Movie Night: Z-O-M-B-I-E-S

It’s October… it’s movie night… BRING IT ON!! We LOVE Halloween at our house but I definitely prefer to celebrate in “cute not creepy” fashion. I picked this movie because it’s fun and fitting for Halloween, but not at all scary or dark. Disney’s Z-O-M-B-I-E-S is a peppy little made-for-TV movie about cheerleaders and zombies. What’s not to love?

This isn’t even a Halloween movie, but it fits right in. All the colors in Z-O-M-B-I-E-S are neon, so I ran with it. I neglected to get a photo of our dinner, but we had my husband’s famous sausage burgers, curly fries and salad.

The main event is always our movie snack. We were thrilled to try the Trader Joe’s candy corn popcorn. Y’all… it’s DELICIOUS.

I couldn’t resist throwing in some Sour Patch Zombies as well.

A sweet friend gave me these popcorn bowls last Christmas and I adore them.

This little movie will get you in a festive mood for October, and it has some good messages about accepting people who are different. It even has a few laughs for the parents.

Here’s to all the cuteness, family time and not-so-creepy festivities October has to offer!

Movie Night: Red Riding Hood

Happy Halloween!  

This movie night is inspired by our Halloween costumes.  My husband and I usually don't dress up, but this year we got a wild hair and joined the kids. We all play a role in our first true family theme, which is Little Red Riding Hood. 

I thought this made such a cute theme.  I made a point to only use things we had on hand.  The red gingham tablecloth is round and normally goes on our outdoor table, so I did the old scrunch trick.  The round tree slices (not sure what to call them!) are from my daughter's first birthday party.  The little basket is part of her costume.

The red plates are from my wedding registry and the white plates are part of some catering-type dishes I have from World Market.  I ordered this pretty pop-up book to commemoriate our costumes and frankly to brush up on the story.  Ha!

You have to love that when I asked my husband if he had a small ax I could use for the table he offered me three choices.  He also dug into the Christmas decorations for me to get the little tree.

The wolf is my kids' from Great Wolf Lodge.

Ok let's talk about the movie itself.  I honestly didn't know if such a movie existed.  A search on Amazon gave me a few options, each with reviews that said, "Not for kids!"  I figure I'm probably not any more lenient than a random Amazon reviewer.  Who knows.  So I chose this version from 1988.  Y'all it was OLD and WEIRD.  Oh and it's a musical.  Plus Craig T. Nelson plays his own evil twin.  So there's that.

The Big Bad Wolf is more like the Big Bad German Shepherd.  It was certainly not a cinematic masterpiece, but we are happy to expose our kids to things that are old-fashioned and not the latest and greatest.  To me it beats the "not for kids!" version any day.  We enjoyed it for what it was.

For dinner I pulled out one of my old tried-and-true Halloween tricks:  a Jack-o-lantern pizza from Papa Murphy's.  This says "I'm a fun mom" when really you are just a tired mom.  I added a salad.

Dessert was pumpkin cheesecake from Trader Joe's.  TJ's is the secret to my success.

I loved this movie night and my family did too.

I hope you enjoy lots of treats and maybe even a few tricks today!

Movie Night: Hotel Transylvania

It's movie night and we are checking into the Hotel Transylvania!  We always get a kick out of this one and you can read about its content here.  For the table you'll see I rounded up Halloween decorations from around the house.

The dessert plates are a Homegoods find and I think they are fun and whimsical.

I was determined to make the green blob guy from the movie out of jello.

After looking around my kitchen for something to use my husband came up with a good plan.  He picked up these collapsible camping cups at Walmart and they were perfect. 

I filled them with lime jello, added candy eyes, and the result got the intended amount of delight and laughter from my kids.  They loved these!

We had brisket tacos for dinner.  For dessert I spent the week thinking grand thoughts and pinning all kinds of creative ideas.  Then I realized that between soccer practice, prepping for the cousin party, and my unfortunate lacking of a personal chef (ha) I wasn't sure who I thought would be making those things.  So, I grabbed red velvet cupcakes from the grocery and added a gummy eyeball to each.  So easy and everyone laughed and was grossed out and enjoyed them just the same.

It really only takes one or two creative touches to make a movie night extra special.  Hotel Transylvania would be a perfect one to pop in for your fam this weekend!