by Katie Garrity

karli / TikTok

My husband and I always say that when our daughter gets older, we want to be that house. The house that all the kids want to hang out at. We’ll supply the snacks, drinks, and space. We want to get to know all of her friends. We want to make sure we’re privy to the happenings of her life. One woman on TikTok shared the way her high school friend’s mom did this back in the day, and it’s actually brilliant.

“When I was in high school, my friend’s mom used to do Treat Friday. So, every Friday she would make some kind of dessert. She put out a couple jugs of milk and after school, everybody would just pour into her house,” TikTok user Karli explains in her now-viral video.

“The whole front entry was full of shoes, and the whole house was just full of teenagers, and it was such a good way for that mom to get to know all of the people that her daughter went to school with and to be kind of “in the know” on what was going on at the high school, and we all got to have a great treat out of it.”

Sounds like a win-win for all involved!

To take it one step further, this mom went the extra mile and made a memento for every “regular” she had at her house on Friday afternoon.

“And we all got to have a great treat out of it. The last Treat Friday before graduation, her mom made these recipe books for all of the people that were regulars for everybody that was there every week. And I just recently found this again,” she said while showing the bound and laminated recipe booklet.

“This is just so special. Let me show you. There’s 45 recipes in here. It’s all of our favorites that we had throughout all those high school years. Anyway, it was just such a treasure and I was so excited to come across this again. There’s a lot of really good memories that we have there. And I think that that is a really cool tradition to make desserts for all the high school kids and make your home a gathering place for everybody to feel at home and to feel safe and get a yummy treat. And I just, I don’t know, I want to be like that someday.”

That’s what it’s all about, right? As parents, we want to create a welcoming, comfortable environment for our kids so that they want to be around and invite their friends along too! Spending time with our kids, eating desserts, and creating a safe space for others? Sign us all up for Treat Friday!