|

Family Movie Nights are Economical and Fun

I have been, or can be if you click on a link and make a purchase, compensated via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value for writing this post. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Family Movie Nights are a favorite in our house.  Often times, I share our thoughts on the movies we’ve watched here for the Christian Home Magazine.  And, we’ve hosted a few movie parties with friends that have always been well received.

There’s just something about finding a good family friendly movie that can bring people together!

 

For us, there are several reasons as to why we have regular family movie nights.

 

Family Movie Nights are Economical

Whether we are renting the movie or watching something we’ve purchased for repeated viewings, the cost of having a movie night at home is far less than heading to the movie theater.  Don’t get me wrong, the boys and I would love to catch the new releases alongside everyone else.  But, at a minimum of $6.50 per person, it gets expensive fast. (That’s $32.50 if hubby doesn’t go and any snacks aren’t included in that price!)

 Money, Money, Money

From the movie trailers, we typically have a good sense of whether the show is one that we will only watch once or a selection that the boys will watch over and over.

There are options out there for getting movies direct to your house, like Disney Movie Club where your first few movies are seriously discounted. I’ve known a few people who’ve loved this service, but have not used it for our family to date. I can say that we typically love the films from Disney and they are staples in our house which the boys have seen over and over.  It only takes a few times of watching a DVD for us to feel like we ‘got our money’s worth.’

 

Family Movie Nights for Comfort

While the chairs at the newest theaters are comfy and provide a good view of the large screen, our family finds the volume to be too loud most of the time.  Then, you can add in the noise generated by a bunch of excited kids in a packed theater or some unusual distractions which make the experience less than optimal.

 

Beyond physical comfort, there is the benefit of being able to pause the movie if someone needs a bathroom run.  There’s nothing like missing a key scene from a movie because you had to take a child to the bathroom.

 

Family Movie Nights for Bonding

Even though watching a show might be a more passive activity, there is the opportunity to bond with other family members through the shared experience.  Hearing others laugh alongside you and maybe having a new found ‘insider joke’ with favorite lines from the movie helps to forge those bonds as well.

 

Also, watching a film at home where a scene might generate controversy affords you the opportunity to pause and discuss right then or have a discussion after the movie is over without disturbing anyone.  Recently, the older boys and I watched a film that was rated R for violence, but the storyline was so compelling that I deemed it okay to watch WITH me.  We stopped the film a few times as R couldn’t believe that this was based on historical evidence and that a government could be so cruel towards part of its population.

 

Does your family enjoy Family Movie Nights? 

Any favorite films from the past year?

 

 

This sponsored post was made possible by SheHeard. I have been compensated for my time and work on this campaign, however all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

33 Comments

  1. We too avoid going to the movies due to the cost for 7 of us. DVD’s are the way to go. One recent family movie was Bell’s of St. Mary’s – my kids loved it (I was kind of surprised at this) They’ve recently discovered old movies on one of our channels and are really getting into them!

    1. When we lived in Maryland, we loved Netflix for instant streaming. Now that our internet is metered, we don’t do it. But, RedBox is an awesome way to get the newer movies for us. I even did an “I Spy” post when they ‘landed’ in Alaska a while back.

  2. We love family movie night and have a humongous DVD collection because of it. I love watching them at home most because you can pause them whenever you like, make your own snacks cheaper and you don’t have to worry about yappy kids with cell phones.

    Dawn

  3. What a wonderful post and so very true! Its not even funny how pricey it is to take a family to the movies.. and of course never mind the treats you will be guilt-ed into purchasing, lol! We love doing movie nights at home.. we do them maybe even way too often!

    1. With the long winter, we have far more movie nights than I’d care to admit. Although, it does provide me with plenty to ‘review’ on the blog!

      There are few movies that I’d willingly fork over the cost to take the whole family and those are ones that we want to help ‘send a message’ to Hollywood about more family friendly ones.

    1. Absolutely, Amanda! Even with my teen there are times that we watch half of a movie one night and the rest the next day. Some great films are just too long to watch in one sitting at night.

  4. Movies have become so crazy expensive, it’s so much better to pop your own and cuddle up on the couch!
    This past weekend we watched Odd Life of Timothy Green (again!) and E.T. (again!!) Great times and memories are made just like that!!

    1. We haven’t seen Odd Life of Timothy Green, yet. E.T. is one that I bought and the boys have zero interest in watching right now. Maybe some day they’ll decide to take the plunge.

  5. We love to watch Saint Rita, Song of Bernadette, The Reluctant Saint, Miracle of the Bells, The Passion of The Christ and The Ten Commandments.

    1. JJ,

      I tried to watch The Passion of the Christ with my teen last year. He struggled with the subtitles and just couldn’t get in the right ‘mood’ for it. I haven’t seen Saint Rita and will need to check into that one. But, the bigger ‘shock’ is that I’ve never watched The Ten Commandments. Maybe we’ll do that for a family movie night this Lent or Easter.

      1. The Passion of The Christ is hard to watch and I cry everytime I watch it. I love Saint Rita and I love reading about Saint Padre Pio but haven’t watch any videos of him.

        1. I just love watching films that inspire and show you the ‘real person’ who the Church now recognizes as a Saint. Have you seen the film about St. Damien? We watched it when my eldest did American History a few years ago and it was an eye opener to life in Hawaii at the time.

    1. Greta,

      I’m just so glad that the technology we have allows people to watch movies at home. I still remember having to wait years to see a movie on TV and then you’ve got commercials to view, too.

  6. We almost never go to the movies because it is so expensive! I love having movie night, it really feels like an occasion because we make popcorn and things like that 🙂

    1. Jess,

      Being able to make your own snacks and feed those hungry bellies is another great benefit to movie night at home. Although, we found that Regal Theaters lets you buy a small popcorn for $2 on Tuesdays (one per ticket purchased) and our local one will ‘upgrade’ to a large for $2 more which includes one refill. One large popcorn is plenty for all of us, so the few times we’ve done the movie theater in the past year we’ve gone on a Tuesday to get the popcorn deal.

  7. We enjoy a lot of family movie nights. Going out to the movies is only for very special occasions and only happens every once in a while. We’ve seen Diary of a Whimpy Kid, Dumbo, and my all time favorite, Lady and the Tramp.

    1. Tiffany,

      I haven’t watched Lady and the Tramp in a long time. Now you’ve got me picturing a movie night that starts with pasta and meatballs for dinner followed by that movie. Of course, the boys might all be in carb comas part way through the movie!

  8. Unfortunately I think prices will continue to go up too:(

    While it is a lot of fun going to the movie, there is nothing better then staying home and cuddling with the family it is probably one of my favorite things to do!

    I haven’t seen it yet but can’t wait to see Pitch Perfect…we shall see if it’s any good this weekend!

  9. Our favorite family movies are “Come to the Stable” and “The Song of Bernadette.” No wait, there’s one more. We also LOVE “The Reluctant Saint.” They’re all quite funny but that last one is a riot!

    1. I don’t think we’ve seen The Reluctant Saint or Come to the Stable. I’ll have to look into getting both of those in the future to watch. Thanks for the suggestions, Lady M!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.