We love going to the cinema as a family and are often visitors at our local Cineworld, however, we can not always spare the time (or the budget) for a night out at the movies, so we have started to recreate the feeling at home.
First things first, choose a theme for your movie night. This tends to be dictated by what we are watching and can be anything from super heros‘ for X Men or Nature themed for when we watched Epic.
Do you want food during before or after the movie? Are you going to follow the theme for your food? We always have popcorn during our movie. We don’t often snack, so love snacking on movie night! There are loads of ways to perk up your popcorn and Pinterest is full of ideas for movie themed snacks.
Movie night doesn’t have to be expensive. I love using some of the fab, free printables available to make it super special. How cool are these free Frozen movie night tickets. The Crafty Chick’s have some great movie printables. I round up some great free movie printables over at A Thrifty Mum.
I also have made a free printable for my boys to review any movies we watch.
You know me, I love, love, love crafts. So any opportunity to craft I take it and I love getting creative with the boys and I look on pinterest for ideas, colouring pages and such which fit in with our movie. We also print tickets and will often make a poster advertising our movie night.
For us this can be as simple as putting all the cushions on the floor or bringing our blankets. But you could pop seats in the style of a cinema. I often pick up themed paper plates and accessories when I am out shopping to help make movie night a real event.
Wow, you are officially supermum! Watching movies in my household is not such an elaborate affair…it’s more a case of kids saying “can we watch a film?” and me saying “alright then”. That’s our preparation!!! Sounds like great fun at yours.
I’m so asking for your help with party planning! Love this. You clever thing
Wow! I love these ideas, can’t wait for Baby to be old enough to get cracking x
These ideas are all brilliant! Movie Nights must be so much fun in your house 🙂
Great ideas. And a great way to get kids a bit active before vegging out on the sofa!
What a great idea. We were watching movies outside when on holiday and it gave us ideas to spend more time doing it when we got back home.
Yep I’m in agreement that you’re super Mum. Although we’ve just been to the Kids am at our local Vue cinema to watch the Lego movie (for £1.75 each I think it was,) so my boys were very happy with that!
Ooh some fab ideas! we have had some great themed movie parties for my daughter over the years, tho these days it is a struggle to find a film the 3 kids will agree on, one of the down sides of having them so spread out I guess!
These are lovely ideas – would be great to do this and I think the kids would love it too. My son had a cinema party at our house a few years back and we did popcorn and hot dogs and it was really good fun, but we have never done it just for us!
Ethan still doesn’t seem quite ready for a specific movie night but I think that, once he starts school, I’d like to start introducing movie night as a more regular thing – I’ll definitely keep these tips in mind though, I think, some of those might be a bit too adventurous for me haha
I love these, and the educational element in them. Can’t wait to do things like this with my boys when they are older
We have movies night at home as well – so much cheaper than going to the flicks, which you generally need a small mortgage to do!
Love the printable movie review sheet – fab! x
What a brilliant idea, I love movie nights at home, though staying awake at times is an issue for me as I get too comfy and nod off x
You are really amazing, Jen! This is the best holiday idea I’ve come across. I’m going to do it myself. Thanks for the movie review printable, I’ve pinned it. Love the fact that it’s fun and economy, it’s awfully expensive to do a family movie night, I feel…and largely a waste for me, because I’m not a cinema person. Far too much fuss! 🙂
great ideas – we love having a movie night
I love your ideas, great for when Roo has a sleepover
As an English teacher – I’m very up for kids writing reviews! I also like the idea of making watching a film at home a special event. The weather has been so good that the expense of a cinema trip seems a bit too much, although KidsAM prices are good… and I probably want to take D to see Planes 2 soon.
These are great ideas. Kaycee loves making things like tickets and posters. When we have a spa night she always makes forms we have to fill in before we can have any treatments!
This sounds like a great idea to keep them occupied before during and after the movie!
Such a lovely idea to turn Movie night into a full blown affair! Gabby would absolutely love making it official although, she’d probably try and charge us for tickets!! Great rainy day activity 🙂 xxx
Can I come live at your house?
We love a good ‘ole movie night – plenty of popcorn, pillows and throws and we’re in it for the long haul 😉
What lovely ideas. I must admit we normally just plonk ourselves down on the sofa with a big bowl of popcorn, the lights dimmed low and a big blanket to snuggle under.
Wow, it sounds like you are ready for everything. I wish I was so organized. This would never happen in my house, I guess I am too much of a mess for all of this to come together neatly.
Ooh love this! We love getting the popcorn out to watch a family film, but will be trying these ideas as the girls get older, I’m sure we will all enjoy it! x
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