With all these beautiful summer days, it’s easy to stay pretty busy soaking in all the endless opportunities for outdoor fun . . . trips to the beach, hikes up in the mountains, bike rides, walks to ice cream shops, farmers markets . . . the list goes on and on.
But sometimes we all need a chill day at home right?! A day where we can just hang out in our pj’s all day long? So something we have been doing in our family for the last couple summers that has been great for us, is having one day a week where we don’t make any plans, My kids still look forward to this chill day because it means it is the day we have our MOVIE MATINEE! Woot woot!
Truth be told, our Movie Matinee is basically just watching a movie one afternoon, but we make it a little extra special by doing a couple easy things.
Instead of just saying: “Today why don’t you watch a movie?” (which generally, in our home, entices little to no interest!), try this instead: “Hey kids! Today (and every Wednesday) we are going to have a movie matinee right here in our house!”
And then do these few little things to make it feel like a special event:
1. Have the movie already chosen (I have found it works best if I have the movie decided the day before our movie matinee and keep it a surprise)
2. Let the kids bring their pillow and favorite blanket to get all comfy for the movie.
3. It’s fun to have movie treats available too! (around here, the kids can buy the movie treats with dots they have earned from doing summer workshop—link to summer workshop post)
4. Close all the drapes & blinds to make it dark like a real movie theater.
We have had a lot of fun doing this over the last couple summers. Sometimes I join them for the movie, but most of the time, I steal away to another room for a couple hours of uninterrupted time for myself!