As parents, we all understand the importance of quality time with our children. Family movie night has been our family ritual of quality time together for the last year. We usually have pizza, breadsticks, popcorn, and a treat like ice cream, shaved ice, or cotton candy while watching a movie… Usually a Disney Movie.
The thing is, it gets old having the same thing over and over every Friday. Now we are taking it up a notch and turning our mundane meals into a culinary adventure that complements the movie of the night.
It doesn’t have to be overly complicated, only as complicated as you want to make it.
Simple Idea
Most people start here, having a rotating list of ideas and just change it up every week. For instance, this week is Pizza, next week is pasta, the following week is nacho’s, or tacos, so on and so forth.
This is a great option as a last minute idea. If you go this route it‘s a great idea to give it a cool name and change it up so it’s more than just a plain meal.
Most of my ideas revolve around animated movies because my kids are younger and we love Disney movies, but these ideas can work for other movies too.
This last week we had pasta with soup, salad, and breadsticks…. Yes, we got Olive Garden and we decided it was a Lady in the Tramp kinda night.
It’s not a crazy out of this world idea and it doesn’t have to be, that’s what’s great about it.
However, unless it’s last minute, I don’t care to do it this way because it’s not exciting enough.
Themed Movie Nights
Using the movie and creating a theme to follow along with is the fun way to go. It makes it more than just a meal, it makes it an experience.
The best part is it can be as simple or as complicated as you want. You don’t have to be a good cook to make these kinds of dishes. Trust me, I stink at cooking but I can make most of these ideas.
A best way to make this easy is do a little bit each movie night to gradually get in to doing a full meal. Maybe it’s starting with a movie night snack, finger food, a drink, or simply going for an easy recipe that you can morph to be a movie-themed dinner.
For instance these BBQ Chicken Nacho’s can be Neverland nachos and watch Peter Pan.
In addition to this being fun for everyone, if you have a picky eater this is also great to try. If you theme it to their favorite movie you’ll have a better chance of them eating what you serve.
How To Theme
In my house we usually go through our list of favorite Disney movies and pick one to theme our meal around.
For instance, if we are making a theme around Lion King we can make:
- Pumba’s Pizza Rolls
- Timon’s “Taste Like Chicken” Fingers.
For dessert we can chose between:
- “Slimy Yet Satisfying” Which is gummy worms in a pudding cup and crushed Oreo’s for dirt on top or simply gummy worms in Jello.
- The Circle of Life Ice-Cream or should I say Circle of Life-Cream
- Rafiki’s Monkey Bread – The fruit Rafiki breaks open in the movie is called Baobab and also known as Monkey Bread. But you can make the traditional monkey bread.
Lastly, you need a good drink:
- Simba Sunrise Spritzer. A mix of grenadine, orange juice, and sprite.
Meal Ideas
If you want some ideas for meals that are fairly easy and want to choose the movie based on the meal instead of trying to figure out the meal after picking the movie. Which is what we did the first time and probably a few more time until we get the routine nailed down.
Main course
Regular Nacho’s
Here you can go with the traditional nacho’s with:
- Tortilla chips
- Meat (Chicken or ground beef)
- Salsa
- Sour cream
- Guacamole
- Cheese
Other Quick Options
- Pizza – Pizza is a classic, sometimes over done in our house, but a classic none-the-less. If you make these at home you can easily theme it to almost whatever you choose. You can make it a DIY homemade pizza and let everyone do their own toppings.
- Hot dogs – What is good about hot dogs is it’s easy, and if you are watching anything with goofy just call them goofy dogs and there you go. I will suggest not to put peanut butter on it like he does but hey who knows.
- Wings – Wings can take a little time. I have an instant pot so it helps having the pressure cooker but what I like is you can make them as spicy or mild as you like. We usually put little to no spice for the kids and do a spicy buffalo dry rub for us. This is where an instant pot can come in super handy. it can cook them up quick.
- Quesadilla – These are easy to make when you want to get the kids involved with cooking.
Dessert
Treats you can find in the theater is a good start.
- M&M’s
- Reeces Pieces
- Kit Kat
- Ice Cream Bars
- Cotton Candy
Movies Great For Themes
Some family-friendly movies that are easy to theme your dinner around are:
Toy Story
- Woody’s Chili Fries
- Mr. Potato Chips
- Pizza planet Pizza
- Bo Peep gyros- I know kinda sick but gyros are so good.
- Alien Jello Cups
- Zerg’s Galaxy Takeover- You can make this by mixing Blue Matcha Powder and lemonade.
Beauty & The Beast
- Beast Burgers
- Pizza Roll Roses
- Rose Lemonade (Pink Lemonade)
- Boulangerie’s Baguette. Boulangerie is the name of the baker in the movie. In a pinch you can go with Fresh Rolls or Hawaiian rolls. However, a baguette is better.
- Green beans- she read a book about a bean stock and a ogre
- Lumiers Linguine or Lasagna
- Cogsworth’s Crème Brûlée or if you want to go easier do a croissant, we like the ones from Costco, and split it down the side and put Nutella and sliced strawberries in it.
- Enchanted Rose Mocktail
Princess & The Frog
If you’re looking for comfort food there is no better movie to pair it with then the Princess and The Frog.
- Mama Odie’s Fried Fish
- Louis Gumbo
- Tiana’s Beignets
- Shadow Elixir Mocktail
- The Light of Ray or Light of Evangeline- Fruit punch with light up ice cubes
Lilo & Stitch or Moana
Looking for an island theme, Lilo & Stitch or Moana
- Hawaiian Pizza
- Poke Bowl
- Pineapple Skewers/ Fresh Fruit Skewers
- Mahi Mahi Tacos With Mango Salsa
Other Movies
If your kids are older or your family is not into the traditional animated movies. Some other movies that may be fun to have dinner with while watching:
- Home Alone – Here you could get away with microwave dinner lol.
- Harry Potter – This could be a whole movie marathon where each movie is a new fun meal.
- Charlie & the Chocolate Factory- I mean everything can be chocolate themed what could be bad about that.
- Jumanji- The is a good opportunity for some red meat.
- Avatar- Have fun with colors and lights.
Extra Details
So you choose a meal and you choose a movie, you could go above and beyond, if you have the kind of time, with these things to make or buy.
Movie Tickets
Make, or have the kids make, a movie ticket stub with the movie choice, who choose it, and the meal.
That way they can keep them and make a book for them to store them. It’ll be a nice reminder of all the fun family movies as well as a way to track what movies have been chosen and by who.
If you want to take it up another level, put them in unmarked envelopes with a meal plan and make it a surprise choice each week.
Classic Popcorn Bucket
Popcorn is a must have regardless of what your other meal plans are. So, here we have this Classic Movie Popcorn Container to add to the theater feel. We have these just in different colors so each kids has their own.
Theater Snack Boxes
You can get 48 of these for under $20. These can be helpful if you have an outdoor movie night. If you are not into throw away boxes you can get these from places like Target, Walmart, and craft stores. We have 3 of these and love them because they can carry them and they can securely hold a cup, the popcorn bucket, candy, or other food choices.
Edible Luster Dust or Glitter
This gives your drink a pearlescent swirl. Imagine the galaxy style drinks you could make for the kids. Of course you and your spouse can make some awesome drinks after they go to bed.
I hope this list of family movie night ideas is helpful in making your fun family movie night a success. A good film is a great way to make family time special for the entire family. How about you? Do you have a family movie ritual?
If you have a movie you’ve been wanting to do this with but are stuck on what meal ideas to pair it with, I’d love to help.
