Disney's ABC Halloween movie line-up

We LOVE Halloween in our home and all of the autumn goodness that comes with it.  When the California weather finally decides to cooperate, nothing is better than the doors open on a cool evening, chili in the crock pot, apple candles burning, a blanket and movie to cuddle up with.

I love Disneyland at Halloween-time (heck, I love Disneyland anytime when it isn't crowded).  We have taken the kids down a few times for the Halloween party and spent our 6th anniversary there as well, where the hubby and I dressed as Mary Poppins and Bert the chimney sweep.  

When we cannot go to Disneyland, the next best thing is Disney at home.  Halloween movie nights are a tradition in my home and I love the movie line-up that ABC puts out.  They play all of your favorite Halloween movies and often have encore presentations in case you miss them.  

These are not all of the movies that will be playing.  I just focused on the night's main feature.  Go to their website to get the full line-up.  Enjoy!!!

{365} Challenge: Frozen Movie Night

Yesterday was the DVD release of Disney's Frozen, to the delight of Disney fans everywhere.  My kids had no idea that I pre-ordered it months ago and have been eagerly awaiting its arrival in the mail.  If you have not yet ordered it, you can get it here.

Because of Baby B, we never made it to the theater to watch this new classic, so I made this movie release into a fun, themed, dinner night.

To start things off, I wanted to set the mood with the proper decor.  I found some light blue tablecloths at the dollar store to hang as bunting in our dining room.  To add to the look, I added some glittery flower-shaped bunting that kind of resembled snowflakes that I had in my party supplies.  Glitter was everywhere.

I also found some cute printables to slip into a few frames over at Paging SuperMom.

I set up the table for the boy's return from school with snacks to start the afternoon and evening off.  I even found a cute board book for Baby B.  I thought about picking up some of the figurines or dolls, but since Baby B is so young and the boys don't care about dolls - I passed on this.

I found some cute carrot "eggs" from the dollar store that I filled with some carrot-shaped chocolates.  

For drinks I put out blue Gatorade with carrot straws I also found at the dollar store.

Just like at a restaurant, I provided the boys with some table entertainment by printing out some Frozen mazes I found at Mom Endeavors.  She has a lot of great Frozen printables on her page, but my boys are old enough that the coloring pages don't catch their interest much anymore. 

For dinner I served "Troll Stone" Sandwiches (the sandwiches being a reference to the song "Love is an Open Door" and "Forest Trees."

Even Baby B joined in with dinner with some of the asparagus.  We are doing Baby-led Weaning .  I do not think she cared for asparagus.

To top it all off, for dessert I made cake pop snowmen.  This was messy to make, but fun and tasty.

I am sure most of you know how to make cake pops by now (there are tutorials all over the internet), but just in case, here is a quick run-down of how I made these.

First, bake a cake according to package directions.  After it is done and cooled, crumble it and mix it with a tub of cake frosting.  For the snowmen I did a white cake with vanilla frosting.

Form the cake mixture into balls.  I made 4 sets in three sizes to form the snowmen.  There was still a lot left over so I scooped a bunch more with a cookie scoop to make "snowballs."  Then place in the freezer on a cookie sheet for a few hours until hardened.

Once they are frozen, melt some chocolate coating (I used Bright White Candy Melts) and dip the cake balls into the melted chocolate.  Keep the cake balls that you are not working with in the freezer.  If they start to thaw, they will just fall apart in the melted chocolate.

Here is the important part to make the snowmen: as you place the cake balls on a wax-paper lined tray to set, sprinkle them with shredded coconut.  This is also the time to build your snowmen.  I found out the hard way that this is very difficult to do once the chocolate has set.  I used the cake pop sticks (cut short) to keep the three cake balls in line with each other.

For the carrot noses, I sliced up a baby carrot.  Then I took a meat thermometer (it has a sharp end) and poked holes where the nose goes and then inserted the carrot sliver.  I used frosting for the eyes.  Had I not waited for the chocolate to set, I could have inserted pretzel arms into the bodies, but I didn't want to chance breaking the snowmen by doing it after the chocolate had set.  Even armless, I still think they are cute.

After dinner we settled in for the movie.  Everyone enjoyed it and my husband was laughing loudly most of the movie.  This is definitely a Disney classic!

What is your favorite scene from Disney's Frozen?

Are you planning a Frozen movie night?  If so, what are your plans?  Share your links if you blog!

Themed Movie Night: Grinch Who Stole Christmas

Christmas is just a few days away, the kids are out of school, and hopefully you are not too busy to spend some quiet, quality time together at home.  Friday night was pretty much our last night of calm before the busy holiday activities begin and the last minute shoppers rushing to the mall create chaos in our town.

We are basically finished with Christmas shopping; there are a few presents left to wrap and I may go out for a few small stocking stuffers on Monday morning, but the important stuff is done.  Yay!

