Disney Family Night: Snow White

One of the (many) things we're doing in preparation for our big trip to Disney World is to have a Disney Family Night about once a month until we leave . In short, we pick one of our favorite Disney movies and then create a themed night around it. It's a fun way to bridge the long wait!

One our recent movie nights featured Snow White and the Seven Dwarves...

 

Did you know Snow White takes place in Germany?  Or at least that's the country associated with this movie.  Strange, though, because I really see no German connections in the movie, do you?  Anyway, I went with it and followed a German theme. :)

Activities

:: We mined for gems.  I used one of our empty sensory tubs, filled it with plain rice and buried lots of acrylic gems within it.  James used various "tools" (small fish net, slotted spoon, spatula, tongs, etc.) to excavate the gems.

:: We cast coins into our wishing well. I added some small pebbles and water to a medium sized metal bowl, and gathered some coins in a small basket. I created a sign that said "I'm wishing... Throw coins into the well and make a wish".  James LOVED this activity and threw all 40 coins into the well (one by one) and made a wish each and every time.  So cute.  The metal bowl makes a satisfying "ting" kind of sound whenever a coin hits it. :)

:: We looked at the German items from our Europe Continent Bag.

:: We played "Guess the Dwarf" by acting out the various characteristics of each dwarf.

:: We listened to songs from the movie while prepping dinner.

:: We watched the movie (of course!).

Food

 

Keeping with the German theme, here's what was on our menu:

Appetizer: Gold Mining Sticks (mini pretzels sticks with melted cheese {aka gold} for dipping)

Dinner: Forest Berries (mixed berries), Sneezy's Sausage (grilled bratwurst), Grumpy's Potatoes (German potato salad)

Desert: Snow White's Sweet Apples (sliced apples with a bit of drizzled caramel)

Beverage: Witch's Brew (root beer) - for this I removed the label and since it's a dark beverage it really does look a bit sinister. : )  James was actually a bit nervous until he tasted it!

Decor

I decorated our place settings with the typical red, yellow, blue color scheme of Snow White.  I also  bought a big bunch of apples and arranged them in an apple picking basket, I gathered some of our woodland forest animals, and I set a large mirror near the table (think: "mirror mirror on the wall..."). 

~Our little Snow White~

Overall a very easy and enjoyable evening!  We also had a Finding Nemo night, which was a blast - I hope to post about that soon! Click here to see our other Disney nights - more to come!

~Thank you for your comments!~

Disney Family Night: 101 Dalmatians

One of the (many) things we're doing in preparation for our big trip to Disney World is to have a Disney Family Night about once a month until we leave . In short, we pick one of our favorite Disney movies and then create a themed night around it. It's a fun way to bridge the long wait!

James' (current) favorite Disney movie is 101 Dalmatians. He's really into puppies right now, and was ecstatic that we were going to spend a whole night focusing on puppies!

When I plan these nights I have four main "departments" in mind - food, decor, music, and activities. So, for decor, I try to lightly transform our kitchen/family room into that theme. I don't go ALL out, but just enough to give James a sense of being a part of the movie we're celebrating. He gets *SO* excited and filled with anticipation when he knows I'm decorating the kitchen, and I often catch him peeking through one of the windows to catch a preview! :)

For our 101 Dalmatians night, I printed off lots of little paw prints, cut them out, and taped them all over our kitchen & living room! I also arranged several of James' stuffed puppies in various places - hanging out of cabinets, sitting atop the counter - so it'd look like they were climbing all over everything. :)

I made some "puppy ears" for James. They seriously took me two minutes to make. I used one of my headbands, cut out two dalmatian ear-shaped pieces out of black felt and paper-clipped them to the headband. Easy peasy!

While dinner was cooking, we played a few games. One was "Find the Bone" - I bought (and later donated to our neighbor's dog) a real dog bone and hid it somewhere in the house. James put on his puppy ears to "listen for clues" on where to find it. I also printed off some activity sheets from here, and made a puzzle out of an image I found on Google Images. In an effort to add an educational twist to the night (I'm a teacher, what can I say?!), I created and printed out a little blurb about why dalmatians are fire dogs.

