One Friday afternoon several years ago, my son and I popped into our local video rental shop.  As we scurried through the maze of movie aisles looking for our selection, Levi exclaimed, “This place is a minefield!”  Can anybody say ‘amen’?!  I had to wholeheartedly agree with him.  Well, in all honesty, we don’t usually take our kids into those shops anymore, but my husband and I do rent the occasional movie, and I must say, to find a good one is a real treat for everyone.

This Mini-Vacation can be with or without the kids because it’s just as much fun to share a great movie with the family as it is to watch one alone, with your girlfriends or hubby. (well, ok, my hubby and I DO consider it a special night to watch a movie together, just the two of us.  And, yes, ’solo’ can be extremely enjoyable!  Did I just contradict myself?)

DISCLAIMER: 

You’ll notice below that I will be suggesting some movie titles.  However, every single movie on the planet has a landmine in it somewhere, according to someone - even Sesame Street had to be screened for content at times when I was raising my little boys!  Honest to goodness.  Do not irresponsibly rent one of the movies listed here, sit with your kids of all ages, persuasions and maturity/sensitivity levels and push ‘play’ without first 1.  seeing it alone  2.  screening it on ScreenIt.com or going to family.org and clicking on Plugged In or filtering it through Clearplay.com which is a system we are about to purchase to ferret out any unexpected nonsense or moral filth in current movie titles.  Check out their site and you might want to buy it, too.  Sounds like a very cheap fix for a very real issue in our homes!  OKAY…so you can’t blame me if you didn’t take my advice….:)  But if we’re honest, we’ve all found great delight at seeing an engaging, uplifting and meaningful movie*.

Some of our favorites for the fam are Baby’s Day Out, The Princess Bride, The Castaways, Home on the Range, Little Women (the newer one 1994), Snowdogs, My Dog Skip, Iron Will, The Incredibles, Emporer’s New Groove, any of the old Ma and Pa Kettle movies, any segments of The Original Little Rascals, Tim Hawkins comedy video Full Range of Motion(purchase online), Jeff Allen’s solo Bananas Comedy video(purchase online), the original Thou Shalt Laugh which is a Christian comedy you can rent at Blockbuster or Hollywood (our favs on the video are Michael Junior, Thor Ramsey, Jeff Allen and Taylor Mason-some of the others are pretty cheesy), Second Hand Lions, Pride and Prejudice (the older version with Colin Firth - brilliant!, Ever After, Remember the Titans, Radio, Star Wars (especially the original 3), and others.  Actually I’d love to hear what your favorite family movies are and I’ll share them with everyone! Post your favorites here on my site - we now have posting capability for my readers; my tech guy enabled that feature today, so please be patient if we have a glitch, and if so, simply email your flick picks (clever) to contact@denisemira.com

Some of the movies Gregory and I have  enjoyed are Master and Commander, The Village, Lord of the Rings, Patriot, Braveheart, That Thing You Do, Luther, City of Joy, Saving Private Ryan, October Sky, Ernest Goes To Jail, The Sandlot, Cool Runnings, Mr. Holland’s Opus, One Fine Day, Sister Act….and more I don’t have space to mention.  Besides I’d really like wait and hear from you!

OK, it’s movie night.  If you’re putting the kids to bed and staying up late alone or with hubby…plan ahead and make it a peaceful and organized bedtime for the children…a little early to give you some extra time to relax.  Don’t feel guilty, you deserve a break and so does your man! 

SOME TIPS FOR SUCCESS….

• With the kids, I love to make homemade popcorn with melted butter…all carb/fat/salt caution to the wind.  Remember, it’s PARTY TIME! (for an ultimate mini-vacation without the kids, just buy the absolute best-quality microwave corn for less clean up!)
• We love to buy sparking water (NOT the kind that’s sweetened with anything) and mix 1 part frozen juice concentrate (we buy the juice-only-no sweetener-added kind for health reasons, but on special occasions it’s fun to use limeade/lemonade concentrate) with 3 parts sparkling water, add a lime slice and voila’ you’ve got a very special something to drink on movie night.  We call these spritzers and we usually have these instead of soda/pop whatever you call it in your region!
• Turn off the ringer on the phone and all cell phones and computers and ENJOY.  This is a moment to breathe and re-charge your batteries. 

*This Mini-Vacation is very affordable, unless you buy Clearplay, which is a small investment up front, but will allow you to be at peace and not have your finger on the FF button, sitting on pins and needles through the entire movie!

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 1st, 2008 at 12:17 am and is filed under No Ordinary Child. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.