Family Fun Night

A couple of months ago . . . we started having a Family Fun Night a couple of times a month.  I usually plan it on a Friday night when Dave is off work, and we don't have any other conflicts.

So far . . .  all the Family Fun Nights have been movie nights at home.  It's easy and doesn't require a whole lot of effort from me.   I am eventually going to have a Game Night . . . but those who know me . . . know I don't like to play games!  Ha!  So far now it's just going to be Movie Night!

I usually pick up a new release movie from Walmart that is appropriate for the boys.  The first movie I purchased was Brave.  Since then I've purchased other new releases and during Christmas, I bought some older Christmas movies for the boys like Home Alone and Polar Express.  Remember our Polar Express movie night . . . Here are Shane and Neal making hot chocolate during the movie . . .

In the beginning, I would get take-out pizza from Mike's and pop some popcorn and start the movie.  The boys were happy with that easy movie night method . . . All they really wanted was for me and Dave to sit in the living room and watch the movie with them!

But take-out pizzas from Mike's (we have to buy 2!) and purchasing dvds from Walmart can add up to an expensive night at home!

Since Christmas . . . I've gotten smarter about getting the movies.  The last two times we've had movie night, I got the new releases from the local Redbox!  That Redbox is super convenient and much cheaper than actually buying the movie!

I've also started making homemade pizza for dinner on movie night instead of buying it from Mike's.  I still LOVE Mike's pizza . . . just need to save take-out pizza for those nights I don't have time to cook.

This past Friday Movie Night, I made homemade pizza in my Pampered Chef large bar pan.  I think it looks pretty tasty . . .

Dave and the boys loved it!  Half was pepperoni and the other half was made for Dave with added jalapenos and onions.

Because I'm saving money by making the pizza myself and by renting the movies from the Redbox, I felt that I could splurge a little in other areas of Movie Night.

I bought some of the candy in the boxes like they sell at the movie theater and set up a little "concession stand" for our Ferrell Movie Night.

Dave and the boys loved snacking on these special treats.  Zach and Alex wanted to run the concession stand!  Ha!

I had bought some little cardboard popcorn boxes at the dollar store for Shane's birthday party, but never used them.  I pulled them out and filled them with popcorn.  Alex and I added m&ms to ours for a yummy sweet and salty movie snack.

I had rented two movies for the night.  Diary of a Wimpy Kid:  Dog Days and Dr. Seuss' The Lorax.
We watched Diary of a Wimpy Kid first.  I wasn't sure if Dave and I could stand the Dr. Seuss movie.

We always let the boys get in their pajamas and lay out their sleeping bags for movie night.

Most of the time they "camp out" in the living room after the movie and spend the night in there.

Sometime during the movie, Dave noticed that Shane had disappeared.  When I rented the movies, I also rented a Wii game for the boys.  I let Shane pick out the game since he has just started getting interested in playing on the Wii with them.

Dave found Shane in Alex's room busy playing the game.

He wasn't interested in Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  He didn't want me to rent it.  He wanted me to rent The Lorax, and I guess since we weren't watching The Lorax, he decided to go play the game.

When the movie was over, the boys all settled into their sleeping bags and watched The Lorax until they fell asleep.   It was a fun night for us all.

The first movie night I planned was met with a little resistance . . . the boys wanted to play their video games and Dave always has things he needs to do  . . .

Now when I announce that we are having a Movie Night, everyone gets excited and ready for it!  Even Dave!  :)  It's nice to all sit together as a family watching a good movie and snacking on some movie foods.

Spending some family fun time together just . . . 

                                    the Ferrell boys and me!

I'm linking up to these parties: