Every Friday night is family movie night chez nous. It is a great way to disconnect from work and school and karate classes — and connect together as a family. As somewhat of an expert in the field (because we have family movie night – every. single. week.), I am sharing my top Family Movie Night Tips…
Family Movie Night Tips
Family Movie Night Tip #1: Don’t let the kids always pick the movies. Yes I said it. If the kids picked the movies every week all we would see is cartoons or tween musicals (which are both fine cinematic genres…just not every week thank you very much). We switch it up. Sometimes it’s a documentary. Sometimes it is a concert. Sometimes it’s a blockbuster movie. And sometimes, it’s the beloved animated movie or tween musical.
Aside: read my suggestions for Kids Movies
Family Movie Tip #2: connect with each other – not with devices. No screens in front of screens is my house rule. So phones get turned off. Video games put aside. Tablets away with their chargers. Family movie night is about being together. Notice how my dd1 and ds are holding hands in the picture above? Because that’s what family movie night is all about. Being. Together.
Family Movie Tip #3: crazy dinner. So, chez moi, Fridays not only Family Movie Nights but crazy dinner nights. Crazy dinner night means Mom isn’t cooking. Kids are allowed to have whatever they want (but it has to be somewhat healthy). So breakfast for dinner (toasted bagel or cereal and milk). Cheese and crackers. Make your own sandwich. Fruit and/or yogurt with granola. And then, after the crazy dinner is done…we dig into some popcorn in front of a movie.
Hamilton Beach Kettle Style Popcorn Popper
Whether it’s a date night in or a movie-watching party with friends and family, this popper delivers. Hot and delicious theater-style popcorn can be prepared and served right in the same bowl for parties or entertaining. Measure your oil and kernels into the popping chamber and turn it on. When the popping slows down to two seconds between pops, your popcorn is ready to eat. Pop any amount between 6 and 24 cups per batch.
Available at: Federated Co-operatives Limited and True Value Hardware
#HBGetPopping
These are all great tips. Sometimes you have to pick the movie. Forcing them to watch something that doesn’t have Nickelodeon in the title is a great way to broaden their horizons.
Those are all such great tips. We love having family movie nights in our house.
These are really great tips. We like to do a family movie night on Saturdays. Popcorn and candy is a must.
We do movie & game nights every Friday and it has brought us so much closer together! But I never thought of making a crazy dinner along with it, that’s such an awesome idea! I would love to do a find-your-own-dinner night, but I’ve tried and they just don’t fly around here lol. Thanks for the awesome tips!
Great tips! We love our movie nights we try to do family movie nights weekly! We don’t do anything special just treats and movie while snuggling on a blankie
We always look forward to our family movie night and we take turns on who chooses the movie. Popcorn is definitely a must have!
Last year, our family movie night is during Friday and our favorite snack is popcorn as well. i have to revive the movie night again this year, thanks for reminding me.
I have such an addiction to popcorn, it’s been a while since I have had any!
Someone gave me that Hamilton popcorn maker! Need that for all the family movie nights!
I received the Hamilton Beach Kettle Style Popcorn Popper a few months ago and still have not used it. It’s so hard to get everyone together for a movie night, but I’m determined to do it this week.
I love the no screens in front of screens rule. We don’t have family movie night often but I really enjoy family dinners (with no electronics).
We do movie night twice a month and alternate board game night in between them. Pretty much the same rules though, screens off, easy/snacky dinner and the rest. It’s a really great thing for the family and it’s encouraging to me that we aren’t the only ones that do it, because sometimes it seems like it.
Popcorn is a HUGE favorite, I have been making it on a stove top since I was a little kid, but have often thought of getting a popper.
I love love love movie nights. It’s a favorite family thing in our house. We still do movie nights even if my brother and I are no longer kids. We sometimes call it couch potato days coz we’d just stay home all day and Mom cooks all the stuff that we like.
I agree with not letting the kids pick the movies, lol. Although that will change when they’re older like in our home. Mom doesn’t get to pick the movies but she watches anything that my brother and I pick. On some days we’d have NBA mornings. Popcorn is pretty much a staple during movie nights and NBA mornings.
When we do movie night we have a rotation of who picks the movie. And there’s also a no complaining rule in place. Popcorn is a must, as is cheese and crackers.
We used to have family movie night once a week when the kids were younger. Now that they are teenagers we do it once a month. These are great movie night tips.
I love tip #1. If I let my toddler pick the movie, we’ll constantly be watching Frozen and Ice Age. Oh wait…. we do! 😉 Have you tried taking the family to a drive-in movie? That seems like it would also be a fun experience.
My 7 are all adults now so I can watch a movie and any movie whenever I like which is nice. I like the look of the Popcorn Popper, a shame I don’t like popcorn – my grandchildren all love it though.
This is a great list of tips when it comes to Family Movie Night. I like the one where you don’t always let the kids pick the movies – lol 🙂
We make a lot of popcorn in our house. I will have to take a look at the Hamilton Beach Kettle Style Popcorn Popper.
We love movie night. We try to have one at least once a week.
I love having a movie night with my oldest. He always enjoys picking out the movie and having a bit of popcorn with mom!
We do movie nights all the time in our house. I’m going to try the Crazy Dinner idea next time though and see what the kids all pick out.
We really need to do a family movie night. I like your idea of a crazy dinner too!
we love movie Nights at our house we have a choice of either kids movies ,action comedies ,or Horror movie the kids always pick the Horror movies and when they do that I always scare them lol just so they don’t pick them again tha’t’s the fun of it we have different snacks each time but if we didn’t have movie’s I think we would be bored! but make time to spend with your kids and have different kinds of movie for everybody to enjoy you would be surprised the fun you can have with your kids!