growing up, i had a friend who, every sunday, had a special “family day.” she didn’t play with friends, she didn’t go out. it was a tradition that everyone in the family stay home and just hang out together. i remember, even as a kid, thinking this was so special. i think i was even a bit envious. after all, a family that did that must really, really like each other. looking back now, i still think it’s such a cool tradition they held, and something that families should do more often these days. (and even more now then back in the day because it seems between computers and video games and sports… families are going all different directions most of the time.)
while steve and i have not instituted an entire family day, we have instituted family movie night (save for a night where william or lindsey has some sort of special sleepover, birthday party, etc.). we have a roomy living room with a much larger tv than a computer screen, but after watching one or two through amazon on the computer, we determined that we actually prefer watching in the computer room–a bit squished with the doors closed, lights off, and all the couch cushions on the floor. it’s cozier. the more pillows, the better. we have izzes on ice just for this occasion and we make popcorn (in one of these! i highly suggest it.) and cuddle up to watch our movie.
so far we’ve watched the help, seabiscuit, secretariat, we bought a zoo, and cars (a hunt favorite and quickly becoming parker’s favorite too). i’m normally not the hugest fan of parker watching tv, but for movie night, rules can be broken! (oh, and some other days too…)
soon enough william and lindsey will want to go out on weekends and hanging out with mom and dad (and little brother) will not be high on their agenda. but, while it is, we’re taking advantage of it.
do you have movie night? do you have any movies to recommend?? sometimes it takes us quite awhile to come to a decision (or to find anything worth watching). suggestions wanted!
the new(er) muppet movie with jason siegel! favorite family movie I've seen in a while, I think. moonrise kingdom was really cute too and almost family friendly save one little tween makeout scene. We like to stick to the classics quite a lot: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Peter Pan starring Mary Martin are two of my personal top picks.
You guys should watch the odd life of timothy green for the next movie night!! highly recommend it!
LOtsa love 🙂
@angie, i haven't seen that one yet but i love jason segel! on the list, thanks 🙂 (and we love the classics too.)
@christine stephan, will check it out – hadn't even heard of it!!
Love movie night!
We totally have movie night! Usually Friday or Saturday, except instead of the living room we all smoosh into Jaspers bed, create a 'tent' around it and watch a netflix on the laptop. Super cozy!
We try to do movie night once or twice a week. We live in Michigan and in the winter, there isn't much to do. Snuggled up with hot cocoa, popcorn and a fun movie makes it somewhat bearable!
My son is right around your son's age {20.5 months} and some of his current favorites are The Lorax {the new one}, Despicable Me, Cars 1 & 2, Dumbo, The Tinker Bell movies, Peter Pan, Beauty & The Beast, and Brave.
My parents and i would always have movie night on Sundays too! I was an only child and usually hung out with my parents but watching a movie on Sunday was a great end to the week. Now i've graduated college, and stiil when i come home we watch a movie!
One movie we always watch is Millions by Danny Boyle it's a fun movie that people don't really know about. We find ourselves quoting it from time to time!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366777/
This might be a little old for Parker but my kids range from 9 – 3 and they loved Rise of the Guardians. and the parents loved it too 🙂
I love your 'movie night' photo, and idea! Whenever I get my own family, that is an idea I would use for sure.
And I have the same popcorn popper! It's the best, and so easy and quick to use!
@brooke, that's too funny – we just watched millions not too long ago!!
@antonia r, good suggestions. haven't seen them all either!
@rachael, love that popper!
I don't have kids (yet!) but my husband and I love family movies! The Lorax, Horton Hears a Who, The new Muppets movie, How to Train Your Dragon, Legend of the Guardians:The Owls of Gahool (we just call it the owl movie!), Brave, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Monsters Vs. Aliens, Despicable Me, The Great Mouse Detective (and pretty much all the classic Disney movies), any of the Ice Age movies, any of the Madagascar movies, Finding Nemo (my very favorite!), Wall-E, James and the Giant Peach, The Brave Little Toaster, (now I'm trying to think from my childhood, if you can't tell! ha!) There are so many good ones! I can't wait to have kids so I can watch these movies over and over! ha!
