No matter the season, or the weather, one thing most of us have in common is the love of movies.
So, when you want to combine family time and movies, you’ll want to try my tips to create the ultimate family movie night, that will blow any trip the actual theater away!
Why You Will LOVE ♥ Ultimate Family Move Night
There comes a time when we all just want to sit back and take a breather, and sometimes when all the stars align, you might strike gold.
For instance, everyone in the house has zero commitments on a weekend night. Is that even possible?
When this happens, you will love the ultimate family movie night ideas because it makes an affordable, all-in stay-at-home night that lets your family be a family!
Plus, you don’t have to worry about where everybody is and if they are safe, you have them all with you, which is a rare occasion!
With all the cold weather, you might be looking for some fun stuff to do, and a fun family movie night be just the ticket!
So break out the china (just kidding) and party!
Big Screen for Family Movies
The ultimate family movie night has a few simple requirements to make it happen, and naturally, we will start with the biggest one!
You can create a very simple, low-cost big screen for family movies.
Of course, you can go all-in with a big screen for the family movie too, and I’ll share both of those.
I have made both zero-cost movie screens, up to a $40 big screen for family movies and none of them were hard.
Materials You Can Use to craft a big screen for family movies
- a large sheet, doubled and folded. with a set of 3 simple hooks in the wall (paint it to match the wall color.
- a plain white wall
- plastic shower curtains that can be attached and doubled up to a wall with simple sticky adhesive that does not harm walls.
These are easy to hang and cheap to make.
I’ve used the plastic shower curtain one over and over and it literally cost me $2. ↓↓↓
Now if you want to see the big screen I made, <<<<<make sure to check out this post, it is one of a few I have.
Inside that post, you will get a list of material you need to make it, and the cost of each, plus how to get the screen material on sale for pennies on the dollar.
You could use the shower curtain on an inside wall as I previously mentioned or style it outside as I did. Easy!
Project Your Movies From Endless Options
Once you’ve decided to set up a big screen, you are going to need to project those movies onto it.
That’s easy!
We initially purchased a fabulous projector that has a big sound, but not as good as the one above.
Then we recently bought another (above) that hooks up to our Bluetooth speakers for outside (as sometimes there’s a lot of unwanted background noise!)
My big screen project describes the projector we purchased and that I love.
Ideas for Outdoor Seating for Fun Family Movie Nights
You can have fun family movie nights indoors or outdoors which means anytime you want.
The weather may play a small factor in helping you make a decision of where to have yours, but they are options!
When we head outdoors for fun family movie nights, we use oversized folding chairs with cupholders.
These are easy to set up and easy to collapse, plus they store in their own bag.
We’ve even gone as far as to buy each person their own color, to keep the battles of who’s is who’s to a minimum.
As a bonus, we have one of these for the ‘young teen’ especially perfect for when he makes a date night in the backyard.! It is perfection!
When it is family night, the 2 younger kids pull this one out and then we only haul out 3 chairs and that!
Indoor Comforts For The Ulimate Family Movie Night
Now our indoor nights are very different from the outdoor fun family movie nights.
Inside, it’s all about blankets, pillows, and surround sound which is easy in a room with 3 walls!
We make sure there are plenty of blankets for each person and big chunky pillows, and each person has their own recliner option on the couches.
Of course, even without a reclining couch the pillow and blankets are plenty!
Hot Tip For Blankets for movie night
As a special touch, before the movies, I generally toss the blankets for the kids into the dryer to warm them up and I add an anti-static dryer sheet in to give them a boost of freshness.
Yes, it might sound ridiculous but these are the things the kids will remember and you can’t call it an ultimate family movie night if there is nothing ultimate going on right?
Sourcing Movies + How To Pick
Honestly, with so many possible movie choices, which will you pick?
Well, YOU won’t pick the movie, you ALL will pick the movie.
So, to do this successfully, and make truly fun family movie nights, everyone gets a say.
We create a group text and each person suggests 3 movies.
The movie list is then perused, and we pretty much eliminate those we have seen already, and any ones we can’t access somehow on our streaming options.
We have one master list of movies, for the Holidays, but we break all the rules of watching and rewatching holiday favorites!
Usually, we can all concede to pick one movie.
In the case, that we can not actually vote on ONE movie, and we all are very separated, we roll a dice and that’s the end of it!
Easy!
Where to Get Movies From?
Before you can project your movies, you need movie access, right?
For everyone, getting access to movies is really going to be reliant upon what you have available to you.
In my home, we have streaming access from our Cable provider, which we tap into often.
Additionally, we have ROKU, plus Netflix, and all of the free stations that come with it.
One of the kids has their own Disney account, etc., etc.
I will mention that you will need something to mirror or use with the projector.
If you are using your own television, then your streaming access is built right into whatever you have on your television, from ROKU to cable, DirectTV, FireStick, etc.
How do you make family movie nights distraction-free?
In our home, we’ve created a rule, to make family movie nights distraction-free.
For some of you, this might seem like a huge ask, but it actually works easily and has zero back-sas!
We all commit, parents to kids to a no-phone in the movie room policy!
No phones, no distractions, just family time!
Now, I do believe that the warm blankets or the outdoor pit fire, foods, and commitment to family all play into this, but we have no issues.
Movie Food Makes The Night Complete
I have no idea what makes a movie and treats the perfect combination, but the food is definitely a large part of the ultimate family movie night!
Here are a few fun things we grab when we know we will be having fun family movie nights.
- large boxes of chocolates or gummies, (we find these at Target an Walmart, Walgreens, etc. for $1)
- Popcorn + different popcorn toppings such as cheddar cheese powder, parmesan, garlic, chili lime seasoning, etc.
- cupcakes for the single servings sweet tooths!
- sometimes nacho platters
- ice cream bar ↓↓↓
When we do outdoor movie nights, you can see different food options.
I prefer to keep it a bit more easy-going outside, to we use popcorn, veggies trays, a big cooler stocked with drink, and of course chips and candy!
Your Ultimate Movie Night Awaits…
Now it is your turn.
Get everything together before you call your movie night.
Then, decide if it is going to be inside or out!
Next, it’s time to let everyone in on the movie night festivities.
Enjoy yourself, and your family!
Life moves fast, enjoy the small things and you’ll be rewarded with family time and smiles! ~ Dana XO
Do you have great at-home movie night ideas? I’d love to hear them, share them here >> Contact me
