March 21, 2025

🎬 We Are the Hansons: Family Movie Nights & Our Favorite Picks! 🍿

🎬 We Are the Hansons: Family Movie Nights & Our Favorite Picks! 🍿

Get ready for an unforgettable family movie night with We Are the Hansons! From timeless classics to modern favorites, we’re sharing our top movie picks that bring laughter, adventure, and heartwarming moments to our big family. Grab some popcorn, cozy up, and join us for fun-filled cinematic experiences!

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Hey, everyone, welcome back to We Are the Hands Ends.

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I am so glad you're here with me today because

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I want to dive deep into some of the most

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cherished traditions in our house family movie night. Now. I

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know I mentioned before how chaotic life can get with

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a big family, but that's exactly why movie night has

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become so sacred for us. It's not just about picking

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a movie and zoning out in front of the TV.

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It's about slowing down and intentionally spending time together. It's

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about creating memories, sharing laughs, and even learning how to

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handle disagreements when everyone wants to watch something different. Over

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the years, movie night has become one of those grounding

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rituals that's helped keep us connected as a fan even

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when life feels crazy. So today I'm going to share

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the ins and outs and how we do movie night

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in a large family, some of our funniest movie night

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fails and moments that make us all cry, and why

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I think this tradition has shaped the way our family

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relates to each other. Get comfortable, maybe grab a bowl

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of popcorn, and let's talk about movie night. I wish

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I could say that movie night started because I had

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some grand plans to create this perfect family bonding experience,

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but honestly, it kind of happened by accident. It started

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when the kids were young, during one of those particularly

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exhausting parenting seasons, the ones when no one is sleeping

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through the night, everyone's fighting, and you're just barely holding

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it together. One night, I was completely wiped out, so

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I threw some popcorn in the microwave, told the kids

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to grab blankets and put on toy story just to

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keep them still for ninety minutes. But something interesting happened.

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They didn't just sit and watch. They curled them next

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to me, shared snacks, laughed at the funny parts, and

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even asked questions about characters. For that hour and a half,

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the whole house felt so calm. We were together, not

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just physically, but emotionally too. And after that it became

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something we all started looking forward to. The kids would

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ask what movie are we going to watch this week?

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Over time, it evolved into a full tradition, rotating who

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picks the movie, setting up snacks, and making it feel

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like a special event for them. My kids have always

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loved sitting down one to two nights a week and

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just watching a movie. And some of our favorite picks

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are Muana Muana, I Mufasa, The Lion King. And we

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like some scary movies as well. Despicable Me for that's

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a good one, Inside Out Two that's another good one.

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And the kids also like Willy Wonka and Harry Potter.

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Just a bunch of different ones, The Little Mermaid, Sonic

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The Hedgehog, Shrek. Them are all kinds of movies that

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my kids like to just sit down and watch. Whether

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they're older kids or the younger ones, they love it.

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So I realized that family movie night was more than

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just a way to entertain the kids. It was giving

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us a reason to sit down together, connect and enjoy

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each other's company without distractions. Now, making movie night work

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with a big family is a whole thing. It's not

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as simple as turning on Netflix and calling it a night.

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When you've got this many kids with different personalities, ages,

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and tastes, you have to get creative and keep everyone happy.

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Picking a movie is probably the hardest part. If we

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let everyone way in every time, we'd never actually get

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to watch anything. So we created a simple rotation. Each week,

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one kid gets to choose the movie. The only rule

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is that it has to be age appropriate for the

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younger kids because during the week it's really hard to

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throw on a scary movie and expect that, especially the

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younger ones, to sleep at night in their own beds.

