Turn any night into a family night at home. Our favorite family dinner themes include a recipe, film, and game to play together.
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Note: This post was originally written in 2014 and updated in 2020 to add more ideas.
Every Friday night at my house, we have a family fun night. It started years ago as a way to reward the kids for good behavior. Some weeks, it seems like just making it to Friday deserves an award. Other times, we are celebrating the good things that happened during the week. Most of the time though, it is just a good way to unwind and spend time together.
I hope that by the time my children are teens that this tradition will be one they still enjoy. I have heard stories about typical teens hating having family dinner. Then again, my kids are far from typical.
How to do a family night
Most Fridays, we make something simple for dinner and watch whatever new movie has popped up on Netflix or Amazon. One afternoon, the kids were asking questions about Elvis and the 60s. We are not that old, but the kids assume we have lived through all of history sometimes.
Right then, we decided that our Friday family dinner would have a theme. We watched “Viva Las Vegas” and ate classic diner food: burgers and fries. I even made milkshakes. Since then, we have occasionally turned our simple family fun night into a themed family dinner. It’s loads of fun and has exposed my kids to films they probably wouldn’t have even heard of otherwise.
It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Dinner-and-a-movie is fun but simple. Break out a board game or do a hands-on activity for an alternative. If you would like to put together a family dinner with a theme, here is some inspiration.
Family dinner themes
The 1960s
Eat: hamburgers, french fries, and milkshakes
Watch: “Viva Las Vegas” (1964, Rated G) or Disney’s “The Sword in the Stone” (1963, Rated G)
Play: Twister
The 1980s
Eat: Homemade pizza
Watch: “The Princess Bride” (1987, Rated PG) or “Labyrinth” (1986, Rated PG)
Play: Guess Who – You can even make your own version!
Science Fiction
Watch: “Star Wars: A New Hope” (1977, Rated PG), “Meet the Robinsons” (2007, Rated G), or “Flight of the Navigator” (1986, Rated PG)
Play: Build a robot from recycled materials
The Old West
Eat: slow cooker chili and cornbread
Watch: “McLintock!” (1963, Rated Tv-14 by modern scale for shooting) or “An American Tail: Fievel Goes West” (1991, Rated G)
Play: Poker or another card game
All Things British
Eat: shepherd’s pie
Watch: “Wallace and Grommit” shorts (1993+, not officially rated, but I would say G) or “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” (2001, Rated PG)
Play: Clue
Day at the Beach
Eat: tuna sandwiches, pasta salad, lots of fresh fruit
Watch: “Finding Nemo” (2003, Rated G) or “Flipper” (1996, Rated PG)
Play: Go Fish!
Time Travel
Eat: medieval crockpot stew and crusty bread
Watch: “Back to the Future” (1985, Rated PG) or “A Kid in King Arthur’s Court” (1995, Rated PG)
Play: make a family time capsule
Music
Eat: chicken drumsticks
Watch: “School of Rock” 2003, Rated PG-13) or “Sister Act” (1992, Rated PG)
Play: one of these free music games for groups
Hawaiian Vacation
Watch: “Blue Hawaii” (1961, Rated PG) or “Lilo and Stitch” (2002, Rated PG)
Play: make a Stitch corner bookmark
Not-so-Scary
Eat: mummy dogs, monster eye cookies
Watch: “Ghostbusters” (1984, Rated PG) or “Monsters, Inc.” (2001, Rated G)
Play: Ghosts Love Candy
Superheroes
Watch: “Avengers” (2012, Rated PG-13) or “Big Hero 6” (2015, Rated PG)
Play: Marvel Guess Who?
Pirates
Watch: “Pirates of the Caribbean” (2003, Rated PG-13) or “Muppet Treasure Island” (1996, Rated G)
Play: Pop Up Pirate or Pirate Fluxx
The best part of family dinner with a theme is that there are no rules. Get creative with your theme and pick something out of the ordinary.
What’s next? Try these other fun and creative ideas on One Mama’s Daily Drama:
Fun ideas, Keri
How about something scary? Maybe eat pigs in a blanket and call them mummies. Watch The Addam’s Family and play Ghost in the Graveyard or tell ghost stories by a fire with smores.
Oh, I like that. Maybe I need to do another theme ideas post with holidays…
This is exactly what I was looking for…great ideas! Thank you for sharing!
I’m so glad! I’m working on another post that’s all holiday themes to post in the next week or so.
So many fun ideas! We may do 1980’s this weekend.
Thanks! Have fun!
Thank you for these unique ideas.