We love watching the Sandlot! Best movie ever….Last summer we invested in an outdoor movie projecter and watched movies as a family (and sometimes with the neighbors/friends) almost every weekend. So much fun for everyone.
Here is my list for the older kids:
Labyrinth
The Sandlot
Camp Nowhere
Mrs. Doubtfire
Neverending Story
Adventures in Babysitting
Home Alone
A League of Their Own
My Girl
Little Giants
Mighty Ducks
Indian in the Cupboard
Hook
Kindergarten Cop
Free Willy
Jumanji
Dumb & Dumber!!
A few of Colton's favorites that Parker might enjoy:
Toy Story (all 3!)
Cars (both of them)
Rio
Despicable Me
Robots
A Goofy Movie
I don't know if your kids are old enough for Fried Green Tomatoes BUT I loved that movie growing up. I think I was maybe 12ish when I saw it but my parents didn't really go off of ratings when I was younger. LOL!
I forgot Drop Dead Fred!!! And my kids liked the Ernest movies. My 12 year old son just finished watching the Back to the Future movies and Teen Wolf too. And don't forget The Goonies!!!
Obviously, we enjoy movie nights as well and I love pulling out the "oldies" for my kids!
We do movie night, too!! So much fun!! My son's favorite (his is 4) is Wall-E. This movie is great for all ages, and with very little dialogue, is especially great for little ones.
What a perfect tradition! I want to have this tradition when I have a family, but with pizza 🙂
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Will Parker watch the movie? For real? I have a 30 monther who will not sit through a movie…and a 11 month old. So we have movie night with our 14 year old affffter the other two are in bed. I'm totally impressed that you all do it as a whole family.
My favorite classics are Sound of Music and all of the Anne of Green Gables movies. My husband loves them too!
I would highly, highly recommend the newest Muppet Movie, but also any of the older muppet movies (Muppet Treasure Island is a huge favorite). Also, the newish movie Wreck It Ralph just came out on DVD and it was really great. A far fetched one that my friends and I just love is Miyazaki's "My Neighbor Totoro." It is sooo amazing and beautiful. I definitely recommend that one!
I love, LOVE Despicable Me. One of my new favorites. When I was a kid I loved (not too long ago:)) The Sandlot, Mrs. Doubtfire, A League of Their Own, Indian in the Cupboard, Hook. I also loved Rio, and I just watched The Odd Life of Timothy Green and I was SUPER impressed!
Here's few we love (our kids are 11,10,8,6,18 mos.): Secondhand Lions, The Narnia movies, Cheaper by the Dozen(1&2), Yours, Mine, and Ours, Master of Disguise (so dumb, but the kids love it), Forever Strong, Remember the Titans, The Emperor's Club, Blindside (there's a drug part we FF through with the youngers), Rocketman (dumb-hilarious, too), Holes. Sheesh, the list could go on…happy watching!
Growing up, Friday night was family night. I STILL remember in 2nd grade asking a friend what she was doing for family night (thinking duh everyone does this). Mom always got takeout pizza or chinese food, and we ate it on a "magic carpet" on the floor. I don't remember the movies we watched, but I remember everything else. Obviously as we got older, sleepovers and outings with friends cut into family night, but we honestly kept the tradition until I was in middle school 🙂 Can't wait to do this with my family
@the westbys, no! He'll sit thru maybe half hour then get distracted. A work in progress!
THE SANDLOT. Yessss.
I agree with the Timothy Green suggestion, it was really nice to see a movie without one single part that would make a parent cringe.
Our top family movies that even bigger kids like:
Princess Bride
Secondhand Lions (LOVE IT!)
Where the Red Fern Grows (the 2003 version with Dave Matthews)
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
Our family (my parents and my soon-to-be husband now too) has put a movie in my dad's stocking every year for as long as I can remember. Now, we've transitioned to blu-ray and made a few advances, but it holds as a family tradition that when the gifts are open and we all start to relax, mom makes a big breakfast and we all settle down to watch whatever movie dad got that year. We tend to fall asleep near the end and the menu can run for an hour unnoticed, but it's time we spend together, and gives us a good discussion for the drive to the extended family get together. Now, as I'm getting married and living in another state, I cherish it so much more and can't wait to implement it with my own family 🙂
i really want to do something like this with my family. love it.