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The younger kids will go to bed early, usually falling

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asleep during the movie, because you know, during the week

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with school time, it's really difficult to throw on a

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movie late at night and expect them to get up

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in the morning for school. So we try to do

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our movie nights on like Saturday, Friday night or Saturday,

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just because school time. So we also rotate who's in

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charge of snacks, and a lot of times my kids

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will set up like a little table, you know, like

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the TV stands, and they'll sit there. One will sit

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there and they make fake tickets. They'll we have a

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poster board that they put together and it's got all

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the snacks on it that you can pick from, all

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the drinks, and then whoever's at the ticket booth will

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take your ticket and get you your snack. And we

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have a little cart that we set up with some

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snacks on it and the drinks. They get to do

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it that way, and then you go sit down and

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when everybody has checked in at the movie stand and

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movie ticket booth. Then the child that was doing the

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tickets will go and sit on the couch with us

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and we all sit down and watch the movie. Some

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nights it's popcorn with melted butter. You know, we have eminems,

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and we have licorice and just a whole bunch of

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different things. Other nights, the kids want to make cookies

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or grab chips and dip. Having them help make the

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snack makes them feel more involved, and honestly, it saves

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me a lot of time. We try to make movie

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night feel different from you know, regular nights of watching TV.

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The kids bring down blankets and pillows, and sometimes we'll

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rearrange the couch so everyone can fit comfortably. We even

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have a rule that everyone has to change into pajamas

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before the movie starts. It helps signal that this is

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a special, hozy event. We've tried to do the technology

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rules where no phones, no tablets, no side conversations. Well

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you know, it didn't always work, but now everyone knows

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that movie night is for them just to be there

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and enjoy it. We don't need the tablets or the phones.

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And the funny thing is even the teens who used

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to resist at first now seem to enjoy the break

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from screen time, so that helps a lot. We've watched

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a lot of movies over the years, and some good,

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some terrible, and some that have turned into family favorites

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that we revisit over and over. Like the Classics have

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a special place in our lineup. The Lion King always

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hits hard, and there's something about watching the kids' faces

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when Mufasa dies that's both heartbreaking and bonding. And I

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still remember the time we introduced them to et and

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the whole room was holding in their breath during the

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final scene. Some movies become running jokes in our family,

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like Shrek, which we've probably seen about one hundred times,

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but the kids still quote the line from it regularly,

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not my gum drop buttons. And then there's Frozen, where

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I think we all loved until we heard let it

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Go about five hundred times, but we still enjoy it.

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It's not always about the movie itself, it's about the experience.

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We've watched some pretty terrible movies too, and there was

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one animated film that was so bad we ended up

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turning it into a game, making fun of the bad

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You know, dialogue and ridiculous plot. And you know what,

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the kids still talk about that movie, not because the

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movie was good, but because we were all laughing together

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and so it was more like a joke and we

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made memories off of it. Movie night isn't just about entertainment.

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It's about connection. And I'm sure if you're a parent

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that has kids and you've done a movie night, you

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probably know what I mean. I think back to the

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times when one of the kids was struggling with something

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a hard day at school, a fight with a friend,

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or and instead of sitting down to have some big

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emotional talk, we just cuddle up on the couch and

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watch a movie together. There's something healing about sitting together,

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sharing a quiet moment and letting the story fill the silence.

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Some of the most meaningful moments have come after the

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credits roll. The kids will open up and start talking

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about things they have been bothering them, or they'll last

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questions about something that happened in the movie that leads

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to deeper conversation about life. After watching Inside Out, we

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had a whole conversation about emotions and how it's okay

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to feel sad and that you don't have to be

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happy all the time. After watching Wonder, the kids started

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talking about kindness and how they could make their classmates

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feel more included. It's in those moments that I realized

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how valuable these nights really are in our family. They

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give the kids a sense of security and belonging, a

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chance to feel heard and connected without pressure of formal conversation.

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And you know why it matters in our home family,

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Movie nights remind us that even in the middle of

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life's chaos, we have each other, and that's a very

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important thing here. They give us a reason to slow down,

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sit close, and share an experience. The kids won't remember

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every detail of the movie we watched, but they remember

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the feeling of being curled up under a blanket next

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to their siblings, the sound of popcorn popping in the microwave,

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and the way the house felt when we all sat

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down together. And that's very important. That's why movie night matters.

