This month, we gave you movie night guides for The Muppets and Inside Out. Our goal is to give your easy guides to get your family talking, sharing and connecting over movies they love. Oh yeah, and we want these movie nights to be no-stress and low-prep for you. In the spirit of having an easy movie night, we want to share some fun popcorn ideas with you.
We hope these will bring an extra something special to your movie night, they have for us. So let’s get popping: here are fun and easy popcorn tips and hacks for your next movie night!
Get a Microwave Popcorn Maker for Movie Night
A few years ago, we wanted to ditch pre-packaged microwave popcorn bags to have more control over the popcorn we made at home. We did not want to make space in our cabinets for an air popper. And, making popcorn on the stove seemed like an iffy idea with high-energy kids running around: we just could not spare that much attention for popcorn on movie night.
A microwaveable popcorn bowl became our perfect solution. We got this collapsible silicone bowl that makes great popcorn and folds neatly into a kitchen drawer, and we never looked back.
We are sharing a link for the bowl and some other products below. As an Amazon Associate we earn a small commission on products you buy after following this link. The price you pay does not change, but your purchase helps support this blog.
Here is the link for the microwaveable popcorn bowl that we have and love.
Our local grocery stores have jugs of popping corn like this. We measure out a quarter cup of kernels and a bit of vegetable oil, pop in the microwave and come back when it is done. Then comes the best part: flavoring the popcorn!
Topping the Popcorn
Our kids love being in charge of what goes on our popcorn. Whether you are starting with microwave popcorn bags or a bowl like ours, you can make some family fun out of topping your popcorn creatively. You can start with different types of salt (sea salt, pink Himalayan, truffle salt, etc) and then movie into mixing and matching some of the following:
Savory & Spicy Popcorn Toppings
- salt of all different kinds
- nutritional yeast
- garlic powder
- Parmesan cheese
- everything bagel seasoning
- ranch dressing seasoning mix
- Tajin
- chili powder
- ground ginger
- Cajun seasoning
Sweet Popcorn Toppings
- hot chocolate mix (or sweetened cocoa powder)
- cinnamon
- apple pie spice
- pumpkin pie spice
- maple sugar
- cane sugar
- powdered sugar
- small sprinkles
Mix Up Your Movie Night Popcorn Toppings
With a few ingredients from the list above, we turn topping our popcorn into another way to have fun at movie night.
Kid’s Concession Stand
Some nights, our kids set-up their own “movie theater concessions” and take individual orders for custom popcorn topping. When they do this, we like to have a stack of individual bowls. Check-out this fun set of theater-themed bowls or these red and white striped ones
Themed Mixes
On other nights, we like to make themed popcorn topping mixes. Recently, we were missing Disneyland Resort, so we made a “churro mix” with cinnamon and sugar before we snuggled into the couch.
You can challenge your family to invent popcorn toppings themed to the night’s movie.
Is The Princess and the Frog on the schedule tonight? Maybe you will sing along to “Down in New Orleans” and munch on some Cajun seasoned popcorn. Craving something sweet instead? You can sprinkle some powdered sugar on your popcorn and call it “beignet flavored” in honor of Tiana’s signature dish.
You could mix-up a custom popcorn flavor for Luca with sea salt, garlic powder and Parmesan cheese. Now, just imagine what your kids will invent to go with “Monsters Inc.”
Thanks for reading our creative popcorn ideas for your movie night.
We hope you will find some easy ideas that work for you. Do not forget to check-out our Disney Movie Night: Reflection Guide for The Muppets and Inside Out Disney Movie Night: Emotion Sharing Guide. And please subscribe to our free newsletter below to get future ideas right in your inbox. Thanks again for reading.