@amy, we are definitely princess bride fans here! but, it's been awhile so i think we'll revisit that one!
mr poppers penguins, mary poppins, mighty ducks, 3 ninjas
My baby is just 2 and I keep thinking of the days when we'll be able to have family movie nights. I think it is a great idea and I can relate to your friend's family and how they used to have a designated night. It might get important to do that as kids grow older and have their own routines. My mom used to enforce a family time in our family every evening and I remember my friends making fun of me as my mom would tell them if they called that we couldn't talk: but now when she is a mom herself she has told me many times how she has to come to realize how important that is in the long run. For a family to connect on a regular way. That picture of your family cuddled together in blankets to watch the movie makes me so nostalgic and yet excited about our own family movie nights in the future:) Loved this post!
Hmm…The Pirates! Band of Misfits was cute, anything Wallace & Gromit, Milo & Otis (although it might be young for the older kids), Babe
I loooove Family Movie Night! Or family anything night, you know? I'm hoping to force my kids into forced fun when they get older, too:)
I have head the 2011 winnie the pooh movie is great for all ages.
Other good ones:
Peter Pan
Up
Mary Poppins…so many quotable lines
Sandlot
And we recently got Tintin, but haven't watched it yet.
love this! we do family movie and pizza night every friday. we love it. (although my diet does not!)
our latest two we watched were 'field of dreams' and 'that thing you do'. both a little older but so fun! the kids loved them both. 🙂
We all love the Babies movie at my house and the pace is slow so the guilt is low.
We all love the Babies movie at my house and the pace is slow so the guilt is low.
Oh and yes double yes to drop dead Fred.
So funny, Bridget! We have a perfectly good tv in our spacious living room as well and where do we watch our movies??? In the twin daybed in our tiny office on our computer. 🙂 My husband is 6'4 and he and I inevitably fall asleep on that twin bed…and it is….cozy. I can't believe we trade out our California King bed, for a twin. But it'll be a good memory someday.
One of our absolute favorites is a French film called PONETTE, in French with English subtitles–but don't get spooked! The majority of the characters are children, so there's a motivation to follow the subtitles, and the dialogue is simple. When my children first watched it, they were quite young. But even now that three of them are teenagers, they'll tell you it was one of the most magical movies they've ever seen. Let me know if you like it, and I'll suggest some other foreign films my kids have really enjoyed. We love international cinema; films made in other countries present a totally different world view. Happy watching. And happy popcorn-ing as well. When we're in the U.S., we make ours with Bob's Red Mill brand white popcorn, grape seed oil, and sea salt. (Right now we're in Spain on sabbatical, so we get our popcorn at a nearby coop!)
I love movie nights! My roommates and I have Sunday movie night every week after church and it is the best. My little brothers have lots of favorites, but the ones that I actually like too are Meet the Robinsons, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and any older movies like Hook, Swiss Family Robinson, or Matilda.
Here are some faves that come to mind:
Ramona & Beezus
The Secret World of Arietty
Disney's Ruby Bridges
The Little Princess
Little Women
We Are Marshall
Gifted Hands
Dreamer (Love!)
The Ultimate Gift
The Mighty Macs
Father of the Bride
Anne of Green Gables
We also loved Secretariat!
My little guy (he's 5) loves Lemony Snicket's A Series of Misfortunate Events!
We need to do this more often!
before my parents split we always had a friday night movie night. SO much fun and something i'd like to continue. my new fave is Cars 2! SO FUNNY! 🙂
whirrlllllllllly pop!!!!!!!!!!!!!
{the most underrated/known/appreciated kitchen "appliance" EVER.}
…i was so excited about mine that we've given one to almost every close family member- parents, grandma, brother… i don't think they fully "get it" :).
a) welcome back torrie!
b) i love that you give those away as gifts. once you get into it, you're really into it. we use ours all the time!
We have movie night every weekend with the kids and some of our favorites are: Despicable Me, Brave (a few scary parts so maybe not the best for Parker), and The Lorax.
i love having movie nights with the entire family. it's a little cheesy, but i love being able to look up and see the people i absolutely love in the same room cuddled up!