Creating Traditions: Family Movie Night Ideas and Recipes

 

 

 

Back-to-school means back-to-routine, and for many families that routine used to include pizza and a movie on Friday night. But with busy days and busier nights on the horizon, chock-full of homework, sports practice, PTA meetings and play dates, why limit family time to just Fridays? Create a new family tradition this school year, using Netflix’s  list of family-friendly titles as a starting point. Whether you stick to Friday night pizza and a movie or bring everyone together for Tuesday Night TV Time, it’s easy to create family memories with Netflix as there are so many options available!  My daughter is enjoying all the episodes of Disney’s Jesse and my husband and I have been enjoying catching up with House of Cards.  Make sure to take a night out during the month and spend some family time and enjoy a movie together.  This is one of our favorite things to do and I think my daughter enjoys the treats which usually includes some popcorn and ice cream as much as watching the movie together. She has even suggested “movie time” on a day-off of school at 10 am, I believe to get some ice cream! We also have some yummy recipes to try out and you can even take it  a step further and build a fort!  I know my daughter would love this new addition to our family movie night.

Here are some movie suggestions for the whole family!

 

For the Little Ones:

We really love the Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs movies and really enjoyed The Pirate Fairy.  This was probably one of my favorite Tinker Bell movies.  I am looking forward to watching Hoodwinked this weekend with the family!  Are any of these some of your favorites?

1. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
2. The Pirate Fairy
3. Hoodwinked
4. Angelina Ballerina
5. Bob the Builder
6. The Muppet Movie

For the Big Kids:

My daughter and I saw Free Birds in the theater and really enjoyed it!  She and my husband have been really getting into The Clone Wars and I would recommend this series to any Star Wars fans!

1. Strange Hill High
2. The Avengers
3. The Smurfs 2
4. Star Wars: The Clone Wars
5. Free Birds
6. Mako Mermaids: An H2O Adventure

For Your Teens (and You):

Probably most of us have seen The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and I can’t wait to share these with my daughter once she is old enough.  If you have a teen, why not enjoy some of these classics together.  I heard 13 going on 30 is really funny and I really like Friday Night Lights.

1. Clueless
2. The Breakfast Club
3. Friday Night Lights
4. The Vampire Diaries
5. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
6. 13 Going on 30

Before you sit down to watch one of these titles – or your own family favorite – check out these tips from Common Sense Media on how to make family movie or TV night a success.

DIY Fort:

Get the whole family in the mood for movie or TV night by transforming your family room into a cozy blanket fort. Now this is going to be fun to do!  We tend to watch movies on our King bed but I like this idea of creating a little dungeon with pillows on the floor in the living room.  And don’t’ forget the snacks! Click here to learn how to make your own fort.

Pizza Nachos:

Nothing completes family movie night better than a delicious treat. If you love pizza and you love nachos, you’ll die for these pizza nachos – a twist on two of our all-time favorites. Click here to learn how to make your own.

Here’s to enjoying Family Movie Night in your home!

Note:  As part of the Netflix Stream Team we were provided a year subscription to Netflix but this does not affect our opinion in any way.  The majority of what we watch is streamed on Netflix.

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