How to Have a “Better for You” Family Movie Night at Home


This post is brought to you by CafeMom and Chex. All opinions are our own.

A few simple swaps can make your family movie night at home a lot better for you! Check out our favorite easy ways to make it fun and tasty for all!

I have a confession: I have a sweet tooth like you wouldn’t believe. If someone said to me “you can eat all the chocolate in the world with no consequences,” well, I don’t think I’d ever come up for air! Of course, there are consequences to over-indulging. You know that. I know that. My 10-year-old son is learning that.

I am SUPER proud of him because, at the start of summer, he came to me all on his own and said “mom, I am only going to have ONE junk food snack a day.” I thought for sure this would last all of one day. Nope, he’s sticking to it! In fact, on his birthday, I had to reassure him that it’s okay to have his cake even though he had chips earlier that day! He has way more willpower than I’ve ever had.

One area that we have problems with, though, is movie night. Even my son, with all his willpower, gets the major munchies when we pop in a flick or load up the streaming service. Me? Well, I’m a fan of sweet and salty, as in “dump a bag of chocolate chips into the extra butter popcorn!” Since I’m trying to eat healthier and live up to the good example that my son is setting, I’ve come up with a few easy ways to have a healthier family movie night at home that won’t leave you feeling sad and deprived. Check them out!

5 “Better For You” Family Movie Night Ideas

Go Old-Fashioned: Skip the microwave popcorn and break out the air popper. Air-popped popcorn has fewer calories and it’s fun to make! Add flavor with those sprinkle mixes that have like zero fat and very few calories. They actually work pretty well.

Mix it Up: Can’t stand to give up the sweet and salty? Make your own movie mix with Chex! They’re Gluten Free, have no artificial flavors and no colors from artificial sources. No high-fructose corn syrup either.  I absolutely love the texture and the rich chocolate taste. You can make pretty much any type of movie mix with all the varieties of Chex. I used pretzels and Chocolate TM Chex Cereal to make mine, so good!

Craving sweet and salty? Don't dump chocolate chips on your extra-butter popcorn! Instead, try Chocolate Chex mixed with pretzels! Soo good!

Get Fruity: If you crave candy, go with nature’s own variety! Frozen fruit tastes just like candy if you get it when it’s in season and freeze it right away. Grapes are one of the best fruits to pop in your mouth out of the freezer. Blueberries are pretty awesome too. You can also cut apples into chunks and mix with Cinnamon TM Chex for a neat “apple pie” experience.

Have a Theme Night: If you’re watching movies that take place in another country, look up some of their healthier fare and plan a “dinner and a movie” night. For example, if your family is watching a movie that takes place in Greece, you could research Greek dinners and choose something as a family. Make a menu that includes desserts or snacks. Then break out the TV trays and break the “no dinner in the living room” rule for one night.

Plan Intermission Activities: If you’re having a marathon family movie night, make sure you plan intermissions to get up and move. Too much sitting and munching just isn’t good for you. After each movie, play an active game. A few rounds of musical seats is a good one!

Just a few simple changes can make your family movie night a lot better for everyone without eliminating the tastes that make it so special. It’s the good stuff that you still love, just without the other stuff that you don’t!

Looking for more fun ways to liven up your family movie night snacks? Check out the Chex website. They have tons of awesome recipes! Head over to their Pinterest page for even more inspiration. Follow Chex on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with news!

What little swaps do you do to make your family night better for you? Let us know your tips in the comments!

28 thoughts on “How to Have a “Better for You” Family Movie Night at Home”

  1. Having a great movie night is something we love to do! This sweet and salty snack mix would be a great addition to any night. It is easy to make, and will be a hit for sure.

  2. We love having family movie nights. I always have to break out the air popper because it just tastes so much butter. And everyone wants some.
    I love the chex mix idea though because I always have to have sweet and salty together.

  3. I love the idea of intermission activities. We also snack a lot on movie night and this is a great way to get everyone up and moving for a little while between movies and snacks.

    1. Our Family World

      Games and raffles are a great idea! You could get some prizes from the dollar store and use the movies you are watching as a theme for games :) Have fun!

  4. I do so like the frozen fruit idea – I didn’t think of grapes! I plan to use that and already love frozen blueberries! Thanks for the great list of ideas!

  5. Bonnie @ wemake7

    These are really great suggestions. Chex mix is a really great snack for movie nights and family get togethers.

  6. It would be hard to give up sweet and salty. Those are the best flavor combos together, evah evah! :) WE like Chex here too.

  7. These are some great ideas for having a better family movie night. I love the idea of the frozen grapes or the apple chunks with cinnamon chex. Yummy!!!! Thanks for sharing.

    1. Our Family World

      You will have to come back and tell us what theme you chose! Also, share what you ate, we all love good food :)

  8. You can’t go wrong with theme nights – the theme sets the tone and makes the movie night ‘customized’. Everyone in the family can have assignments with the theme. We do theme nights once a month in our home and it’s always a blockbuster.

  9. What a great way to spend quality family time together making memories over movie night! Family is very precious to me and best to appreciate each and every member while they are still here!

  10. I have never had a certain night that was considered family night. As we spend alot of time as a family together. When we do choose a night, we tend to go outside and start a fire or grill out.

    1. Our Family World

      That is so great you get to spend a lot of time together as a family! Spending time outside is important as well. Maybe once a month or on a good rainy night you can all snuggle under the blankets for some movies! :)

  11. Love these suggestiosn Nicole! I like the idea of having a theme. My kids are grown but we still love movie night and they are silly enough to partiicpate in a theme night :).

    Thanks for sharing these!

    Cori

    1. Our Family World

      Theme nights are for people of all ages! Everyone learns something new and tries some new food too, how fun is that? Enjoy!

Leave a Reply to HilLesha Cancel Reply

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