Family Holiday Tradition: Host a Holiday Movie Marathon

Set the Scene

• Get the excitement started early by slipping an invite listing movie title, show time and requested attire (coziest pajamas only, please!) under each family member’s bedroom door a few days before.

• It’s movie night! Cozy up the viewing area with plenty of pillows and fleece blankets to share. Or invite the kids to build a fort in the middle of the living room.

• Prop up a chalkboard on a nearby serving table that notes the evening’s showing.

• Decorate the space with cute props—yes, many stores sell replicas of that awesome leg lamp from A Christmas Story—that relate to your featured flick.

Serve Up a Snack Bar

• Drizzle a fresh-popped batch of popcorn with melted white chocolate. Once chocolate sets, make a merry mix by adding any of the following: red and green chocolate candies, chocolate-covered mini pretzels, gumdrops, dried cranberries, white chocolate chips or sugared nuts.

• Wow them with a hot chocolate and coffee bar complete with flavored creamers, mini marshmallows, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and candy cane or rock candy swizzle sticks.

• Watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas? Make a Grinchy punch, a fizzy combination of white soda and lime sherbet. Serve with green sugar-rimmed glasses and ice cubes in fun holiday shapes (check online for seasonal silicone trays).

12 Days of Fa-La-La Flicks

• A Charlie Brown Christmas
• A Christmas Carol
• A Christmas Story
• Elf
• Home Alone
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
• It’s a Wonderful Life
• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
• The Polar Express
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
• The Santa Clause
• White Christmas