Family Activity Idea: Make movie night special!

For most families, pizza & a movie is a popular go-to for weekly fun...

With a few tweaks you can turn your regular movie night into the event of the month!

With summer upon us (and the kids all out of school), it can be difficult to keep coming up with fun activities that the whole family can enjoy. Instead of spending money on expensive destinations or new toys, recreate your usual activities to make them seem like an amazing event instead of a typical evening.

Read through the suggestions below to see our simple ideas for recreating movie night.

Create a "buzz" for your movie night:

Get your family excited about watching a movie together by posting fun reminders around the house in the days leading up to your family night. Older kids will enjoy comical posters made to look as if you're having a premiere right in your home. Younger children will be thrilled to find construction paper cut-outs in shapes that are in theme with the movie (for example, paw-prints heading towards the TV for a movie about bears).

Plan a menu that goes along with the movie:

Are you watching a film about creatures from another world? Mix up your recipes to give foods an "alien" twist. Are you watching a movie like Ratatouille? Feature foods that were in the film - fresh baked bread, a fun soup, and (of course) ratatouille. Before you watch the movie, sit down to eat together as a family.

Get in character:

While older children probably won't want to dress up unless they can be something "cool" like a vampire or a werewolf... younger children almost always love to get into costume! Face paints, hats, outfits, and even hairstyles can all be used to get into the theme of the movie.

If you don't have costumes readily available, consider making masks, beaks, animal noses and more out of construction paper. A simple strand of yarn works well to hold it all in place.

Mom & dad should get in on the fun too! Kids love it when they feel like their parents are enjoying the movie as much as they are.

My little "cowboys" dressed up like Jedediah from Night at the Museum!

Grab a healthy snack to share:

As often happens, your family will probably get hungry during the course of watching the movie. (I know it doesn't matter in my family WHEN we eat - watching a movie always makes us hungry!) We were recently sent some popcorn from G.H. Cretors to try in exchange for our opinion, so we made that our snack for this month's special movie night.

I'm a big fan of popcorn, especially the cheese-flavored kinds! I don't eat a lot of popcorn though because I know that most commercial popcorn is made using genetically modified corn. (Not my idea of healthy eating!) I was excited when I saw that some of the popcorn we were sent was organic and all of it was GMO-free!

I thought this was the most awesome popcorn ever... then I tasted the caramel corn... Taste-bud bliss.

In addition to being GMO-free (love it!), the G.H. Cretors popcorn is also kosher & gluten-free! The Cretors family has been making popcorn for five generations using all-natural ingredients, and it's no surprise that they've been in business for so long - I will be buying it for my family from now on. The real wonder is how I've never managed to get my hands on some of this in the first place! (Seriously, this popcorn is THAT good. As I type this I'm munching on the caramel corn and making my keyboard sticky, but it is so worth it.)

The popcorn (all of it) was delicious. I really believe that quality ingredients are what make good products really great, and it was definitely true for this popcorn. The "Chicago Mix" popcorn ended up being my favorite (it's caramel corn mixed with cheddar cheese popcorn). I'd never heard of this kind of popcorn mix before, and I couldn't believe how well the flavors went together! As a matter of fact, my kids loved it so much they tried to eat the entire bag in one sitting! (And I'm sure they WOULD have if I hadn't stopped them by eating the rest of it for them. Oh the sacrifices I make!)

Read through to the bottom of the post to find out where you can get some of this awesome popcorn for yourself!

This box of popcorn disappeared fast!

Make clean-up easy:

At the end of a fun family night, the last thing you want is a big mess for poor mom to clean up all by herself. Make sure everyone knows ahead of time that each person will be responsible for taking care of his or her own dishes, trash, toys, etc., so that the bulk of the chores doesn't fall on any one person.

Connect:

Want to know more about the popcorn from G.H. Cretors? You can visit them at www.ghcretors.com. Or connect with them via social media on Pinterest or Instagram for deals, info, ideas & more! Use the store locator HERE to find G.H. Cretors popcorn at a store near you!

Do you have a weekly family tradition? What's your favorite thing to do together?

Chat with me in the comments below, I love hearing from my readers!

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