Dinner and a Movie: Creating an Up Inspired Theme Night at Home

"Squirrel!" That was the quote heard randomly shouted throughout the evening on our first scheduled "Family Movie Night". The movie chosen was Disney and Pixar's "Up". Our goals were simple- to have a low-cost evening at home, including a themed dinner, a few activities, and finally watching the movie together. What we actually got was so much more- an evening full of laughs while reconnecting with each other, and memories that we can't put a price tag on. Here are some tips from our family to yours on how to create an "Up" themed Family Movie Night.

The Dinner Menu:
We decided to have a menu based on some of the themes in the movie- we had hot dogs, baked beans and potato chips because Russell eats a hot dog during the meal in the blimp. Of course we had grape soda to drink, because Carl and Ellie's badge was made from a bottle of grape soda and was such an integral part of the movie! Another important detail- chocolate bars (for Kevin the bird's favorite food); we also incorporated the campfire theme from the movie by making s'mores.

Decorations:
Since my son loves to build with Legos, I had him build a house for our table centerpiece. We tied colorful helium balloons to the top of the Lego creation to depict Carl's house. There are some great websites out there for free printables, such as here. We made the Carl and Russell 3-D characters to sit on the table. We finished our decorations with an inexpensive plastic tablecloth, colorful paper plates and some cute napkins with balloons printed on them.

Activities:
We kept it pretty simple for this movie night: we printed out some free coloring pages for my daughter here. We also did the "Adventure Book" printable here for my son to challenge him to earn badges for the next week! He had a blast, and the book looks just like the one Ellie made in the movie. As the kids were working on their projects, we talked about places we would like to go if we could really tie balloons to our house and use them to fly anywhere in the world. Not only was this a great way to use some imagination, it helped us to gain some insight on each other! Our last activity was one that my kids probably enjoyed the most- we all randomly shouted "Squirrel!" throughout the night; this was from the character Dug (a talking dog) in the movie, who does the same. The kids dissolved into giggles every single time someone did this, even though it got a bit old for the adults by the end of the night. (I would suggest laying out the ground rules that as soon as the movie ends, so does the "Squirrel!" shouting.)

Movie Time:
This was a simple one; we piled up blankets and pillows on the floor of our living room, and watched the movie together! Depending on age and maturity level, this movie provides some great opportunities for dialogue between parents and children, and quite honestly, it is a very entertaining movie for any age.

Our first ever "Family Movie Night" was a great success; it was inexpensive, but provided us with an opportunity to create priceless memories together.