This left us with an empty night prime for family time.  There are so many great ideas for a Grinch night all over Pinterest, that this night was one of the easiest movie nights to plan. I had fun creating this evening and the boys seemed to really enjoy themselves.  Baby B did what she does best and slept through most of the activities.

Our menu included "Roast Beast" Sandwiches, Grinch Ka-bobs, Who-hash, and Grinch punch.

I made these cute "Grinch Pills" inspired by a post at Crafty Girl 21.  I hid them in the boy's stockings and they munched on them during the movie.

Here are my "Roast Beast" sandwiches and Who-Hash.  

To make the roast beast, I put a 2 lbs beef roast in the crock pot with a can of Beef Consume and 1 cup beef broth on high for 4 hours.  I sliced it up and served on Hawaiian Sweet rolls and put a little of the "juice" from the crock pot in a small bowl to dip the sandwiches in.  Yum!  My Who-Hash was really easy too.  I cooked up some hash browns, added a little shredded cheese, and baked in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.  I could have done more to these, but my boys are picky eaters. 

 These Grinch Ka-bobs were inspired from Nourishing Minimalism

I forgot the bananas.

This Grinch Punch from Taste of Home was delicious!  Mine turned out much more of a neon green than in the picture.  The recipe specified to use neon green food coloring (which I actually had already!), but I think the original post used regular green.  

 The boys were being goofy while eating and took silly pictures.  They had enjoyed the evening though!

Merry Grinchmas!!!

Themed Movie Night: The Santa Clause

The weather has been super chilly here in Northern California this week - which means we have been bundled up in the house staying warm.  We even got little snow flurries in my town which is a rare treat.  Well, this cold weather gave me another opportunity to have a themed movie night.
Tonight's film:

I really wanted to watch the original Santa Clause, but it was nowhere to be found.  Santa Caluse 3 was a perfect choice in the end with the frosty weather outside.  So, I guess it all works out. So here was the plan:

Here was a shot of dinner - I will post the recipes for the potatoes and Sleigh Sliders tomorrow.  They were delicious!  (Recipes here)

After dinner we made sleigh crafts.  The boys will bless unsuspecting people with these in the next few days.

To make the sleighs you need two candy canes, a piece of red cardstock measuring 5x2 inches, candy, a cellophane bag, ribbon, and a hot glue gun.  You could also use a candy bar instead of the cardstock, but I didn't have any around the house.

Glue the cardstock to the candy canes.  Hold in place until the glue is dry.

The boys then filled the bags with candy and tied it with a bow.

We put a little glue on the "sleigh" and let it cool slightly so it wasn't hot, but was still sticky.  Then we put a small dot of glue on the wrapper of a Santa chocolate and stuck that to the front.

TA-DA!

For dessert there was a choice of the leftover Christmas candy  I found these in the bulk bins at WinCo.

For dessert I made Santa Hat Brownies.  I saw the idea on Pinterest and tried to copy it.  As I am looking at this I realize that I forgot to add a dot of white frosting on the top!  Oh well!

After making our crafts we put on pjs and watched the movie while enjoying dessert.  Another successful night!

Themed Movie Night: Elf

With the sun setting by 5 p.m., the boys are inside earlier and always itching for something to do.  This week has been a cold one for Northern California so I planned a movie night for our family centered around one of our favorite Christmas movies, Elf.

The first thing that needed to be done was to put up some Elf-inspired decorations.  The boys and I cut up paper snowflakes to hang up (and they still don't want to stop making them) and strung them from the ceiling fan light in our living room.  I think by tomorrow's end I will have snowflakes all over the house.  I also took some sparkly gold paper I had on hand and cut them into strips for a paper chain garland.

Now, Buddy the Elf loves his four food groups: Candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup.  As a good mom, however, I know not to fill my kids with these treats before bed on a school night.  Trying to stay close to the movie, I made spaghetti like Buddy has during his first meal with his dad.

For a sweet treat after dinner, I gave the boys a few options to nibble on.  Trader Joe's seriously has the best snacks and treats.  I don't think it is possible for a person to walk out of there without one of the amazing goodies in their basket.  Today from TJ's I picked out some Candy Cane Truffles and Cocoa Drizzled Kettle corn.  I also put out some hot chocolate packets so we could enjoy some cocoa while watching the movie.  While drinking The World's Best Coffee might have been closer to the film, no one wants to deal with wired pre-teens on a weeknight.  I also happened to have on hand some Peppermint and Chocolate Chip Scones from Cost Plus World Market so I baked those while we ate dinner.

Dinner was perfect and the kids were excited to all be sitting down for a meal.  Like I have mentioned before, my husband typically works in the evenings, but this one of his night's off so we were all able to eat together tonight.  The big shocker came when Older Boy offered to pray before we ate.  He hasn't done this in years, I don't think.  He said a nice prayer where he gave thanks for his new sister and the money that provided the food and house.  So proud!

Younger Boy used dad as a bed and we all cuddled up and settled in to watch the film.  I am thinking we will be doing this more often - especially since I have some other themed nights running through my head.  Stay tuned!