For dinner I tried to keep the movie's locale in mind - England. Here's what was on our menu:
:: Rolly's Chew Sticks (aka large pretzel rods)
:: Perdita's Pie (aka shepard's pie) - this is actually a long time favorite in our house. I know we don't make it quite the way the Brits do, though, and I'm sure it's very Americanized. It's super yummy - crumbled hamburger, gravy, and peas, topped with a thick layer of mashed potatoes and sprinkled with a bit of cheddar cheese.
:: Pongo's Punch (aka milk with tiny chocolate chips) - in the movie, the puppies are directed to a farm where they receive fresh milk. I was glad to be able to offer James milk with his meal and still keep in theme with the movie! :)
:: Lucky's Biscuits (aka bone shaped sugar cookies) - these were our dessert and were yum-may!
:: Patch's Pupcorn (aka popcorn) - we used the kind that has salt and pepper seasoning because it gave the popcorn a subtle dotted look. :) We enjoyed this halfway through the movie.

Click here to see our other Disney nights - more to come! Next up is Finding Nemo!

~Thank you for your comments!~

Disney Family Night: Toy Story

One of the (many) things we're doing in preparation for our big trip to Disney World is to have a Disney Family Night about once a month until we leave . In short, we pick one of our favorite Disney movies and then create a themed night around it. It's a fun way to bridge the long wait!

Last weekend we celebrated Toy Story!

Toy Story is one of my favorite Disney-Pixar movies, and it's a classic in my book. I remember being amazed by how fluid and life like the images were. And I'm a huge Tom Hanks fan, too. Anyway... we had such a fun night with this theme. Here's what we did:

To set the tone, I printed out some posters from here and here, and I arrange various books and toys around the room. We happen to have a Mr. Potato Head, some green army men, an Etch-A-Sketch, and a Barrel of Monkeys on hand. We also had the soundtrack to Toy Story (the 1st) playing in the background.

We prepared dinner together - here's what was on our menu:
:: Make Your Own Planet Pizza - I bought mini Biboli crusts and set out a variety of toppings for us to make our own pizzas. James loved this and said, "Finally, I can make my pizza the way I like it!" which meant adding about 100 pepperonis to his pie. (Mommy vetoed 95 of them.)
:: Lotso's Strawberry Salad - this one is a family favorite. Baby arugula, blue cheese, candied pecans, and strawberries, topped with balsamic vinegar dressing. Y-U-M.
:: Galatic Goo - this was our dessert. It was purple grape jello with star sprinkles on top. Ridiculously easy to make and a HUGE hit with James!
:: Alien Juice - this was our beverage. Crystal Lite lemonade made with sparkling water and a few drops of green food coloring (to give it that alien color). :)

While the pizzas were baking, we played a few games. James received a Toy Story memory game as a birthday present, so we played a short round of that as well as a few turns of "Find the Moon Rocks". For that game I placed a chocolate Hershey's Kiss inside a small piece of tin foil and then gently crumpled it up to resemble a moon rock. I hid these around the house and James went in search of them. :) I also created an activity with the Etch-A-Sketch where we all took turns trying to make certain shapes. James and his dad also made chains out of the monkeys from our Barrel of Monkeys.

I also put together this little guessing game - "Guess How Many Army Men Are In the Jar?" James took one look and - no joke - guessed the correct number within 1. Even my sweet Hubs was off by 5!

Our favorite game was "The Claw Game". I assembled a mystery bag full of Mr. Potato Head parts and created a checklist to go along with it. James had to reach his "claw" inside the bag and without looking, guess which piece he was holding. He checked off the pieces as he went along and afterwards created a finished Mr. Potato Head. Let me know if you're interested in the printable I made for this game - I'm happy to share it!

We didn't use these resources, but I ran across them while planning this night. I thought maybe some of you might like to use them: Toy Story Pre-K Pack & Toy Store Fun Book. And of course there are TONS of ideas on Pinterest and DisBoards.

At the end of each Disney night, James randomly selects the next theme from a basket. Coming up:

101 Dalmatians!! (Awesome movie tickets from here!)

Click here to see our other Disney nights - more to come!

