Family Movie Night featuring War Room!

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Hey party peeps! We do family movie nights frequently in our house as it is the one time that we can all get together, put our devices down and enjoy time together. My husband works a lot and doesn’t get the chance to go see movies with the kids in the theaters often, so when movies release on DVD, it’s like a movie premiere for us! As a Christian family, Sony Pictures’ War Room is a movie that we have been waiting to see with our kids. When I saw it was releasing today, I headed to Walmart to grab the must-have supplies—popcorn, soda and candy for our FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT featuring WAR ROOM! While in Walmart I came across this fabulous offer. Buy all of these products in one transaction (Orville Redenbacher 6 pack Movie Theatre Popcorn, a 6-pack of Coca-Cola and Peanut and Plain M&M’S® Chocolate Candies) between 12/22/15 and 2/2/16, take a photo of your receipt, upload it to uploadreceipt.com/movienight and a $10 VUDU movie code will be emailed to you. (While supplies last. Limit 1 per person). I thought this was perfect as I have been wanting to try making caramel and chocolate popcorn with the kids so Orville Redenbacher and M&M’S® Chocolate Candies were already on my shopping list, Coca-Cola is a must have for any movie night and getting $10 off a digital copy of War Room was just icing on the cake!

INVITE YOUR FAMILY TO FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT!

Our family movie nights always begin with a creative way to announce to the kids that it’s movie night and what movie we are seeing. Sometimes we leave an invite in their lunchbox, on their bed or sometimes, they just walk in from school to a house decorated in the theme of the movie. For the movie, War Room, I placed a popcorn bucket filled with bags of Orville Redenbacher popcorn, containers of Plain and Peanut M&MS® Chocolate Candies and a mystery “Guess The Movie” invite on the kitchen counter at breakfast that invites them to join me and their Dad for Movie Night that night. There’s a clue on the bottom so that they can try to guess the movie. I also happened to put Daddy’s Full Armor of God decor piece by the invite basket for an additional hint.

MAKE CARAMEL & CHOCOLATE POPCORN!

To set the tone for an amazing family movie night experience, get the kids involved in making the snacks. I invited the kids to join me to make Caramel and Chocolate Popcorn! It’s an easy recipe and takes minutes to make so you can make it right after dinner and get to watching the movie.

HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
– 1 bag of Orville Redenbacher Movie Theatre popcorn
– 1/2 cup brown sugar
– 1/4 cup butter
– 1/2 cup corn syrup (light)
– 1/4 tsp salt
– 1/4 tsp baking soda
– M&M’S® Chocolate Candies (peanut or plain. I used plain here)

HERE’S HOW TO MAKE THEM:
STEP 1: Pop the bag of popcorn in the microwave according to the package instructions and put it in a 9×12 baking dish.

STEP 2: In a saucepan, mix together the brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt. Heat on medium for 5 minutes, stirring frequently so it doesn’t stick. After 5 minutes, the caramel mixture will be fully melted together and bubbly. Turn the heat off then add the baking soda and stir. The mixture will begin to look foamy.

STEP 3: Pour the caramel mixture over the popped popcorn in the 9×12 baking dish and immediately stir it to coat the popcorn. Top with a handful of Plain M&M’S® Chocolate Candies and transfer to a serving bowl.

HOST A FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT WITH MY TOP 5 “GIRLFRIEND TIPS”!

1. Set up an easily-accessible snack bar.
2. Provide cozy blankets for everyone.
3. Use a popcorn machine to hold extra popcorn for easy refills.
4. Turn off all cell phones.
5. Set the tone for the movie with cool themed decorations.

WAR ROOM DECORATIONS & SNACK BAR!

For all of our movie nights I simply pull out our folding table and place it right under the TV. I usually always fill up our tabletop popcorn maker with a few bags of extra popped popcorn so that we can get refills easily on our own without having to pause the movie to pop more popcorn. The M&M’S® Chocolate Candies I found at Walmart came in these convenient 3.5oz canisters (found at the check out aisle) and were the perfect size for a movie snack. Guest can grab one of those or I also pour some into a bowl and have them out so we can grab some to mix in to our popcorn. We, of course, served the yummy sweet and salty Caramel & Chocolate Popcorn. I also displayed my hubby’s favorite—Coca-Cola on the snack bar. How perfect are these “Soulmate” labeled bottles!

The movie is all about how praying can make huge difference in the life of a family. As Christian parents, my husband and I have witnessed the power of prayer in our own lives and wanted our kids to see this movie so they too can see what happens when you put your faith in GOD and pray. When trying to decide on how to decorate for this, I immediately looked to the movie itself for inspiration. The movie is centered around a mother who was taught to write down her prayer requests on paper to help her family and marriage through a difficult time. She places them all over the wall in her closet—her “War Room”— then prays for those things daily in the room. Inspired by this, I decorated with with sticky notes that I covered the fireplace mantel with to symbolize prayer requests. I also got both our daughters a clipboard with a personalized prayer request sheet that they could hang in their rooms to remind them to pray daily for those things they write down. The clipboards were also part of the decor. Also in the movie, the mom gave her daughter a prayer journal so I also placed a prayer journal and pen for each of our daughters on the table which also added to the themed decor. When the movie was over, my husband and I presented the girls with the journals and clipboards and were touched when they immediately started writing down a few prayer requests of their own!

ARE YOU HOSTING YOUR OWN MOVIE NIGHT SOON?

Check out more family movie night ideas here. Don’t forget your must-have movie snacks AND be sure to take advantage of the VUDU offer.

Happy Holidays!
Tonya

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