by Character Diva
I love spending time with my family and doing families activities together, but when you add a Disney component, I think it just makes it that much more fun and magical. In honor of Mardi Gras, my family and I had a “Princess and the Frog Family Movie Night” back in February. Because Tiana was known for both her gumbo and beignet recipes, that was what I chose to have for dinner. I’m not really a seafood person, so I went with a chicken gumbo as opposed to shrimp. I found both recipes on Allrecipes.com, and as usual, they didn’t disappoint.
We all LOVED the gumbo (though my husband said we should add some kielbasa (or Polish sausage) next time. It had just the right amount of kick to make it a hearty, flavorful dinner that made it, in Tiana’s words, “the bee’s knees”.
The beignets were equally delicious, though the recipe made much more than I anticipated (we had a few dozen). Also, I recommend following the recipe and rolling them extra-thin. I didn’t roll mine out quite as thin as the recipe recommended and the first batch came out a little doughy. Disney Diva Tip: My daughter LOVES helping me cook and bake in the kitchen. A great way to enhance your family movie night (and to help train them to cook or bake in the future) is to start them off young and let them have fun with it. Nothing makes my daughter more excited than getting to help cook or bake something… especially if it’s for a party or one of our family movie nights!
If you’ve read any of my other articles on Disney Family Movie Nights, you know that I also like us to do some kind of activity. It can be a game, a craft, or both, but I think that it’s important to be DOING things together as a family besides eating and watching a movie together. So for our Princess and the Frog activities, I went with two I found on Pinterest: Bandage Lightening Bugs and Water Lily Paper Plates.
We had a lot of fun painting the Water Lily Paper Plates, and I liked it because it was an activity where we already had everything at home. Looking back now, I think it might have been fun to use watercolors instead of the green tempera paint we used, but we still had a great time. Disney Diva Tip: In an attempt to keep paint from getting all over my kids, I always have them wear one of mine or my husband’s old t-shirts. This works out great for shirts the shirts that I no longer wear but still love and don’t want to get rid of, and it also makes for a great (and free) art smock. The best part is, when I’m done, I can toss the shirts in the washing machine, and if my kids decided to be a little creative and are covered in, I mean, “wearing” their art, then they can always take a quick bath before the movie. And if you are still hesitant about letting your kids paint, you can always use crayons or markers too.
The Bandage Lightening Bugs required a quick trip to the Dollar Tree to find some neon Band-aids, but otherwise, we pretty much had anything. Also, I was going to use Googley Eyes, I checked 3 stores and they were either sold out or didn’t carry them, so I just ended up using Fabric Puffy Paint instead. Disney Diva Tip: I also had some glow in the dark Fabric Puffy Paint and that worked great for making stars.
Then of course it was time for the movie, which everyone enjoyed. But with all of the catchy music, the beautiful animation, and the classic Disney magic we have all come to enjoy, what’s not to love?
Unfortunately, you’re never going to get to do everything you want to do, especially when you have small kids. There’s just too many great ideas out there, and only so much time to get things done (especially when you only have a few hours to do everything). Some other great ideas I found were several versions of Pin the Tail on the Donkey, only it was Pin the Kiss on the Frog (you drew lips onto red paper and cut them out to stick on the frog), as well as these adorable frog cupcakes. I skipped those however, mainly because I didn’t know how my son would feel about pinning lips on the frog, and I didn’t have everything on hand for the frog cupcakes. I’d still highly recommend them if you would like to try them!
And as always, do you have any great Disney family movie night activities or pictures to share for either The Princess and the Frog or another one? Tell us all about it! 🙂 And click here to read some Family Movie Night Ideas for Finding Nemo or Dumbo!