~Thank you for your comments!~

Disney Family Night: The Lion King

One of the (many) things we're doing in preparation for our big trip to Disney World is to have a Disney Family Night about once a month until we leave . In short, we pick one of our favorite Disney movies and then create a themed night around it. It's a fun way to bridge the long wait!

Last weekend we celebrated The Lion King. (cue the music: "...it's the circle of liiiiife and it moves it us alllllll....") :D

Here's what we did:

While dinner was grilling, we listened to The Lion King soundtrack and looked through the contents of our Africa Continent Bag.

~photo taken by Mstr. James, Up and Coming Photographer~ :)

James and The Hubs also enjoyed a few rounds of "Find the Lion Cubs". They took turns hiding James' little stuffed animals around the house and went on "safaris" to find them. :)

For dinner I decorated the table with some straw mats and giant placemats shaped like leaves. I've had those leaf mats for YEARS (like, over 10!) and this is the first time they'd been used! I also created little cards for each food item.

Here's what was on our menu:
:: Savannah Salad (mixed greens with various veggies)
:: Zazu's Chicken Legs (grilled drumsticks)
:: Pride Rock Potatoes (roasted rosemary potatoes)
:: Broccoli Tree of Life (steamed broccoli)
:: Timon's Grubs Under A Log (aka ants on a log... you know - celery, peanut butter, and raisins. I turned the celery over to give it the "under a log" effect. :D)
:: For dessert: Rafiki's Banana Pudding (instant pudding with a few animal crackers on top)
:: To drink: Jungle Juice (I used this recipe from Disney World's Animal Kingdom Lodge - YUM.)

Since our menu was so large, I only made a little of everything. And we still had left overs. (Score! No cooking for me the next day!)

After dinner we had a look through the Africa pages in our favorite Children's Encyclopedia.

Then we watched the movie. And what a good one it is, too. I created a game for us to play while we watched: I selected and printed out various memorable quotes which we all had to listen for. If one of us heard a quote, we'd "steal" the crown from the last person who heard a quote. It was fun and a neat way to really listen to the movie and the message.

Here's my favorite quote:

Ah yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see, you can either run from it or learn from it. ~Rafiki

At the end of each Disney night, James randomly selects the next theme from a basket. Coming up: Toy Story!

Click here to see our other Disney nights - there are more to come!

~Thank you for your comments!~

Disney Family Night: The Three Caballeros

One of the (many) things we're doing in preparation for our big trip to Disney World is to have a Disney Family Night about once a month until we leave . In short, we pick one of our favorite Disney movies and then create a themed night around it. It's a fun way to bridge the long wait!

Our first DFN movie was The Three Caballeros. Here's what we did...

We decorated with homemade paper flowers, a FIESTA banner, a photo of the 3 Cabs. While we made dinner we listened to Mexican & Cuban music and later we had a little dance party with our maracas (which are actually from Mexico!) while listening to the movie soundtrack.

And what's fun without learning something in the process?! :) I gathered some materials from our North America & South America Continent Bags, bookmarked a few pages in our Children's Encyclopedia, printed out a map of Mexico, and put together a list of common Spanish phrases for James to learn. He particularly enjoyed the Spanish phrases since he L-O-V-E-S anything to do with foreign languages.

While dinner was cooking, we played "Donde este Donald?" (where is Donald). I hid a rubber duck as we don't have an actual Donald duck. :) James had lots of fun with this and we all took turns playing and telling the seeker if they were "hot" or "cold".

For dinner we enjoyed some Mexican fare. Chips & dips for appetizers, tacos for the main course, and Dulce de Leche (ice cream) for dessert. Oh and I found some imported Mexican juice in the ethic section of the grocery store. Hubs and I may or may not have splurged on a margarita (or two). :) I made little signs for each food "station", and we used special drinking glasses and place settings.

After dinner we watched the movie during which we made sombreros. SUPER easy craft and even my non-crafty boy had fun making it!

(BTW, for our banner and dinner signs I used fonts from here.)

We had an absolute blast during our Disney Family Night and we're excited for next month's fiesta!

Click here to see our other Disney nights - there are more to come!

~Thank you for your comments!~