If you are looking for a relaxing way to spend time with your kids each week, try a family movie night. It is a great way to hang out and unwind with each other!
Trying to find time to spend with just your kids every week is tough. As a mom of 4 (1 girl and 3 boys), I am giving you the exact way you can make family movie night happen week after week.
You are going to learn about when you should have it, the best food to have, some of the best movies to watch, and more.
After hearing all about family movie night, you are going to want to get it started this week at your house.
Let's jump into the best family movie night with your kids.
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Best Family Movie Night
Why Should You Have Family Movie Night?
Does it feel like your family is on the go all the time? Between work, school activities, summer activities, birthday parties, and the list could go on, you are busy! And I completely understand.
This is the perfect reason to start a weekly family movie night. It is a great way to hang out with your kids every week and just relax.
After doing it for a while, your kids will look forward to it so much. My 7-year-old son cheers every Friday morning when he finds out we get to have a family movie night. He calls it pizza picnic night. “It’s Fri-YAY!!!”
When we started our family movie night, it was my daughter's idea. I think she was 7 or 8 at the time. She asked if we could watch a movie and have a pizza picnic to go with it. BOOM – tradition born!
She must have felt we all needed some time to slow down and relax together. For reference, my husband has a super time intense job and I do in-home daycare. What great insight she had!
Our family movie night has been rocking almost every week for over 4 years now. My husband and I look forward to it as much as our 4 kids do.
My favorite part about it is listening to my kids laughing so loud and hard at the funny parts of the movies. The tight as you can get snuggles aren’t so bad either!
Oh, and did I mention the cost of this family together time – FREE. It is free if you watch a movie you already have. But it isn't all the much you if are already paying a movie membership to something though.
Which Night Should You Pick?
This one is totally up to you.
Do what works best for your family's schedule. Pick the night that you mostly have nothing going on. Also, take into consideration what your kids have going on the next morning.
Our family movie night is Friday night, almost every Friday night. This works great for us since our kids don’t have school the next morning (during the school year) so they can sleep in if they want to.
To be honest, though, I don't think they know what sleeping in means!
We also picked Friday night since my husband and I are pretty shot from the week and there are many Saturdays that we have something going on.
What makes this time together extra fun for us is that my kids hardly watch anything during the week so they are super pumped. We have nothing against it, we are just that busy!
What Food Should You Have?
Having something to eat with your movie night makes the experience extra special.
There are so many options to choose from. Should you do a snack, have a full supper, or a sweet treat? Hmmm, what to pick, what to pick!
We have a full-on pizza picnic. Our menu is pizza, milk, fruit which is usually grapes, and sometimes a dessert. If they are still hungry a granola bar or crackers get brought out.
Not the healthiest menu but most times it just hits the spot. I do try to keep our food for the rest of the week full of healthy options.
Our kids do not want to change it. Have you ever noticed that most kids love when things are consistent and predictable?
You can lay out a blanket, just like a real picnic for your kids to sit on.
We placed a collapsed folding table on top of the blanket and have the kids sit around it. When we tried just the blanket and everything kept tipping for them.
Another great mess-saving tip is to put their drink in a sippy cup or water bottle. My kids have knocked these over so many times since they don't want to miss a single part of the movie. I was glad they had a cover!
Here are some other great options you can try. All of these are low mess and to me the less mess to clean up the better.
- Pizza
- Sandwiches
- Popcorn
- Crackers
- Chips
- Granola Bars
- Nuts
- Fruit and Vegetables
- Candy Treats
- Desserts
- Milk
- Water
I try to stay away from juice and other drinks that may have sugar. You are probably sending your kids off to bed when the movie is done and don’t want their little bodies all hopped up on sugar!
Great Family Movies To Watch
There are so many great family movies to watch out there. Let your kids pick out their favorites or something new they may be interested in.
At our house, even though our kids range in age from 4 to 10, we keep it on the made for younger eyes viewing side. We want everyone to be able to watch it!
There are so many great family movies to choose from out there!
These are our top favorite movies.
The Peanut Movie
A Charlie Brown Christmas
It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
Finding Nemo
Finding Dori
Charlotte's Web
Paw Patrol
Thomas and The Magic Railroad
The Aristocats
Cars 1, 2, and 3
White Christmas
These are other fantastic movies for kids to watch.
Frozen
The Jungle Book
Robin Hood
Moana
Raya and the Last Dragon
How to Train Your Dragon
The Polar Express
My daughter, who is 12 now, and I love to watch these movies together when we have a girl date night. We love musicals, among others.
Beauty and the Beast
The Greatest Showman
Singing in the Rain
Meet Me in St. Louis
Anne of Green Gables
As my kids get older, I am super excited to introduce some of my favorite movies from when I was younger.
The Sandlot
A League of Their Own
The Goonies
Home Alone
Secondhand Lions
Harry Potter
The Princess Bride (My Husband's Pick)
Fast and The Furious (My Husband's Pick)
Top Gun and Top Gun Maverick
Family Movie Night Gift Baskets
Are you having so much fun with family movie night that you want to share the love with others? Pass along the gift of experiences instead of toys.
A family movie night gift basket makes a great gift for family and friends for Christmas or birthdays. It is giving them a way to have a fun night with their family.
I am not taking any creative credit here, that goes to my sister. She created a family movie night gift bucket for each of my kids one year for Christmas and they loved it. Here is what she included in it. You can find it all on Target.
- Popcorn Bucket
- Packets of Popcorn
- Treats like M&M’s or Reece’s Pieces
- Packaged Desserts – a package of Zebra Cakes or Oreos
- A couple of Juice Boxes
My kids loved it so much that they have created these buckets for their friend’s birthdays instead of giving them toys. They made sure to fill the buckets with their friend’s favorite treats.
I hope you have a blast spending a wonderful evening with your kids. You have fewer Friday nights with your kids than you think. Make them count!
This post is all about the best way to have a family movie night with your kids.
Leave me a comment below about ways you like to spend time with your kids. The time around here is fleeting so I try to soak up as much of it as I can before my kids have busier schedules.
I look forward to hearing from you and thanks for stopping by.