Watching Movies at Home With Kids

While you can go to the theater to watch the latest blockbuster movies, sometimes it’s just nicer to stay at home; there are no crowds to deal with, it’s much cheaper to watch a movies at home, and you don’t have to worry about your kids running around or being loud in the theater.

Of course, the major downside to watching a movie at home with your kids is that you don’t usually get to watch the newest movies, and you may not get that buttery popcorn you find at the theater. The popcorn problem can be overcome easily enough (keep reading), so it’s really the first item that you’ll have to come to terms with.

Following are our tips to make your home movie experience the best that it can be.

Find a fun movie for the whole family

There are so many different ways to choose a movie these days that you should never really run out of things to watch at home. If you already subscribe to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, or some other streaming service, you can choose a movie from one of those. Each of them have a decent selection of family movies.

Every now and then, we like to treat ourselves to a newer movie that isn’t yet available on the streaming services we have. When that happens, we’ll gladly pay the rental fee to watch the movie at home instead of going to the theater - we easily save money by doing so. We usually set a budget for $15 at most for such a movie. Taking a family of 4 to the theater for $15 isn’t really possible unless you’re at the cheap theater (which is also a lot of fun). Spending that to enjoy the movie in the comfort of your own home can easily be worth it.

We also take turns choosing which movies we’ll be watching. When you have older children that all want to watch something different, this is a great way to allow them to each choose what they want to watch. It also allows you, as an adult, to introduce movies to your kids that they may not otherwise watch - some of the older classic movies.

Take a break after an hour

One of the best things about being at home is that you’re not required to be stuck in your seat the whole time. You can get up, move around, lay on the ground, or stand up in order to watch the movie.

If your kids are younger, or just have a hard time focusing on a movie for a long time, taking a break somewhere in the middle of the movie, or after an hour, is a great way to allow them to get their wiggles out.

One of our favorite intermission activities is to take timed turns going up and down the stairs to see who can do it the fastest. The main requirement is that you have to walk, not run, and then you go up to the top of the stairs and back down. This really gets your heart pumping before sitting back down to finish a movie.

You also don’t have to watch the entire movie in one sitting. You could watch half at one time and then half at another. This is easier when the movie is streamed freely, rather than rented, but it can still be done.

Get a popcorn machine

Photo by Georgia Vagim on Unsplash

The above ideas are all great, but one of the things we love most about the theater is the popcorn that you get there. It’s not healthy at all for you, but it’s one thing that we’ll generally indulge in when we do go. However, you don’t have to give up that buttery goodness by watching movies at home.

There are a lot of different options for making popcorn at home. We’ve found that this classic popcorn machine makes popcorn that tastes basically as good as what you get at the theater. If you use coconut oil for popping, you’ll get a flavor that’s very similar to what you get at the theater. You can then add whatever you’d like on top. We use everything from regular salt to special popcorn toppings. Whatever you choose to put on top, you’ll be able to enjoy your own theater popcorn at home.

Conclusion

Enjoy a movie at home with your family, and get your tasty treats, all for a fraction of the price of what it would cost to go to the theater.