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Movie Night Ideas at Home For Kids and the Whole Family

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you click on a link and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you! I never endorse products/services that I don’t personally use and/or trust. You can view my full disclosure policy for details.

If the pandemic has done nothing else, we’ve definitely learned to think outside the box.  No more family nights out at a favorite restaurant, no more movie dates… at least for now.

Right before the pandemic really hit, we were planning to go see Trolls in the theatre. My son loves the Trolls movies.

Unfortunately, we didn’t make it, but Trolls was available at a cinema rate to stream it, so my husband and I made a plan. We had a surprise movie night for my son. It was a total surprise and I want to share with you what we did to make it special in case you want to do something similar!

How to Have a Family Movie Night at Home

Decide on a Family Friendly Movie for Your Movie Night

We knew we wanted to watch Trolls: World Tour. It was a bit more pricy, as it is still cinema rate at this time to stream it because it would still be in theatres.

However, if you want to be more budget-friendly, you can do several other things:

  • pick a movie from a streaming service you already own, such as Netflix
  • borrow a movie you haven’t seen from a friend or family member
  • if your local library is open, borrow a video from them (unfortunately, ours is also closed at the time I write this)
  • DVR a movie you haven’t seen from your cable or TV service provider

Pick a Time to Have Your Movie Night for the Kids

Choose a time to have the movie night. You will want to pick a good time for everyone, where there will be little interruptions. We did ours on a Saturday evening and actually chose to make it a surprise for our son. We sent him upstairs for a while as we set up things.

Decide on Seating for Family Movie Night

We didn’t do anything super special for the seating, but we did bring down a big oversized folding chair my son enjoys hanging out in and placed it in the middle of the living room. 

Set up a Concession Stand

Decide where to set up a “concession stand”. We just chose to set it up on our kitchen table. 

a makeshift home movie concession stand

 

You can definitely think outside the box on this, and maybe even make a cute little concession stand from cardboard boxes or a rolling cart. If you want to decorate it with signs, you can. 

Ours was simple – we are in a pandemic right now, you know!

Family Movie Night Snack Ideas

  • popcorn (of course!)
  • gummy bears
  • boxed movie type candy
  • drinks (Sprite, Capri Sun, bottles of water)

I made a “Kids Snack Box”, just like you’d find at the movies by using a divided meal prep container. In the larger section, I put the popcorn, and the smaller section, I tucked in a package of gummy bears and some leftover Easter candy. 

Kids movie snack pack made at home

We also laid out a small variety of M&M flavors to choose from.

There was nothing special for his Sprite, so we just put it in a Disney Cruiseline souvenir cup.

Make Your Own Movie Ticket

We just simply wrote “Admit One: Trolls World Tour” on a post-it note to serve as a ticket for him. My husband stood at the living room door and took the ticket and tore it just like they do it at the movies for his admission.

pretend movie ticket on a post it

You can use old tickets from arcades, draw them on construction paper, or just simply use a Post-It as we did.

Enjoy Your Family Movie Night

I think the key to our successful movie night was the joy we put into it. We made it a huge ordeal and a huge surprise! My husband played the ticket taker while I worked the concession stand.

We all watched it together, with no interruptions. No phones, no other electronics. Just like we would normally be at the movies.

It was a huge success. My son has said multiple times that it was the best surprise ever! He genuinely enjoyed it and it is going to be a moment I think he remembers forever.

What movie would you want to watch for a family movie night? What other fun things have you done as a family while stuck at home?

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Hi there! I'm Manda J, a working mom on a journey to find a work-life balance. My passion is to help other moms do the same. I love to write about saving money, frugal living, parenting, family travel, easy recipes/meal planning, and blogging. I'm so glad you are here! Read More…

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About Manda J

Hi there! I'm Manda J, a working mom on a journey to find a work-life balance. My passion is to help other moms do the same. I love to write about saving money, frugal living, parenting, family travel, easy recipes/meal planning, and blogging. I'm so glad you are here!

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