6 Family Movie Nights with Activities and Menus
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I’ve found that by Friday afternoons, I have all but given up. I am zonked and just focused on the endgame - pizza and brainless Netflix binging until I fall asleep at 9pm.
For that reason, I am starting to host Friday night/ afternoon movie nights! I typically feel pretty guilty if I let the kids mindlessly sit in front of a TV all afternoon, so I started making movie nights into an entire event complete with hidden lessons, coordinating activities, and a fun menu. A few suggestions are below, but this can really happen with any movie that your kids will sit in front of for its entirety.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Lessons: Obviously, like any sane millennial I love me some Harry Potter. I also recognize that there are countless lessons on which you could focus. To be the most age appropriate for my kids, I went with '“Choose Your Friends Wisely”.
“It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends.”
Set the scene: Build a pillow fort or sheet tent and put twinkle lights up to mimic the floating candles in the Great Hall.
Activities: Make wands using sticks, hot glue, and paint. Dabble in potions class with household products. Set up DIY Quidditch goals and use balloons as the quaffle (ball for you muggles). Discuss the importance of friendship and how the people who you choose to be around are a reflection of yourself.
Menu: Of course there are plenty of products that are actual branded HP foods and an Unofficial HP Cookbook. But other ideas include baking a cake and decorating like Hargrid’s birthday cake for Harry, shredded cheese-sticks attached to pretzels to make broomsticks, and if you’re feeling particularly magical lay out some veggies and call them Professor Sprout’s Vegetable Garden.
Coco
(Just want to share that this is an extremely underrated Pixar movie. I was hesitant to watch it, but don’t judge a movie by the preview)
Lessons: This movie is about the importance of family and the beauty of cherished memories.
“Family comes first.”
Set the scene: Go full Dia de Los Muertos - check out this previous post with easy ways to celebrate this holiday.
Activities: Talk about your favorite family memories. Make an offrenda on your TV table with pictures of your passed loved ones or papel picados - the colorful banners you see in the movie. Bonus points if you or a family member can play the guitar and teach the kids a chord or two.
Menu: You can do the classic Dia de Los Muertos menu of your ancestor’s favorite foods or do some 7 layer dip, quesadillas or Arroz con Pollo.
The Lego Movie
Lessons: Embrace what makes you special.
“You are the most talented, most interesting, and most extraordinary person in the universe. And you are capable of amazing things. Because you are the Special. And so am I. And so is everyone.”
Set the scene/Activities: Build an entire Lego city. You can act out scenes from the movie or your own scenarios. Discuss how what you’re building is unique and special.
Menu: Every notice how Lego characters’ heads look exactly like large marshmallows? Dip those in yellow melting chocolates or frost with yellow icing. Another classic idea is a taco bar (Lord Business is going to destroy the world on Taco Tuesday in the movie).
Hook
Lessons: Just living is the greatest adventure.
Bonus lesson for parents that might make you cry: Childhood is hard and messy and fleeting.
Moira Banning: We have a few special years with our children, when they're the ones that want us around. After that you're going to be running after them for a bit of attention. It's so fast Peter. It's a few years, and it's over. And you are not being careful. And you are missing it.
Crying yet?
“To live... to live would be an awfully big adventure.”
Set the scene: You can dress up like pirates and make a ship out of couch cushions ot use the same cushions to make a treehouse like The Lost Boys.
Activities: Naturally, there should be some epic DIY swords and sword fights. Turn off all the lights and play flashlight tag and talk about your shadows. If you have a pool, pretend to be the mermaids that save Peter. Or pretend that your diving board is the plank and your pool is the Crocodile Lagoon. Discuss the importance of playfulness.
Menu: Honestly, you could make anything but if you don’t dye them the colors from the Lost Boys’ food fight scene in the movie, you have missed a real opportunity,
The Mighty Ducks
Lessons: Be a team player.
“A team isn’t a bunch of kids out to win. A team is something you belong to, something you feel, something you have to earn.”
Set the scene: Ice rinks aren’t easy to mimic so have your kids slide across the tile or wood floor on paper towels with broom sticks. Take out a cube of ice and (gently) kick it around on wood floor and watch it glide.
Activities: Play hockey with a balloon puck or if you’re feeling a little crude, have a farting contest, GOLDBERG! Discuss how much stronger a team is when they work together.
Menu: I would go with concession stand foods like hamburgers, hot dogs, and ice cream or popsicles.
Ferngully: The Last Rainforest
Lessons: Respect nature.
“Everything in our world is connected by the delicate strands of the web of life, which is a balance between the forces of destruction and the magical forces of creation.”
Set the scene: If you have an inflatable screen, watch the movie outside. See activities for more ideas on that.
Activities: Go on a nature walk. Collect all the flowers, giant leaves, etc. that you can and set them up as if you’re in the rainforest. Or plant a small garden or plant. Discuss the value of nature and the importance of taking care of the earth.
Menu: Try some plant based foods. Maybe a sweet potato bar or veggie burgers.
