Movie Night: Spookley the Square Pumpkin

This movie is just too cute.  It suitable for any age and it has a great message.  Around here, we love Spookley the Square Pumpkin!

For the table I ordered a plush Spookley from trusty old Amazon.  The ceramic square pumpkins are from Hobby Lobby.  Before and after movie night they've been mixed in with the other Halloween decor around the house and I love them.  I've had the little glass candy corn table scatters forever.  I'm pretty sure I called ON THE PHONE and gave someone a CATALOG ORDER NUMBER.  I might has well have brought them west with me on a covered wagon.

The tablecloth is one I've had for years from Pottery Barn.

I also had the orange square plates and I used a simple green paper napkin for the "stem."

I simply folded it lengthwise twice and tucked under the plates.

I made fun little appetizers from a photo I saw on Pinterest.

I used peanut butter sandwich crackers, a green Airhead, black icing for the smiles, and white icing to attach the "stems" and candy eyes.   A "stickier" icing probably would have worked better, but it was what I had on hand.

I count any day I break out the candy eyes as a success!

These little Spookleys look so cute and happy!  They are not perfect but you guys... neither was Spookley and he taught us THAT'S OK.

Obviously I'm not a very skilled piper.  Which makes me think of this...

Oh, I crack myself up.

Dinner was a simple one but still went with the pumpkin theme.  This pasta from Trader Joe's is so pretty.

I added TJ's Autumnal Harvest sauce, sausage, a little Parmesan.  I served it with a quick Caesar salad and bread.

Trader Joe's also made our dessert!  

I'll leave you with a little bonus tip since this movie is great for preschoolers.  If your kiddos are at an age where it's hard for you to get dinner on the table because they are so "busy"... you can often find free coloring sheets related to the movie to print off on Pinterest or just by googling it.  I did this a lot when my kids were smaller (with various movie nights) and it helps keep them busy while you prep and gets them excited for the movie.

If you haven't seen this one yet, you can catch it on The Disney Channel this time of year.  Dare to be square!

Movie Night: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

As much as I enjoy Halloween, I'm pretty picky about Halloween movies for my kids.  We want to stay away from sorcery, spells and anything too creepy.  (I'm looking at you, Spooky Buddies.)  We do have a few favorites we watch year after year.  Our first one up this October is It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

I found the little wooden tag at Joann Fabrics a while back.  It's perfect to hang on a pumpkin for the table.  One of my go-to moves is to buy a yard of fabric and just "scrunch" it under a centerpiece.  It's quick and easy.

The plastic cups are from the "party and cards" aisle at my grocery store.  The figurines are from Zulily.  My kids both love little characters like this.

This movie night tends to look basically the same every year, but I do switch it up slightly.   Sometimes we use the cups for candied popcorn.  

Another time I made little pumpkin cheeseballs.

I had a lot of themed food that night... and it was clearly back in the sippy cup days.  Sigh.

This year I served barbecue nachos for dinner. That has nothing to do with the movie, nachos are just delicious.

For dessert, we had these darling cookies from Trader Joe's.

Another time I scored some Great Pumpkin crunch bars!

I love when I find coordinating paper products for a movie night.  

Even better is finding "permanent" items... especially for those movies you watch year after year.  I've got my eye on the new Peanuts Collection at Pottery Barn Kids.

I need these plates, right?

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown isn't exactly action-packed, but it's a classic.  My kids laugh every time Charlie Brown gets rocks!

Movie Night: Eloise at the Plaza

My husband and I just returned from a trip to New York City to celebrate my 40th birthday.  One of our many stops was The Plaza Hotel where we enjoyed a cupcake and popped into the Eloise store.  It was right there, perusing all the darling pink merchandise, that our next movie night idea was born.  My daughter enjoys the Eloise books, so I knew this one would be a hit.  Eloise at the Plaza called for all things girly and fun.

We ate in the dining room for this one, which always feels like a treat.  My table is an antique that belonged to my grandmother and is a unique size.  Taking out the leaf, it's more suitable for our family of four and fits more of the tablecloths I acquired before the table became ours.

So, I put down a black tablecloth and went to my wrapping paper stash for a splash of pink.  This striped paper is from IKEA.  I planned to use it as more of a runner across the length of the table, but this was all I had left.  It worked just fine.  I grabbed pink chargers, white plates, and looked through my collection of girly dessert plates.  I pulled out this set which dates back to my newlywed days.  

On a different day or in a different mood I might have chosen to donate these plates since they are a little outdated.   This day I was happy to have them!  As Eloise would say, they looked "rawther fancy."

For the centerpiece I love to use the DVD if we have it.  I grabbed the tray off my kitchen table and used a pink vase I had to hold hot pink roses.  I felt like this movie night table called for flowers and we enjoyed them throughout the following week.

For dinner, I did my best to make it both easy and elegant.  On this particular afternoon we had a school event and my son had soccer practice.  I had a brisket with bacon cooking in the slow cooker all day (not fancy but delicious).  I served it with roasted brussels sprouts and these colorful carrots I found at Trader Joe's.  I thought the carrots were so pretty.

I've had these little poofy coaster things forever and they added a flair that is surely Eloise-approved.  My kids had Shirley Temples to drink and the color fit perfectly!

While I was running around that day I picked up these mini cupcakes at the grocery store.  I served them on these NYC map napkins I brought home from my trip.

The movie was cute and funny.  We all truly enjoyed Eloise and her antics in the hotel.  The only thing is that Eloise says, "oh my lord," which I could do without.  

As a side note, I have both a daughter and a son.  Sometimes we do really girly movie nights, sometimes we do really boyish ones.  I don't stress about perfectly catering to everyone every time and they don't complain.  

Thank you for joining me today!