As the days get shorter, it’s the perfect time of year to cocoon a little and enjoy a family movie night. Here’s a recipe for doing movie night right: 

• Start off in the kitchen with a meal that everyone can help prep. Warm up with these simple soup and salad ideas or let everyone choose their own toppings on these easy family pizzas!
• Pick movie options the whole family can enjoy—we’ve rounded up our favourites (featuring great food scenes for kids) below! 
• If your kids want to level up movie night, get them to pick a dish from these favourite flicks below to try out with you.

Pre-schoolers: 

• My Neighbour Totoro: 10-year-old Satsuki and her 4-year-old sister Mei's summer takes off when they meet the magical Totoro. Satsuki’s a handy cook too—after the movie, try your hand at this incredible bento she makes for her little sister! 
• Kiki’s Delivery Service: When 13-year-old friendly witch Kiki comes up with the idea of a flying delivery service for her local bakery, this sweet story fills up with fantastic family cooking scenes. Whether Kiki’s making pancakes for her and her cat, or delivering this pie from a grandma to a child across town, this movie’s sure to get little ones wanting to help you in the kitchen. 
• The Boxcar Children: One of the most exciting bits of this gentle story about 4 orphans involves the thrill of them cooking up feasts by themselves like beef stew, brown bread...and cookies! Pre-schoolers will love recreating some of the recipes here. 

Elementary schoolers: 

• Ratatouille: Perhaps the best movie for kid foodies ever made, this movie about a rat that desperately wants to be a chef will have everyone craving ratatouille.  
• Kung Fu Panda: Adopted son Po works in his dad’s noodle restaurant - but dreams of being a kung-fu master! He gets there with the help of delicious dumplings like these ones.
• Ponyo: When the daughter of a sea wizard runs away to live on land, she discovers how much she loves human food. Here’s how to make the ramen soup with ham that she and her bestie Sosuke feast on. 

Tweens:  

• Harry Potter - every feast in this modern classic about the boy attending a school for wizardry is magical (literally). Accio recipes!
• Bend It Like Beckham: This positive comedy features a girl trying to reconcile her passion for football with the wishes of her traditional Punjabi family. The original tagline for this film asked "Who wants to make aloo gobi when you can bend it like Beckham?" (Solution: make aloo gobi AND bend it like Beckham.) 
• The Gilmore Girls: This beloved tween-friendly series features food as almost a main character—the series is based, after all, on the drama of formal Friday night dinners versus relaxed weekly movie nights. Whether your tween identifies more with the incredible dishes whipped up by the foodie chef (played by Melissa McCarthy!), or the episode where they make candy sushi, there’s something tasty for everyone on this show.

Inspired to cook up more cosy family evenings? We’ve got tips on how to run a games night, and you can cuddle up to our favourite after-dinner reads. And if you’re looking for daily recipe ideas, check out our Facebook and Instagram feeds!