Tips for choosing movies for family movie night

Sep 28, 2012 12:00 PM by Kori Ellis

Posted in Parenting / Family Fun / Family Activities

Fun Family Flicks

Family movie night is a fun tradition that kids of all ages enjoy. It provides an opportunity for the entire family to spend quality time together while being introduced to new films and classic favorites. Follow these tips for choosing movies for family movie night, and enjoy the show!

Family watching movie at home

Set a theme for the month

At the beginning of each month, select a theme for your family movie nights for that particular month. For example in October, you can watch ghost movies. In December, Christmas classics are perfect. And in February, romantic comedies are ideal.

Consider the ages of your children

You will need to choose movies that your whole family can understand and enjoy. If your kids are far apart in age, pick two films for every movie night. The more juvenile film can be viewed first with the entire family. At "intermission," you can put the younger children to bed and then watch the other film with your older children.

Pick a recent release

If you want to watch a new movie, visit redbox.com, netflix.com or moviefone.com where you can browse the latest DVD releases. These websites allow you to sort the movies by genre to help find the perfect flick for your family.

Select an animated film

A large number of animated films have been released — and re-released — in recent years. These movies are fun family choices that children of all ages love, but are particularly suited for younger kids. Select one of these animated favorites:

Beauty and the Beast
Brave
Finding Nemo
Ice Age series
Kung Fu Panda series
Madagascar series
Monsters, Inc.
The Lion King
The Lorax
Rango
Shrek series
Toy Story series
WALL-E

Check out one of the classics

Have your kids seen all the classic family movies? Introduce them to one of your childhood favorites or a movie from decades gone by. We suggest:

A Christmas Story
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Escape to Witch Mountain
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Freaky Friday
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Lady and the Tramp
Mary Poppins
Swiss Family Robinson
The Absent-Minded Professor
The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Love Bug
The Parent Trap
The Sound of Music
The Wizard of Oz
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory

Watch a series of movies

Your family also may enjoy watching a series of films over a month or two of family movie nights. Pick from one of these series (and remember to consider the age of your kids):

Back to the Future series
Batman movies
Jaws films
Pirates of the Caribbean series
Raiders of the Lost Ark movies

Rocky films
Star Trek series
Star Wars films
The Harry Potter series
The Twilight Saga

Take a vote

Once the parents have narrowed down their movie ideas to three or four choices, allow the entire family to vote and decide which film you will watch on family movie night. Take the vote several days before family movie night so that you can secure the DVD from Netflix or the video store.

More tips to make family movie night fun

Pick a day and time to host family movie night each and every week.
Provide plenty of comfortable seating, including bean bag chairs and cozy pillows.
Watch vintage cartoons before the movie begins, like many theater-goers used to do.
Turn off cell phones, computers and other distractions.
Buy oversized boxes of movie theater candy — Raisinettes, Red Vines, Milk Duds, etc.
Make popcorn and sprinkle it with different flavors — cinnamon sugar, nacho cheese, Cajun spices, Parmesan and garlic, and chili lime.

More tips for family movie night

Tips for finding family friendly movies
5 Ways to make family movie night fun
Make your own movie night tickets

Tags: family fun family movie night family movies

Comments

Comments on "Tips for choosing movies for family movie night"

Great tips and suggestions. I'm going to add some of these to my Netflix Queue asap. I like the idea of watching a series. It will provide a few weeks of fun (we have Friday Family movie night here) and give the kids something to look forward to.