100 DAYS TIL DISNEY!!
((okay, it's actually a few days less than that now))
When deciding how I wanted to countdown to our Disney vacation, I began searching that ever-so-popular site, Pinterest. Can you believe how many ideas are on that thing? I must admit...I'm a Pinning Junkie. Especially with an iPhone, it's so easy to just tap on the app and pin away. A recurring theme I found was Disney Movie Nights. I think this is a unique way to prepare and introduce my daughter to some specific movies that play a big role in the magic of Disney World. Obviously, most of the rides and activities there are fashioned after the wonderful films Disney and Pixar have created.
To kick-off our Family Movie Night Countdown, I chose to feature Finding Nemo. From Finding Nemo the Musical to Turtle Talk with Crush and The Seas with Nemo & Friends...the story of the lost clownfish is quite prevalent at WDW.
Below are the ideas that came to life during our first Family Movie Night. As we all know, a trip to Disney is anything but cheap. My plan is to keep all our movie nights under $10.
Table Setting
I got the blue table cloth and blue plates from Dollar Tree for $1 each and already had the green napkins and orange cups. I can use the leftover plates in the future. The treat bags (which really served no purpose...) were an awesome find at the local Party Supply store that day for 54 cents with tax!! I discovered the very cool "tickets" on Pinterest but they can be found here. If you look at her blog, you can see that her Nemo movie night served as the main source of inspiration for ours.
Menu: Octopus Hotdog, Marlin's Anemone,
Seanut Butter & Jellyfish Sandwiches & Dory's Delightful Dessert
Plated Meal
I just found a nice sized image on Google and added the menu in Paint. I don't have any fancy editing software so I just do what I can with that. I hung it on our front door and Lil was so excited to see it when we pulled into the drive way. She shouted, "There's something on the door!" I had given her the ticket when I picked her up after work so she knew it was going to be a special night. Dory's Delightful Dessert didn't turn out quite as well as I had planned. I made blue Jell-O with swimming Swedish Fish and a Cool Whip topping. Lil also enjoyed blue Mondo "Ocean Water" as her drink.
Dollar Tree Clownfish Craft
Fish Stickers!
Fishing
Our three activities of the evening were purchased for $1 each, again from the Dollar Tree. I love that place! While I was preparing dinner, I let Lil work on the clownfish craft and do a little fishing. She thought that was so cool as did our kitten - she jumped right in! The clownfish craft also came with a sea turtle and an angel fish (I think??) like the black, white and yellow one Nemo meets in the fish tank at the Dentist office. I thought that was pretty neat...especially for $1. Lil picked out the fishing activity when we were at the store and of course I let her get it...it worked perfectly with our theme! I did splurge a little and purchased the Finding Nemo shirt from Walmart for $5-6. I hadn't intended on spending that additional money but boom there it was so I scooped it up.
Table
You'll have to forgive the crappy picture of the table set up and jellyfish. I snapped the photo as I was walking out the door to pick Lil up. I knew by the time I was able to take another picture, it wouldn't look quite as nice so I just took one on my way out. The jellyfish was just made with two of the blue plates and some blue streamers I purchased from Dollar Tree as well. I can use them again for future movie nights too.
If you're keeping track, that was about $13 spent plus the cost of food which wasn't very much. I would have come in well under my $10 goal had I not picked up that shirt but I couldn't help myself. You don't see many Finding Nemo items anymore and it was still pretty inexpensive. Lil said she had a lot of fun and she's already asking when our next movie night will be. I'm glad she enjoyed herself even though she only watched about 10 minutes of the movie that night because she wanted to watch Dumbo instead (lol). She did pretty much finish it the next morning though.
The planning is already underway for the second Family Movie Night. No countdown to Disney would be complete without Cinderella! I hope to write a none-countdown post between now and then though...perhaps one with a little Disney family history...mine, not Walt's! Thanks again for visiting!
See ya real soon!
Casey
Our family makes it a point to do Disney movie nights during our countdown to Disney vacations, they are so much fun! We are currently on a countdown to a Disney cruise this fall and just crossed over the 150 day mark so starting to do a little research for our first movie night of this countdown, Finding Nemo, and stumbled across your blog. Looks like fun! Since your next movie night is Cinderella, I thought I would share our Cinderella movie night last fall before our trip to the world incase you were still searching for ideas (http://speakingofdisney.blogspot.com/2012/09/cinderella-family-movie-night.html). Have a magical day!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jordan! I'm new to this blogging thing but have really been enjoying it. I'm excited for our Cinderella movie night tomorrow night...in fact, I've been using your blog as inspiration for some of my nights, especially the Cinderella one! However, I can't find wheels anywhere and that was my favorite part! Thanks again!! I'm sure I'll be checking yours out frequently!
DeleteThanks! The wheel pasta was difficult to locate. I finally had to ask our local grocer if they carried any and after going to look, they somehow found what I hadn't been able to. If that doesn't work, try World Market if you have them in your area. They often offer pasta shapes you can't find anywhere else. Also try Target.
DeleteLet me know when you stop by my blog, as it is always fun to know when people read it! I'm sure you feel the same! I hadn't been as active in the last several months as my family has recently moved into a new house but now that we are settled, I'm planning on adding more content more often.
May I suggest adding a subscribe and follow buttons so that people can keep up with you if they wish? You can view mine on the right hand side of my blog if you want an example. Subscribing sends posts directly to a persons email (count not visible to the public) and following someone puts your blog on their blogster dashboard (count visible to public). I didn't see any of those on your blog. The subscribe at the bottom of each post only allows someone to follow that individual post. Does that make sense?
I'll definitely have to do that! I'm excited for this whole blogging thing but I don't know how to do a lot when it comes to interacting with other blogs and linking in??? I just decided I needed a place to share my Disney obsession lol. Also, I see your nickname for your little one is 'Lil...mine too but that's really her name ;)
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