12 movie night essentials for fun family time at home, as recommended by a dad of 2

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• Family movie nights offer a great way to bring the gang together and enjoy a special evening at home.
• Once you have your setup in place, family movie nights are a fun, budget-friendly activity.
• With a compact digital projector, some snacks, and comfy seating, you can enjoy a big screen experience at home without the need to reorganize the room.
• If you're considering which streaming services offer the best movies for your family's viewing preferences, you can try out Disney Plus, Hulu, and Netflix through their free trial periods.

Who said you have to go out and spend money to have a great evening the family will long remember and frequently want to recreate? A family movie night is a budget-friendly, easy, and enjoyable way to spend time together.

The key to a successful movie night at home is making it special. When you have great snacks, sweet treats, comfy seats and blankets, and of course, something great on the screen, that's a recipe for meaningful shared time as parents, kids, and siblings.

Whether your family is diehard Disney, is a "How to Train Your Dragon" kind of group, or more of a "Spenser Confidential," picking the best movie for a family movie night is important. But just as important is how you set up the evening. There should be a dedicated start time and a specific way you arrange your viewing space, whether that's beanbag seats on the floor for the kids or everyone gathered on a large sectional. Comfy blankets are pretty much mandatory. And of course, you need special snacks and treats.

You also need to have realistic expectations. If you have younger kids, like I do, movie "night" is always at least two or sometimes three nights — you can't expect a younger child to have the stamina to watch a feature-length film in one sitting. You also can't expect older kids not to occasionally glance at their phones.

What you can do is create the potential for a great family movie night with some of the suggestions we've gathered below, and then sit back and relax and enjoy the show.