USA - It's that easy to make children happy: When Alex MacLaren realized that her offspring loved nothing more than ordering from one of her favourite restaurants, the young woman got inventive.

In a video she has since posted on her TikTok account , the mother-of-three calls her darlings to dinner, on the premise that she has had something delivered.

The dwarves immediately come running and start gleefully pouncing on the food.

What they don't know at the time: MacLaren has actually cooked all the food herself. To fool her children, she had packed the food in boxes and stowed them in paper bags.

And lo and behold, the little ones didn't notice their mother's deception and even began to rave to her about how good it tasted.

MacLaren couldn't help but grin mischievously.

In an interview with Newsweek, she finally explained that her children are not very picky when it comes to food. However, they are always very happy when they can order something from the delivery service - and that can get really expensive in the long run.

So without further ado, MacLaren tried her trick - and with complete success.

"I'm honestly shocked that they didn't notice. Especially because I've already cooked this exact dish a few times," the young woman smiled in the interview.

However, MacLaren doubts whether the fake deliveries will now become a habit in the family.

"As at least one of my children is always at home with me, I don't know how often I'll be able to fake a take-out meal without them noticing," she admitted. "But I will definitely try again."