by Character Diva
Once I started thinking about doing a monthly Disney Movie Night, I began thinking of all the fun possibilities. After the Finding Nemo Movie Night was such a success at our house, I decided to try for Dumbo.
Again, I figured the snacks would be easy- peanuts (naturally), popcorn, possibly cotton candy (all circus favorites), and animal crackers seemed like the perfect way to go to settle everyone’s cravings for munchies, though as usual, I had to work on the rest of the meal.
Seeing as we had a ton of junk food (and I really didn’t want peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or corndogs to be our dinner), I decided to focus on the clowns in Dumbo, and we made a clown “pizza” for the main course. I figured it’d be quick and easy, and slightly healthier (or at least more creative) than my other alternatives. In addition to the pizza dough and tomato sauce, we used two types of cheese, bell peppers, pepperoni and a tomato to create our pizza. I also meant to use olives for the eyes, but apparently my pantry was out.
Our side dishes were a little weird… we had Dumbo hats, which were really Bartlett pears (which were super sweet and yummy and honestly could’ve been dessert in themselves). And because my kids (especially Little Princess) LOVE tomatoes, I bought some tomatoes to serve as “juggling balls”. Again, kind of a weird combination, but everything tasted good and we enjoyed it. Disney Diva Tip: Originally, I also wanted to make a clown out of veggies and dip to make it a little healthier and continue on with the clown theme, but I just never got around to it. If you want to attempt it though, kudos to you, and you can find some great visuals on Pinterest.
I also found these cute Dumbo “Big Top Tents” here which served as our dessert. My kids love cupcakes, and these were easy to make (though definitely super sweet… after eating just one I wanted to brush my teeth).
For our family activity, I decided to have them make headbands with Dumbo’s ears. In hindsight, I should’ve added little hats with “the magic feather” in them, but my kids really enjoyed creating them, and they liked wearing them as they watched the movie. And because my kids love watching and blowing bubbles as much as Timothy and Dumbo do, I let them blow bubbles around the living room too. Disney Diva Tip: We are also fortunate enough to live by a zoo that is home to six elephants, so we went to the zoo to see the elephants (and other animals) earlier in the day. But if you don’t have a zoo near you, you can always read books about elephants (or Dumbo), or watch videos of them on Youtube.
More Ideas for Dumbo Family Fun Activities:
Unfortunately, there are tons of great ideas out there, but you don’t always get to try them all. Here are some other great family activities that I found on Pinterest. And while we didn’t get to try them ourselves, I definitely will keep them in mind for the next time we do a Family Movie Night with Dumbo.
First, I found this great (yet VERY messy) activity to make “cotton candy” out of shaving cream and paint. While I wasn’t a fan of the messiness factor, I figured the kids would love it, and the best time about doing stuff in the evening is you can always give them a bath before they start the movie.
I also found this “flaming hoops” activity, and thought the kids would have fun going through those. Disney Diva Tip: For obvious reasons, I recommend doing this activity BEFORE the cotton candy one.
