Let’s be honest – the last couple years have been hard. So in my family, we’ve been looking for little pockets of joy everywhere we can find them. And sometimes, we create the joy for ourselves.
This year creating the joy has come in the form of family movie nights! My sister and I have worked together to plan a movie night once a month. We each planned six months, and put them in envelopes. Every month we draw an envelope, and the mystery of what movie we’re going to get adds to the fun!
Here’s how it works for us – we start with a movie. The movie has to be something fun, that the whole family will watch. It can be something we’ve seen before, or something brand new, but it’s something that we think that everyone will sit down and enjoy together.
Then we plan food that goes along with the movie. Let me give you an example – in January we watched Princess and the Frog, so we ate BBQ and beignets!
We also plan to play a board game that goes with the movie. Planning the game is a little trickier because you can’t always find a game that goes exactly with the movie, but you can usually find something close! When we watched Mamma Mia!, there wasn’t a perfect fit for the board game, but we chose to play Trouble because inviting 3 possible fathers to your wedding is definitely a recipe for trouble!
Movie nights are so much fun! If it’s just you, a group of friend, or the whole family, having a movie night is something to look forward to. A reason to celebrate. A flower in a crack. 🙂
If you’re looking to plan your own movie night, here’s a list of movies, food, and games to consider in your plans!
Movies:
10 Movies for the Whole Family
Cheaper by the Dozen (the 2004 sequel is so fun!)
Mamma Mia
Princess and the Frog
Shrek
Tangled
Harry Potter
Princess Diaries (we all know the second one is the best!)
Despicable Me
Grown Ups
The Parent Trap (Lindsey Lohan edition)
Food:
10 Best Movie Night Foods
Pizza!
Sandwiches
Hamburgers and Hotdogs
Taco Night
Baked Potatoes
BBQ sandwiches
Nachos
Pasta
Pigs in a Blanket
Soup and Grilled Cheese
Board Games:
10 Board Games for the Family to Play
Trouble
Sorry!
Monopoly
Candy Land
Chutes and Ladders
Trivial Pursuit
5 Second Rule
Pictionary
Scrabble
Charades