that I could pull it up on my phone. With how complicated our state liquor laws are, I knew other new parents would experience the same frustrations and this information would be helpful. I decided to throw some money at this hobby project and turn it into a searchable website database to help other parents in Seattle. I hope you find this to be a helpful resource.
So go forth, venture out of your house with your kid, find a place on Colin’s List, and enjoy a drink!
~ Haley (Colin’s mom)
