With movie theaters still not being close to opening, now is the time when family movie nights at home are the only option, especially if you live in the city. We are big on movie nights but as a mom of 2 I have to make sure that movie nights are fun for the entire family. 

Today I'm sharing with you some of the things that I'm currently doing to make our movie nights at home more fun and memorable.

Printables:

Printables are always fun and a big hit, especially with kids. Depending on the movie that you are watching. You can search online for some coloring pages, word searches and other fun activity sheets that you can print right at home. I love printing activity sheets and having baby girl do a couple while we wait for the movie to begin. It helps build the excitement. One of my favorite activity sheets, that I make online, is having a sort of bing card, where they stamp every time they see an object from their card in the movie. The first one who screams the movie name instead of Bingo, gets an extra snack.

If you don't have a printer or prefer not print out any activities, why not play a game. We have been loving Popcorn Poppin from Yulu. It's a sort of pass the potato game, instead it's pass the bucket of popcorn and making sure the popcorn doesn't pop in your hand. It's a little bit of a rush and little kids might not like it that much, baby girl has her moments of being scared. As for my teen son, he has loved watching popcorn spill all over our face, that is until it pops in his face. Popcorn Poppin, is the perfect game for movie night.

Snacks:

This is hands down a favorite, and a must. Watching movies are always better while enjoying a yummy treat. For us popcorn is a must, and with it being almost always sold out when I place an Amazon order, it proves that popcorn is an all time favorite snack and not only when watching movies. For movie night, our snacks always consists of a mix of vegetables, fruit, candy and some popcorn. A sort of fun snack bar, a little bit for everyone. Carrots are always a hot as well as grapes. For sweets we will go with m&m's, which are also great for pouring in your tub of popcorn. We also have dummies, and gold fish. For the main star popcorn, whether it's plain or with extra butter. Our favorite is always a nice mix of salty and butter, not to much. For drinks some juice boxes and water. There you will have a fun variety of healthy and yummy.

Set Up:

We are big on movie nights, but with movie theaters being closed and movie nights happening solely at home, it can be tricky to make it different and special for little ones, especially if you want them to feel somewhat normal. That's where set up comes in. Tents are fun, but they'd have to be really big to fit all 6 of us. Instead why not grab some sleeping bags or blankets, and sprawl them on the living room floor, dim the light and ask google to play a fireplace while you watch a movie. This set up is also great for when the kids are asleep, and you want to watch a movie with your partner.

Choosing The Movie:

With so many people at home during movie night, choosing the right movie that everyone can enjoy can be a little hard. Especially when you have a teen son and 6 year old, I'm lucky that my teen son still enjoys watching Disney movies with us, but can anyone truly say no to a Disney movie?!

A great way to choose a movie without having any fights, is grabbing a slip with a movie title from a little bucket. In our house everyone gets to pick one family friendly movie and write it on piece of paper, we then toss the papers in a little bucket and someone takes out a paper and the movie title on the slip is the movie we watch. The rest of the slips stay put in the bucket, unless the person who's movie didn't get picked decides to switch the movie on the piece of paper, to another title. When all pieces of paper have been picked we start again. That way no one gets mad that their movie is never picked.

Putting All Electronics Away:

This was a little bit hard in the beginning, especially as a content creator. We tend to take pictures of everything and try to post right away. I still take a picture here or there, but make sure to not post anything until after the movie is done and we talk a little bit more. Checking out is good, living in the moment is a must. Yes, taking pictures to remember is important but so is living in the moment!

Movie nights at home don't need to cost an arm and a leg, all you need is a little imagination and your family will appreciate it and treasure these special moments.

What is something that you include in your family movie nights?

Love,

Kary xoxo