Every family needs time to bond and spend time together, whether that’s playing games, taking road trips, or simply eating a meal together. Our family enjoys all of these activities, but one of our favorite things to do together is our weekly movie night every Friday night.

With the many moving parts of a large family, it is important to set aside time for one another. So we are intentional about taking one night a week and combining our love of movies and each other, to create a fun night for the whole family.

            However, with as many family members as we have, we soon ran into a dilemma! We each have unique tastes for movie genres and a different suggestion on what to watch each week.

So, we came up with a solution! My Dad had the perfect idea and messaged us all in a group text with a plan for that Friday night, and when he got home from work, we implemented it. It worked so well that we have carried it on since.

Each week we started giving each person two small pieces of paper for them to submit two votes on what movies they wanted to watch. These votes are all put into a hat, and we randomly draw one vote out of the hat to then all watch together!

Whichever movie is picked, that’s what we watch – no questions or complaints! We all agreed on this, and it has added a new element of excitement and surprise to our Friday nights together!

In addition to our movie, we always get pizza too! We either get them from the grocery store or enjoy the specials from Pizza Hut. To drink, Root Beer and Mountain Dew are the soft drinks that most everybody in our family likes, and even the off-brand ones are okay too. Most of us like pepperoni, but there are a few takers for supreme!

Sometimes, we already have the movie on hand, but mostly we rent it on AppleTV. But sometimes, we find it on Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime.

            So, whether it’s board games, road trips or even Friday night movie nights, find at least one thing that your whole family loves to do, and do it together! It will be something that everyone looks forward to and fun for the whole family!

Article Written by: Gillian Harper