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It's about belonging. It's about creating a space where everyone

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feels safe and loved, and it's about building a foundation

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of togetherness that will carry them through life long after

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they're grown up and moved out. And you know, there

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is some logistics of movie night with a big family

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one movie picking system. Picking the movie is probably the

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hardest part. If we let everyone weigh in every time,

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we never actually be able to watch it. Like I said,

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so we've created simple rotation. Each week, one kid gets

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to choose the movie. The only rule is that it

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has to be you know, age appropriate, especially during the

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week on the weekends. You know, if the little kids

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want to watch a scary movie, we will sit down

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and watch a scary movie. That way, if they do

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wake up in the middle of the night or they

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can't sleep at night because they watched it, you know,

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and that's very rare, but we do that just in case.

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So that way it's a weekend and we don't have

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to worry about that snack duty. We try to rotate

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like who's in charge of the snacks some knights is popcorn,

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Eminem's you know, and so on. And then setting the scene,

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we try to make movie night feel different from regular

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nights of watching TV. Like I said, we make it

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a full movie theater theme. We set up a stand,

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the kids take turns on who's going to be behind

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the tablet taking tickets and getting snacks and then, like

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I said, technology rules. So there are four rules in

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our home that we go by, and those are it.

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Every child is different. Some nights they want a movie

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like Harry Potter. Some nights they want The Adams Family.

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Some nights they just want a cartoon and be able

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to just relax. We try to pick family movies like

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Shrek or Lion King, the Mufase movie. We love those movies,

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they really do. Like The Little Mermaid. The new one

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is so good too, So it just depends on the child.

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We also set a regular time, whether it's a once

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a week or once a month, or we try to

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do it, you know, consistently on the weekends especially, so

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usually it's Saturday night, we all sit down to watch

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a movie. You know. We create rotation for choosing movies.

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The snack part. We try to be flexible. If the

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little ones get bored halfway through, that's okay, you know,

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let them come and go as they please. Then and

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then we celebrate the flops if the movie's terrible, laugh

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about it. Sometimes those are the nights you remember most

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because it's fun and you're laughing about a movie that

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one of you picked. And so usually that person that

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picked that movie gets teased, and usually it's the boys

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teasing the girls because the girls tend to like to

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watch chick flicks, is what the boys call it, and

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so sometimes that happens. And a lot of times the

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boys will pick like war movies or something. The younger

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kids definitely aren't into that, but then the girls get

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to pick on the boys. So it's just about creating

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memories and being able to share time together. When you're

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sitting there on a couch with your family and you're

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watching a movie and you all are getting into this movie,

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I can sit there and look around at my kids

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and tell who is invested and enjoying the movie with

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their family and who is not. A lot of times

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the little ones will fall asleep during the movie, and

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it's not just what you think is boredom. It's just

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they are so were out from the day because we're

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always busy that once the movie gets put on, they're out.

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I can't fall asleep when I'm very interested in a movie.

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If I start getting bored of a movie, then I

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tend to fall asleep. So usually we find a movie

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that we can all sit up and watch and enjoy,

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and it's kind of fun because I can make a

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bet on the floor for the little ones and they

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will lay there and watch, and all the big kids

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are sitting on the couch watching and everybody is invested

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in these movies. So it is nice to be able

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to enjoy family time with your family watching movies and

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eating popcorn and snacks. So that's all for today. I

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want to thank you for listening. If you've got any

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favorite family movie night traditions or movie recommendations, send them

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my way. We're always looking for new ideas. You can

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go over to our Facebook page We are the Hansens

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and send us a message. You can email us at

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Weirrethehansen's Show at gmail dot com, and please go and

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subscribe to our YouTube channel. Thanks for hanging out with

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me today. Until next time, this is We are the Hansens.

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See you soon.